The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-05-02 00:00:00

The LEGALITY of RABBIT COURSING.

On Saturday, in the Court of Queen's Bench
(Sittings in Banco, before the Lord Chief Justice and
Mr. Justice Quain), the Court took the Crown Paper,
and the first case was one of some interest to the
sporting part of the community on the one hand, and
on the other to those who take an interest in the pro-
tection of animals from cruelty. It was the cause of
"Pitts r. Mellor," and the case raised a question
whether *persons attending sporting matches in
which animals are chased or hunted to death
under such circumstances that they cannot escape
are liable to be convicted of the offence of baiting
under the Cruelty to Animals Act. It was an
appeal from a conviction under the Act for bait-
ing ra 1 obits, under these circumstances :—The Act
12 and 13 Vic., c. 92, passed in 1849 for the more
effectual prevention of cruelty to animals, enacted that
every person who shall keep or use or act in the
management of any place for the purpose of fighting
or baiting any bull, bear, badger, dog, or other
animal, whether of domestic or wild nature, and every
person who shall in any way encourage, aid, or assist
at the fighting or baiting, shall pay a tine of £5. In
the present case there was a field near Dewsbury
walled round so that rabbits could not escape, and
there rabbits were chased with dogs in this way. There
was &match of £25 a side whose dog should take and kill
the greatest number of rabbits by running after
them in a certain period of time. The rabbits
were taken separately and held up before the dogs (which
were in slips), 60 yards in advance of the dogs, and
were then set loose, and tlo. dogs were unslipped and
ran after them and caught and killed them. There
were 500 persons present at the match, and among
them was the defendant, with a couple of dogs held in
a slip. The attorney who appeared for them contended
that this did not come within the Act any more than
eetusing hares or hunting a fox. The magistrates,
however, convicted the defendant, who thereupon ap-
pealed.

Sir J. Karslake appeared on his behalf—no one ap-
pearing in support of the conviction—and argued that
the conviction could not be sustained. He first urged
that the defendant did not keep the field, nor did he
encourage "or "aid the sport; but as to this
The Court intimated that they thought this point
untenable, and

Sir J. Kerslake passed on to the main point that the
sport was not " baiting " the rabbits within the mean-
ing of the Act. lie likened it to the coursing of hares;
but as to this
The Lord Chief Justice observed that the hare
could escape, and sometimes did so, but here it was
not so.

Mr. Justice Quain : The rabbits could not escape.
Sir J. Karslake submitted that it was neither
"fighting "nor "baiting," and.he likened it to pigeon-.
shooting from traps.
The Lord Chief Justice said he should not hold
pigeon-shooting was either fighting or baiting.
Sir J. Karslake said it was very difficult indeed to
draw the line in such cases.

The Lord Chief Justice said it was so, no doubt.
Sir J. Karslake urged that this case did not come
within the Act; it certainly was not fighting, nor, he
urged, was it baiting.

The Court were of that opinion, and said that the
chase of rabbits or hares could not be said to be baiting,
which implied that the animal was tied or fastened.
The conviction, therefore, was gnashed.

