[168-177v]

3 January 1807

Evidence

Supposing or not supposing the number of anomalous Lords in the Scottish state, (I was thinking of the Lord Justice Clerk, the Lord Advocate and the Lord Lion) to be augmented by the addition of a Lord [...?], there would remain /be/ either the [...?] such existing Lords for whom in the supposition of the [...?] of natural Prudence[?] to technical[?] in the Sheriffs Court as [...?] has been done in the Small Bill Courts, occupation would be to be found.

For my plan (it is with difficulty that I can prevail upon myself for saving of perpetually [...?] circumlocutions that I can prevail upon myself thus to obtrude on [...?] [...?] upon Your Lordship's motice upon my plan /this plan of mine/ there would be nothing for learned[?] Lords to do but to hear causes coming /brought/ before them in the way of Appeal. For this purpose instead of the three Chambers proposed by the already authoritative received[?] plan sitting to hear causes in the first instance with the addition of a Chamber of Review, proposd to be made up occasionally out of the same learned materials, there would be 14 or 15 Chambers with a Lord and but one Lord, a Judge and but one Judge in each and each of them consisting a Chamber of Review and nothing else but a Chamber of Review. Here then would be the principle /the effect of the grand/ - the principle of competition tried upon a much larger scale than that proposed: saving of delay, so far as constituted by the three[?] occupied[?] by the Judges themselves in performing these operations (such of them as the faculty of thought is employed in ) and tendency[?] about them, the branch of [...?] /moreover/ [...?] to a still higher degree of perfection.