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by the men of law, lounge lazy hangers-on, who are duly attended by dealers in oranges, nuts, ginger-beer, and other delicacies of the season. These advertise their goods ore rotundo; stupid javelin men stand at the doors of the partition selling calendars, chaffering with people who seek the privilege of entry, and exercising their patronage, if not with striking intelligence, yet not without considerable shrewdness. The passages and seats for counsel are of the most inconvenient size and description; and the passing backwards and forwards, and effecting necessary communications during public business, invariably produce a detestable bustle.

Some judges bear the inconveniences of these courts better than others, and, indeed, most would readily admit that the presiding judge in the Crown Court at Guildford, is the only man whose comfort is at all regarded, though the arrangements for his behoof are of the poorest. The attorneys are most grossly mistreated-there is literally no place provided for them and their clerks; and as for the witnesses and jurors in waiting, it is mockery to say that they are, or have been ever, thought of. If Justice Blackburn had had more experience, or had examined accurately into the matter, he would probably have discovered that the general public, despotically ousted, were not the main cause of the disturbance which overbalanced his equanimity. In clearing the court, the judge was excluding the fathers, mothers, brothers, and friends of the unfortunate prisoners-poor people who, filled with anxiety and forebodings, had probably travelled many miles to watch the particular trial in which they were interested. It does not need now-a-days a word in support of an open court of justice. But if the alternative unhappily were the possibility of the administration of justice, undisturbed by the noise of the public, or their exclusion from the court, commonsense must declare in favour of the former course. Nevertheless, hereon is issue joined; the judge says the exclusion was justifiable because necessary, and this the sheriff's friends deny. The sheriff's friends, however, are by no means prudent or trustworthy people. Some have gone so far as to declare that the

court-houses are models of convenience and fitness, though they are notoriously almost, if not quite, the worst which the judges of assize ever enter. It was from one of these that an enterprising young prisoner, some years ago, escaped during the arraignment at sessions. He observed the utter want of order in the place, and, quietly stooping, creeped under the innocent legs and empty blue bags of two unsuspicious juniors, who were intent on watching the curious telegraphic exercises which, in Surrey, are used by the officers of the court when they wish to communicate with each other during the proceedings. His ingenuity and pluck deserved a better fate than it met. He had half an hour's start, and took boldly across country. When his absence was discovered, he was hotly pursued. He then swam the river, and, tired out, besought the protection of an old woman in a cottage. She, however, had either an innate love of justice, or a wholesome dread of the constabulary, and betrayed him. She gave him some food, and recommended him to mount a high tree and conceal himself for the present, and when she saw him safe she trotted off and gave information to the authorities. The remorseless policemen surrounded the tree, and the prisoner was taken back to the disgusting court, whence he had with great good taste skilfully escaped.

To return to the sheriff. This functionary, ill advised, it is said, by some constitutional lawyer, who so admires, it would seem, all the forms of antiquity, that present convenience and necessity are deemed unworthy of his approbation, after some days of reflection, resolved that the act of the judge in clearing the hall was unconstitutional, and the sheriff thereupon entered his protest, by placarding the wall of the court with rebellious denunciations. The judges summoned, rebuked, and fined him. And here ends the disgraceful and foolish transaction.

The conclusion of the whole matter is this:-That if the county authorities refuse to provide a court-house where the public can congregate, as they have the right to do, the public must be more or less excluded, and justice more or less obstructed. That Mr. Justice Blackburn was justified in the wholesale exclusion

which he ordered, admits of doubt-that his mode of barring ont one part of the court (which, by the way, on the last days of the assizes was opened again) without appealing to the sheriff—or that his manner of issuing his order, was felicitous, we do not affirm. But assuredly the sheriff, by issuing his proclamation,1 took an unwise step, which, following upon his contempt of court, in addressing his friends and admirers who might have been grandjurymen, but were not, was pre-eminently unfortunate.

