Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- 1 A man of laws
- 2 An independent learned gentleman
- 3 A government retainer
- 4 Formal politics
- 5 Engagement
- 6 Setbacks
- 7 Resolution
- 8 Pater familias
- 9 Upright intentions
- 10 The King's man
- 11 The practice of patronage
- 12 Cut and thrust
- 13 A servant may serve two masters
- 14 Reform and revolution
- 15 The Speaker speaks
- 16 Lord Endless
- 17 Faithful defender
- 18 Twilight of the State
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section
16 - Lord Endless
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- 1 A man of laws
- 2 An independent learned gentleman
- 3 A government retainer
- 4 Formal politics
- 5 Engagement
- 6 Setbacks
- 7 Resolution
- 8 Pater familias
- 9 Upright intentions
- 10 The King's man
- 11 The practice of patronage
- 12 Cut and thrust
- 13 A servant may serve two masters
- 14 Reform and revolution
- 15 The Speaker speaks
- 16 Lord Endless
- 17 Faithful defender
- 18 Twilight of the State
- Bibliography
- Index
- Plate Section
Summary
On 24 February 1824 the Home Secretary, Robert Peel, announced to the House of Commons that the government supported the appointment of a royal commission to inquire generally into the practice of the court of Chancery, and to consider whether removing any or particular matters from the Lord Chancellor's jurisdiction would improve that practice. The government's decision, Peel affirmed, was based on advice from the Chancellor, recommendations of a House of Lords committee, and the recognition that members opposite ‘had made out a case of complete justification for inquiry’. The Home Secretary's speech provoked an apparently curious response. MPs who had been the firm advocates of reform for the past several years were extremely sceptical. Eldon, in contrast, who opposed most if not all of the substantive reforms then being considered, wrote gratefully to Peel on the following day: ‘I cannot go forth this morning to my work and labour without having expressed to you how very much I feel myself obliged to you.’ The divergence in these expressions reflects the complexity of the issue of Chancery reform. The length of the agitation for change, the complexity of the subject-matter, and the personalities involved, all demand further analysis, particularly as debate on the subject dominated Eldon's last years in office.
In the early nineteenth century, the judicial authority of the Lord Chancellor existed in two contexts. He presided over the judicial business in the House of Lords as its Speaker, and he sat as judge in the court of Chancery.
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- Chapter
- Information
- John Scott, Lord Eldon, 1751–1838The Duty of Loyalty, pp. 295 - 325Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
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