what you wouldn't do with me? Mind,! don't want to
keep you front doing the best you caii for yourselves, nor JUDGMENT IN THE TICHBORNE CASE.
.1., 1. you tu give up your Uuion tickets if you think ytal
ore better ott in a Union. But are yen better oil'Wll
t good is the Union to you ? I know you men read the news- At the sitting of the Court of queen's Bench on
',awe." Mea •-•'• i es, as well as we can Farmer Wednesday, the judges on the bench being the Led
Is always a • lawyer ' among you to read the news- Chief Justice out! Justices Blackburn and Archibald,
papers duo Ate.) to such as cant red for hemselves.
Mr,„_.... Justice Blackburn delivered the judgment of the
Now, 1 jilos you to read the papers , but don't you find
Vito that -labour fetches just what its worth, lise
....,[ . the motion which was, made be
•Dr..
ru aud . 7 When there'etoo ask& in thaugarket. i
goes the- ; when it's scarce, up It goes. 'Wages day
among before you heard of Volume; sad so in the pan of •• Begins r, centre on cattu-
.
.
Nis hip said the. indrolasent was -lound by the grand
weld.' tt thout rinses. 11 mertirti- was wanted jhry in ' centr*Criminal Court fur perjury committed
t wa.s in ket - Mos,: We the Uniouiprell
bee w' , master. and i': . n toe.' Besides, it
(4.6.
"'thin the lurisoietibild thscolotrai criminal wort. At w.
removed
tha into this soon by a w rit of certiorari Nvllich. as
lit, to c.., north Or leave the country, and. so thins out a tia raintrecf,by statue' 9 and 10 Vic., c. 24, sec. 3, specified
Ask the rest slits must be better off." Former. —'° Well, Middlesex as the county in which it should be tried. On
li
''itinst judge for yourselves whether ,15.1 like the' Union
ow, I've never the aidication of Om Attorney-General A was ordered
ke' n yeti like my service As yea . that the trial should be at bar. This court in
born a hard master, and I don't think y want a Union to Hilary. term under statue 11 Ceo. IV. and 1 Wm
protevt you against me." Ilea ...., You've idwuYs IV.,i C. - Te,• s. 7, -unhanded tor the trial die. 23r1 of
treated iis well, mastel•Nev-e DMilosta my against ye 4 But April, 1873 (ben* a day in Easter term) and every day up to
then we mayn't drays have you to deal with. We moonlit and toclusive of the tat of November, 1673, being the [lay
tau Union to protect us then against a irnebody who is hard. before the first day of Michaelmas term, and farther ordered
There is not another trade without its Union sh . Why old
- - " that lie, ase [lto trial should not terminate on or before the
tarot labourers spot be let to combine as well as other people" tat day if November, the further trial should be adjourned
Fanner.- '' For 0110 thinr,..-- because farming can't be carried till-Michaelmas term next, and be thereafter continued
on like other trades They don't depend on the seasons :we at such tittles as the court should then direct. The
do, as yon know very well. Have you got a rule in your jury was taken from the county of Middlesex, and
Ullioll which will insure me good weather for my honest?' the trial at bar commenced. The court did nut sit me-
at.. daubing). —." No, master, taint likely." Farmer.— ti
"You but adjourned not only over Sundays mil knit-
have"You know as well as Ido that for the last two years I days, but also over days Included in this period on which it
got nothing by this farm through the wet," Men.— might have sat. And ill particular, there was an adjourn-
" No, master; we don't suppose you have." Farmer.— ment from the 31st of October, 1873, to the 17th of Novem-
" Then, look at this , you are just going to thrash two ber, 1873, which was a day in Michaelmas terra. To this
stacks of corn. You began to till the land for that corn last adjournment the defendant's counsel objected, and the
at Michaelmas, 1872. You got paid for your labour about court adjourned without any consent. The trial having been
it long since, Now, not a penny return have I had yet. motracted, this court, in 3lichaelmas term, 1873, tmde a
No ; I must take that corn into the market next week, second order appointing every day up to Michaelmas term,
and to make it pay. me I shall have to get at least 40s. 1674, for the trial. The trial proceeded, and on the 28th day
a comb for it" (A comb ls four bushels.) "But I shall of February, 1874, a day in the vacation before this term,
have to take only 300 for it. It is the same with my the defendant was found guilty, and the court then passed
besets and my sheep. I can't reckon beforehand, as a builder sentence o'. tont Cr penal servitude on each count. Within
might, what a lob will cost, and what it will yield, for there the Iris WU. .a , '
.:. term the counsel for the defendant
are the wet and the drought to upset all my reckoning.
moved for a rule nisi for anew trial, or to arrest judgment,
Neither cant du as any tradesman would do—name his price
or for a venire de novo, on certain grounds, most of Om
and refuse to work it he cannot make his price for the job.
objections having been taken and disposed of during the
w e fanners must go 011 wet or dry, good time or bad time; trial at bar. It mutt not 0116 lordship said) be supposed that
and we must take the market price for our corn and stock,
whatever that may be" Men. —" Yes, that's true master, by entertaining the motion for a new trial the court
But farmers have their good years as well as their bad years, expressed any opinion as to the competency of the court
to re-hear and consider points of law already decided
and can set one against another. We have only our labour to
sell, and must always try to get the best price it will fetch by the same court when sitting at bar. It would be time to
in the market." Farmer —"Quite so, and I have always decide this point when it became necessary to do, so, but
given you, dilate ready to give you still, the full market price they were ddrous of guarding themselves againat any ma.
for your labour." Men.— " Yes, and you know, master, we (creme in favour of such a propoaition from the fact of their
have not asked for higher wages. That is not the reason you having heard the application. They were all of opinion that
are parting with on. Why should we be turned off because no ground whatever had been showu for doubting that the
some men struck for higher wages at Exiling?" Farmer.— proceedings front first to last had been perfectly regular,
"It is nets question of wages be.ween us. It is the con- that the venliet was properly obtained and was quite sutra-
stant uncertain y and irritation in which your Unions keep factory, and that sentence was properly passed by the
nhe fanners So long as you are in the Unio we don cotut sitting in bane* on a day which by 7 Geo.
know where we are Cr with whom we have to deal. Imy IV. and 1 Wm. IV., c. 70, s. 7, was for the purpose
again, that so long as that lasts we do not look upon you of this trial at bar to be taken to be part of the pro.
as free agen Bto make a bargain wi.h us." Men.—" That ceding teem- viz, Hilary term, 1874. They pro.
bm e wrong, aster ;i, is really. They delegates don't order flounced at once their reasons for saying that there
the men to s rike ; it's the men themselves. Dwe say a was no colour for the motion Sr a new trial on the ground
word against the farmers when they join together? No; and that the verdict was unsatisfactory on account of the way in
what we do say is, we shall be bondmen—yes, bondmen— if which it was returned. On the other grounds of ntotion
we are not let to combine." Fanner.--" Don't give up your they postponed giving their reasons, not from any doubts
tickets, then, if you think the Union is for your good. 'too entertained by any member of the court, but because this
are quite free to combine, and we farmers are free to em- being in some respect* a new case, they were desirous of ex-
pressing their re.ons precisely, no as to be an assistance to
ploy only theme who do not combine." Men.—" To be
sore! Then we are to leave you next Friday i" Farmer.— their successors if a similar case should occur again.
. That is what we have agreed upon at 'hwy. I have always Mr. Justice Blackburn then proceeded to deal in
found 3, u a good set of labourers, anti I don't think you detail with each point, and repeated that the Court
have fund rne a bad master." Men.—" No, Surely." Far:
nice—" We have always got on well together, except in the thought none of them were tenable.
little matter last harvest. lam Emmy to part with you ; Rule refused accordin 1
g Y.
but no it must be. At any rate we will part good friends.
(To the bailiff.) Brinfrin some beer and let them have some
all round." Men. —" Thank you, master." Farmer —.‘ Per-
haps cc may meet again." Men —" Perhapa we may. We
shan't i e abio e asking you fur a job again if we want it,
just as we did after harvest." Fanner. --. And you shall
have it, if your places are not filled up. Let me advise you
to do anything rather than go out of the country. There is
plenty of work here in England for all of you, and a good
many men aho have crosatal the water wish themeelves back
again." If •• ri.ome do well, we hear. Some do badly at
home or abroad."