The City is so discontented with the excessive delay of
the Courts in settling commercial disputes and the great expense of proceedings, that the Corporation of London and the Chamber of Commerce have united to create a new Tribunal of Arbitration. A panel has been selected containing a thousand names of competent persons who have agreed to serve, and from this, in each case submitted, a jury will be selected whose award is expected to be received as final. That is a practical device, and the City congratulates itself greatly ; but we confess, though we fully admit the need, and hope the new scheme will secure the speedy decisions for which commerce is longing, we hear of the step taken with a certain regret. It shows that our legal machinery is still so imperfect, and that successive Governments are still un- willing to do their first duty, which is to provide cheap and speedy justice. There is no solid reason whatever why there should not be a Court of Commerce with Judges sitting all the year round, a simple procedure, and decisions invested with final authority. The French do not bear all the delays of our system. The usual argument against a sufficient reform is expense ; but a few months of delayed decisions costs trade more than any number of new Judges would.
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