PRACTICE IN MINING APPEALS.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 512, 3 June 1869, Page 2

PRACTICE IN MINING APPEALS.

(To the Editor oftlie Went port Times.) Sie, —The dismissal of the two mining appeals this morning has naturallycaused some excitement. My name too has, I find, been very freely handled by some in reference to the matter. Now, I have ever thought it unnecessary, if not indeed improper, to vindicate one's professional conduct in the press. There is a proper tribunal to which we are alone responsible—l mean the Judges of the Supreme Court, one of whose humblest officers I have the honor to be. I shall, therefore, take no notice of any insinuations affecting my motives or my conduct in these cases. But I do think, and I cannot resist the expression of my opinion, that it is quite time that uniformity of practice should be adopted in these Appeal matters. This is equally important as well for the guidance of professional men as for those miners who may desire, or may be compelled, to act without professional assistance.

At a recent sitting of the District Court, in a case, I think, Ilydes v. Sutherland, the notice of appeal was prepared in precisely the same form as that adopted in the cases to-day dismissed for informality. In that case Mr Tyler was for the appellants, and Mr Home for the respondents, designated by their party name, not individually. It may be said that perhaps the objection was not taken. But every lawyer knows that the right to appeal is a statutory right and cannot be conferred by consent. The learned Judge to-day saw the monstrous injustice inflicted by following the strictum jus, and was disposed to amend the notices, which in all respects apprised the respondents of the grounds of appeal. But his Honor was met with the argument that if he did amend, the summons in the Court below would not fit the amended notice. Now in every case in the

"Warden's Court, I believe, the summons is filled in as it was in the cases in point. It follows, therefore, as a necessary conclusion, if the argument advanced be sound, that in no case decided could an appeal have laid. The loss of time, and the costs to all parties—the vexation to those defeated, resulting from a want of uniform system—are made palpably apparent by these cases. It can only be hoped that those who in future are involved in litigation may at least have the popularly attributed "uncertainty of the law reduced to something like a minimum.—Yours, &c, William Pite.