A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis Part 51

Held at St. Margaret's Hill, Southwark, by the Lord-Mayor's Steward, for Actions of small Debts, Damages, Trespa.s.s, &c.

Court of Record

For the Clink Liberty, held near Bankside, in Southwark, by the Bishop of Winchester's Steward, for Actions of Debt, Trespa.s.s, &c.

within that Liberty

Marshalsea Court

A Court of Record (or the Court of the Royal Palace) having jurisdiction 12 miles round Whitehall (exclusive of the City of London) for actions of Debts, Damages, Trespa.s.ses, &c. and subject to be removed to a higher Court of Law, when above 5_l._

Court of Requests

For the recovery of small Debts under 40_s._ without appeal, held at St. Margaret's Hill, by Commissioners chosen under the Act of Parliament, by the different Parishes

Coroners' Court

To inquire into causes of sudden Death--in Southwark, &c.

Quarter Sessions of the Peace

Held by the Lord-Mayor and Aldermen, at St. Margaret's Hill, for the Borough of Southwark

Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the County of Surry

Held at the New Sessions House in Southwark, by the Magistrates of the County of Surry

Petty Sessions, or Police Court, established by Act of Parliament

A Court held every morning and evening by two Justices, at the Public Office, Union Hall, Union-street, Southwark, for Objects of Police, &c.

PRISONS _in the_ METROPOLIS.

1. King's Bench Prison, for Debtors on Process or Execution in the King's Bench, &c. St. George's Fields

2. Fleet Prison, for Debtors on Process, &c. in the Common Pleas, &c. Fleet Market

For the City of London.

3. Ludgate Prison, Bishopsgate-street

4. Poultry Compter, in the Poultry

5. Giltspur-street Compter, Giltspur-street

6. Newgate, or City and County Gaol, Old Bailey

7. New Prison, Clerkenwell--Gaol for the County of Middles.e.x

8. Prison for the Liberty of the Tower of London, Well-close-square

9. Whitechapel Prison for Debtors in the five pound court

10. Savoy Prison for Deserters and Military Delinquents

Houses of Correction.

11. City Bridewell--Bridewell, Bridge-street, Blackfriars

12. Tothill Fields Bridewell--Tothill Fields

13. Spa Fields Penitentiary House

14. New Bridewell in the Borough of Southwark

15. County Gaol for Surry in the Borough of Southwark

16. Clink Gaol, in ditto

17. Marshalsea Gaol, in the Borough, for Pirates, &c.

18. New Gaol, in the Borough.

Nothing, perhaps, can manifest, in a greater degree, the increased commerce and population of the Metropolis of the Empire, than the following summary detail of the different cla.s.ses of professional men connected with the various departments of the Law.

It appears from the preceding Statements, that there are in the Metropolis

9 Supreme Courts; to which are attached 270 officers[183]

4 Ecclesiastical Courts 54 do.

18 Inferior Courts for small Debts 146 do.

1 Court of Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery 27 do.

4 Courts of General and Quarter Sessions of the Peace 46 do.

10 Courts and Petty Sessions for purposes of Police 190 do.

5 Coroners' Courts 20 do.

--- 753

King's Serjeants, Attorney and Solicitor General, and King's Advocate 8 Serjeants at Law 14 Doctors of Law 14 King's Counsel 25 Masters in Chancery 10 Barristers at Law 400 Special Pleaders 50 Proctors in Doctors' Commons 50 Conveyancers 40 Attorneys at Law in the different Courts 1,900 Clerks, a.s.sistants, and others, estimated at 3,700 Notaries Public 36 ----- Total about 7,000

[Footnote 183: See for some further particulars the 27th Report of the Finance Committee.]

It is impossible to contemplate this view of a very interesting subject, without being forcibly struck with the vast extent of the wealth and commercial intercourse of the Country, which furnish advantageous employment for such a mult.i.tude of individuals in one particular profession. Every good man, and every lover of his country, must anxiously wish that the advantages may be reciprocal; and that men of talents, integrity, and ability, in the profession of the Law, while they extend their aid to the removal of those evils which are a reproach to the criminal jurisprudence of the Country, would also a.s.sist in procuring the removal of the inconveniences at present felt in the recovery of small debts. This is peculiarly irksome to every well-disposed person, who, in the course of business, having transactions with the ma.s.s of mankind, cannot avoid frequently meeting with bad or litigious characters, by whom disputes are unavoidably generated.

According to the prevailing System, if the debt exceeds 40_s._ the action may be brought in a superior Court, where, if contested or defended, the expence, at the lowest computation, must be upwards of fifty pounds. Prudent men, under such circ.u.mstances, will forego a just claim upon another, or make up a false one upon themselves, as by far the least of two evils, in all cases where they come in contact with designing and bad people; and hence it is, that the worthless part of mankind, availing themselves in _Civil_ as others do in _Criminal Cases_, of the imperfections of the Law, forge these defects into a rod of oppression, either to defraud the honest part of the Community of a just right, or to create fraudulent demands, where no right attaches; merely because those miscreants know that an action at Law, even for 20_l._ cannot either be prosecuted or defended, without sinking three times the amount in Law expences; besides the loss of time, which is still more valuable to men in business.

To convince the Reader that this observation is not hazarded on weak grounds, and that the evil is so great as to cry aloud for a remedy, it is only necessary to state, that in the County of Middles.e.x alone, in the year 1793, the number of bailable writs and executions, for debts from _Ten_ to _Twenty_ pounds, amounted to no less than 5,719, and the aggregate amount of the debts sued for was the sum of .81,791.

It will scarcely be credited, _although it is most unquestionably true_, that the mere costs of these actions, although made up, and not defended at all, would amount to 68,728_l._--And if defended, the aggregate expence to recover 81,791_l._ must be--(_strange and incredible as it may appear_), no less than 285,905_l._! being considerably more than three times the amount of the debts sued for.