(_TO THE EDITOR OF PUNCH._)
DEAR SIR,--As the conductor of the recognised organ of the legal
profession, I have the honour to address you. My learned and
accomplished friend. Mr. MONTAGU WILLIAMS, Q.C., complained the other
day that there was a right of appeal from the Police Court to the
Bench of Middlesex Magistrates. He said that his colleagues were
barristers and gentlemen of considerable eminence, and in those
characters were better able to decide upon the merits of a case
than the persons who compose the Tribunal to which appeal from their
decision is permissible. I have not recently looked through the list
of Metropolitan Police Magistrates, but, if they have been chosen from
the ranks of literature and law, as they were thirty years ago, I can
well understand that they are an exceedingly capable body of men.
That so accomplished a _littérateur_ and admirable an advocate as my
friend Mr. MONTAGU WILLIAMS himself should have been raised to the
Magisterial bench, is a proof that the standard has been maintained.
But, Sir, can nothing be done for the other tribunal?
Would it not be possible to appoint a certain proportion of
stipendiaries, with ample salaries, to that body? What is wanted are
men with a perfect knowledge of the law, and a large experience of
the adversities as well as the pleasures of life. If they occasionally
dabble in literature, so much the better. But, it may be said, where
are such men to be found? I answer, in very many places, and, to
encourage the authorities in their search, shall be most happy to
personally head the list.
Yours, very faithfully,
(_Signed_) A. BRIEFLESS, JUNIOR. _Pump-handle Court, Oct. 4th, 1890._
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