Blackstone tells us that the sheriff is an officer of very great antiquity in the kingdom-that the title is derived from the Saxon times, signifying the reeve of the shire-that though he was in this remotest period only deputy to the earl or alderman of the county, in process of time the civil administration of the shire has entirely devolved upon the sheriff. He executes all the king's business in the county, and to him alone does the king commit custodiam comitatûs. Theoretically the sheriff is a very important person. But his functions are in reality performed in the office of the under-sheriff and the deputy-sheriff. Nevertheless, on constitutional and political grounds, it would be unwise. to sweep away high sheriffs, and confer upon the under-sheriff directly all the administrative duties which he now performs in the name of his superior. Moreover, there are extraordinary occasions when rights which, well defined in connection with the

! The proclamation was as follows:

"To the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Surrey. “Gentlemen—On Friday, August the 3rd, Mr. Justice Blackburn, in my presence, but without addressing himself to me, ordered that part of the court which is appropriated to the public, to be cleared at a time when perfect quietness prevailed among the public, who were then present according to custom. From that time, the public have been barred out from the court where Mr. Justice Blackburn presides; and the prisoners have been tried, and causes heard, without the possibility of the law being fulfilled, which requires that so many as will or can,' shall come so near as to hear.' As your sheriff, and feeling that the general dissatisfaction is well grounded, it is my duty to record my protest against this unlawful proceeding; and I have given directions that the court shall be open again to the public, according to the custom and the law. All persons, so long as they conduct themselves with decorum, have a lawful right to be present in court; and I hereby prohibit my officers from aiding and abetting any attempt to bar out the public from free access to the court.-I am, gentlemen, your faithful servant, "WILLIAM JOHN EVELYN, Sheriff.

"Guildford, Saturday, Aug. 11, 1860."

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ancient office, could only be defended from encroachments or attack with the authority and certainty of established law and custom. There are, also, certain conveniences and social advantages in maintaining among the class, whence sheriffs are generally selected, men who represent official duties though they do not perform them. A sheriff can exercise some influence for good in his county if he tries; and if Mr. Evelyn's successor in Surrey will exert himself to procure proper accommodation for the next assizes holden at Guildford, he will be doing infinitely greater service than allowing himself to be goaded or lashed up to useless conflicts with the judges on circuit.

It does occasionally happen that county magistrates, and grand jurymen, do seem to be affected with absurd jealousy of the Queen's judges, and an unpleasant feeling is exhibited, the origin of which it is not worth while for us to inquire into. Fortunately the character, habits, education, and position of the men who have made their way on to the English Bench, render them the least fit people in the world "to stand nonsense," though, as a body, they are distinguished for courtesy and dignified demeanour. There are opportunities for county functionaries to render themselves disagreeable at assizes if they so desire; but we apprehend an unfortunate conjunction of characters, like those possessed by Mr. J. Blackburn and Mr. Evelyn, is not likely soon to occur again, and the general current of assize events will, we hope, be uninterrupted by provocation or discourtesies on either

side.

We have often before pointed out in this Review, how defective most of our court-houses are throughout the country. Many of the apartments at Westminster even, are utterly unfit for the purpose to which they are applied. The city of London has also one or two most vile and monstrous substitutes for courts. We must not, therefore, be too hard upon county dignitaries for not providing suitable buildings. But there is a great difference between the usually bad and the perfectly intolerable.

No building is suitable for the purpose of the assizes, unless it has decent accommodation for the judges and occupants of the

bench-for the juries sworn and in waiting, the clients, prisoners, witnesses, attorneys and clerks, for the gentlemen of the bar, and for a portion of the general public. It must have such arrangement, proportions, and acoustic properties, that those who are mutually to see and address each other, should be mutually visible and audible; and, further, that the passages and means of access and exit should be ample, and easily appropriated to the various classes frequenting the court. Too large a building, in which too many of the general public may crowd, is an evil. It produces noise very obstructive to the course of business. Idle curiosity to hear details of crime and immorality, with which the less men are familiar the better, is the leading incentive to a thronged assembly; and the anxiety to make jokes, and to give vent to the incongruous "laughter," one so often sees in reports of even the most serious cases, is due to the vulgar love of seeing any show, so long as it is exciting or amusing; nor are there many things more disgusting in the administration of justice, than when the advocate speaks and acts ad populum, and resorts to claptrap to bring down the gallery, or lends himself to tickle the pit. We have heard that there was, or is, an entertainment popular with certain not very refined classes, called the "Judge and Jury," in which all the humour generally sought for by "the public" from courts sitting at Nisi Prius, or for the trial of prisoners, is attempted to be brought together in a series of comic scenes. A droll judge, comic counsel, funny witnesses, eccentric jurymen, and obscene disputes, are made the food, as we are credibly informed, for amusement. It is chiefly this sort of improving recreation which the majority of the public who frequent the courts are really seeking. Therefore, while we advocate a certain provision to be made for the accommodation of the public, we are strongly of opinion that it should not be too extensive. The newspaper press, moreover, by its reports gives sufficient, and more than sufficient, publicity to legal proceedings, which is an additional reason for limiting the space for the public within a reasonable extent. There will always be a difficulty on this point, where more people want to gain admittance than can be

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