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SECTION II.: EQUITY SUITORS’ PETITION FOR DISPATCH COURT. To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, — - Jeremy Bentham, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, vol. 3 [1843]

Edition used:

The Works of Jeremy Bentham, published under the Superintendence of his Executor, John Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1838-1843). 11 vols. Vol. 3.

Part of: The Works of Jeremy Bentham, 11 vols.

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SECTION II.

EQUITY SUITORS’ PETITION FOR DISPATCH COURT.

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty,

The Petition of the Undersigned Persons, all of them Suitors in one or other of your Majesty’s Equity Courts;

Humbly Showeth,

1. That, in common with the rest of your Majesty’s English subjects, but in a more especial degree, we feel ourselves sorely aggrieved by the delay, expense, and vexation, by which obstruction is opposed to applications for justice in the superior courts in general, and above all, in the courts called Equity Courts.

2. That this obstruction is the result, not of the natural state of things, nor yet of any misconduct, with which the functionaries of justice, in these our times, are especially chargeable, but of that mode of remuneration for judicial service, which the rude state of society in the early ages, perhaps, necessitated.

3. That this grievance, though at all times so constant in existence and operation, in judicial practice,—has at all times stood prohibited by an express law, and that, the law styled by pre-eminence Magna Charta,—the very law which stands first in the statute-book, and has at all times been regarded and spoken of as the corner-stone of that constitution, by which the government of your Majesty’s kingdom has, at all times, been so highly distinguished, to its advantage, from all other monarchies.

4. That by the said statute, it is declared in express words as follows: Nulli differemus, nulli vendemus, nulli negabimus justitiam—we will not delay, we will not sell, we will not deny, justice to any one.

5. That in direct contravention of an ordinance and promise thus clear and express,—justice in your Majesty’s Equity Courts, has, at all times, by artificial devices, been delayed to all, without exception; sold to the comparatively few, who have been able to pay the extortious price, at all times put upon it (to which unhappy number belong we, whose names are hereunto subscribed;) and utterly denied to all who have been unable to come up to that price; to which last class belong the vast majority of your Majesty’s English subjects, not to speak of others.

6. That, for some generations, in and by your Majesty’s courts of justice, two essentially different forms, modes, or courses, of judicial procedure have been carried on, and acted under: the one called the regular, the other the summary: the regular mode having been, almost the whole of it, the work of a set of judges, who, all the time, have acknowledged and declared themselves incompetent to make law; the summary, the work of the only legislature of these your Majesty’s realms—the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled.

7. That this course of procedure—the only one which has its foundation in acknowledged law—not only in the nature of it, shuts an effectual door against all factitious delay, expense, and vexation, but is, in a superior degree, not to say exclusively, calculated to ensure rectitude of decision: and is, accordingly, not a mere makeshift, but the only course really adapted to the purpose of giving execution and effect to that main part of the body of the law to which it is intended to give execution and effect—in a word, to the attainment of the ends of justice.

8. That the giving to us, your Majesty’s subjects, in all cases, the benefit of this exclusively apt course of procedure, would necessitate the revival of that all-comprehensive system of local judicatories, which had place in the days of our Saxon ancestors, and which (though traces of it still remain,) became virtually extinguished, by means of the Norman conquest: and, though ultimately, if administered as it ought to be, and might be, and substituted to the present so inadequate system of judicatories, the aggregate expense would even be reduced by it,—yet, in the first instance, a very considerable expense would be an indispensable preliminary to it.

9. That, antecedently to the disbursement of that extra expense,—an institution, which if practicable, would of course be highly desirable, is—one, by which the effects of the substitution of the summary system of procedure, when substituted to the equity mode, which is the most oppressive of all the modes of the regular system, might be rendered matter of experience: which experience obtained, either the supposed improvement will be shown to be impracticable, or a sufficient warrant will be given, for the expense necessary to the making a general application of it.

10. That we have seen a work, published under the title of Justice and Codification Petitions,* by Jeremy Bentham; in which, by the name of The Dispatch Court, a description is given of a judicatory, by means of which an effectual trial might be made of the proposed summary system, with very inconsiderable expense, and without any arrangement produced in the case of any suit, other than the several individual suits, in which application will have been expressly made of it.

11. That, under the existing system, the interest of men of law being, for the most part, so unhappily, and, to no small extent, irreconcileably adverse to that of the rest of your Majesty’s subjects—the interest of men of law in general, but more especially of those among whom your Majesty would have to make choice of a judge for the proposed new court, and of those by whose advice and on whose recommendation such choice would, in ordinary course, have to be made,—we cannot, consistently with observation made of the universally-regulating principle of human action, entertain any the least hope of a successful issue to the proposed experiment, if the choice in this respect were made without some deviation from that same ordinary course.

12. That, a course, however, there is, by which—in a mode universally familiar and approved—a choice, satisfactory to us, and fully competent to the purpose, might be made without prejudice to your Majesty’s undisputed and indisputable royal prerogative—and without other sacrifice, than such of which precedents in abundance are already in existence.

13. That, accordingly, by the 9th and 10th of King William the Third, chapter the 15th, access to justice is provided, by means of judges, who, under the name of arbitrators, are chosen by the sole will of suitors, without any commission from, or cognizance of such choice taken by the sovereign of this realm: and, to the decrees of the occasional judges thus chosen, is the force of law accordingly given; though in a very inadequate manner, and to a very inadequate extent: owing to the adverse interest and irresistible power of the permanent judges of the superior courts.

14. That, in like manner, at divers times, and in divers places, originally under the name of Courts of Requests, and thereafter under the name of Courts of Conscience, courts officiating by the like summary course of procedure, have—each of them—by a statute made and enacted for the purpose, been established: and that, in the instance of none of them, in the choice or appointment of persons therein officiating as judges, has any part been given to be borne by your Majesty, or any of your Majesty’s royal predecessors.

15. That, confiding in your Majesty’s paternal goodness, and praying, as by these presents we humbly but earnestly do pray, that, in the appointment of a judge of the hereby-proposed Dispatch Court, the choice may, in the first instance, in this case, as in that of an Arbitration Court, as above, be made by suitors,—we desire not to exempt such choice from the controul of your Majesty’s paternal hand: on the contrary, it is our humble request, that, as often as made, any such choice shall be made subject to disallowance, by your Majesty’s royal negative.

16. That, accordingly, we further pray, that it may please your Majesty, to issue your Majesty’s royal proclamation,—declaring—that if, and so soon as it shall have pleased your Majesty in Parliament to institute a Court of the description above mentioned, with powers necessary and requisite for the giving execution and effect to the institution thereby established, your Majesty will be graciously pleased to appoint a place, at which we the undersigned and such other persons as may have successively added their respective signatures, may assemble, and then and there, in the way of ballot, make choice of a person to be appointed to that office; and, under and by virtue of your Majesty’s royal commission, to act under, and give execution and effect to, the powers thereof: subject, however, to your Majesty’s undisputed and indisputable royal negative, upon any person at any time so elected.

17. That, in the humble hope of such your Majesty’s gracious and compassionate compliances, we your Majesty’s afflicted subjects have hereunto subscribed our respective names, residences, and conditions in life in respect of marriage; prefixing in each instance the names of the suits in which we are suitors, as likewise the names of all the several other suitors, in such suit, and on which side thereof respectively, as far as known to us. Witness our hands—

[* ]See Vol. V.