The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-12 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

Sittings at Nisi l'rius in filidilleset.—(Before Lord Chief
Justice Itovill and a Special Jury.)
HARP r. ROBINSON.

The further hearing of thiscase wasresumed this morning.
Mr. E. dames, Q.C., Mr. Field, t.j.C., Mr. Matthew.,
and Mr. Cleave appeared for the plaintiff ; Mr. Coleridge,
Q.C., Uiffard, Q.C.. and Mr. H. James for the de-
fendant ; and Mr. Archibald watched the case on hthalf of
the trustees of the testator's will.

George Smith, who had had been in the employ of Mr.
Turner when he resided at Shirley, said that his business
was to attend to the horses and work in the garden. He
rememberml an occaaiou when he was nicking a
straw hod in the field for the horses to exer-
cise on. Mr. Turner and Mr. Merrick were there. Mr.
Cottrell, the farmer, came up the road, and Mr. Turner
said to him, alluding to Mr. Merrick, " This is the man
for hay. he comes out of the right country ' this is Mr.
Hatitio." 3lr. Merrick went in, :mil then Mr. Turner told
witness to „••ct to Mr. Cotterell's for milk and eggs, but he
did not in fact go ; Mrs. Turner went. Thin occurred in
He once aaw at Mr. Turner's a person whom he
now knew to be Mr. Harrison. Mrs. Hamp told him it
was Mr. Hamp. Witness remembered Mr. Fletcher, a
farmer, coming in a car with Mrs. Hamp to Shirley, and
he stayed a night or two. (The photographs of Mr. John
Hump were handed to the witness, and he said that he bad
never seen that itentleman at Shirley.)
In truss-exammation the witness admitted that he bad
been in trouble once; and being further questioned he
mid it was for shooting a rabbit, and he had to pay IL 14s.
The Mr. Merrick who was ittruduced as Mr. Hump was
not the Mr. Merrick who was examined here. There were
two of them.

Mr. Coleridge proposed to read the deposition of Emma
Broome, a person who was ill, to prove adultery between
Mr. Turner and Mrs. Hamp.
Mr. James contended that the evidence was inadmis-
sible. The question ill the cause was whether Mr. Hemp
had accede to his wife, so that he might be the father of
plaintiff, and whether the wife had or not committed
adultery was quite irrelevant to the issue to be tried. If
there were access the law would presume legitimacy.
His lordship entertained very serious doubts aa to the
admissibility of the evidence, and it was therefore not
pressed.
[The case was proceeding when our report left.]

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

Sittings in llnneo.—(Before the Lord Chief Baron and

Barons Martin, Channell, and Pigott.)
The court sat to-day for the purpose of delivering judg-
ments.
ILESTAL r. THE LONDON AND SOUTH WEsTEILY EAILWAT

COMPANY.

This case, which was isnrut,lb;fore the late Lord Chief
Baron retired from the bench, raised a very curious ques-
tion. The plaintiff had entered into a deed of compoution
with his creditors, and his solicitor had it put in a parcel
and sent it to a station on the defendants railway for the
purpose of being delivered on the same day at his
London agent's who bad instructions to register it at the
Bankruptcy Court. When the train arrived at the
Waterloo Station it was over-looked and found its way
back by the train on the return journay. The result was
that the parcel was not delivered until the next day,
when the time for registering the deed had expired, and
consequently the plaintiff lost the benefit of the deed.
Thereupon the plaintiff brought his action for damages
against the company, and obtained a verdict in his favour,
but a rule was subsequently granted and argued to enter
a nonsuit.

Mr. Baron Martin said the question was whe th er the plain-
tiff could maintain an action against the defendant.' for
the nondelivery of the parcel, and upon that the judges
differd in opinion ; but they were all agreed that the
damages ought to be nominal, and under those circum-
stances recommended the parties to agree to a stet pro-
cessus. If, however, they insisted on havinglthe judgment
of the court, they might have it at an early period in next
term. But the question was a very nice one, and as it
gave rise to a difference of opinion, it was hoped the sug-
gestion of the court would be adopted.

- WARD r. THE GAS LIGHT AND COKE COMPACT.
This was an action by the plaintiff for damage he had
sustained by the destruction of Saville-house, through the
alleged negligence of the defendants' servants, he being at
the time o' the occurrence the occupier of a portion of the
premises. At the last trial a verdict passed for the plain-
tiff, and during last term Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., on the part
of the defendants, applied to the court for a new trial on
the ground that the verdict was against the evidence, and
upon the affidavits setting out additional facts.
The Lord Chief Baron said the court had attentively
considered the affidavits, but, inasmuch us it hail been
intimated to them that other actions were pending against
the same company on precisely the same grounds as this
action, they thought it better for the present to forbear
pronouncing judgment as to whether they would grant or
refuse a rule fora new trial, and they trusted that before
they met aguiu another trial would have taken place which
might poeMbly throw some light on the real merits of the
cam.
Judgment deferred.

The
The court delivered several judgmenta on questions
arising upon composition deeds under the Bankruptcy
Act. In the first they were equally divided in opinion,
and consequently a rule, calling upon the sheriff to
withdraw from possession of the defendant's goods,
dropped. The other judgments involved no point.* of
general interest.

The 3fanehe.ster Guardian thinks Mr. Disraeli's
preliniinsry statement "is wanting in the tone of self-
confidence which is a powerful means of inspiring confi-
dence in others." The Manclyster Examiner suspects that
" the forthcoming resolutions will be delusive, inadequate,
and inadmissible as a complete programme of reform."
To the Leeds Mercury the signs do not look at all favour-
able to the carrying of • complete and satisfactory

METROPOLITAN POOR BILL.—The bill for the
establishment in the metropolis of asylums for the sick,
insane, and other classes of the poor, and of dispensaries,
ke., has been issued this morning. It contains 78 clauses,
the general nature of which was explained by Mr. Hardy
on introducing the measure in the House of Commons.
There are 4 preliminary clauses; 32 relating to the forma-
tion of district asylums ; 9 on the subject of medical out-
door relief ; t relating to district and separate schools ; 4
relating to purchase of lands ; 4 to contributions of unions
and parishes ; 1 to medial in-door relief ; 1 to the house-
less poor ; 12 to the metropolitan common poor fund ; 6 to
poor relief under local acts ; 1 to the addition to boards of
guardians ; and 1 to the appointment of officers.
COMMITTEE ON RITUALISM.—The committee of
laymen, of which Mr. John Abel Smith is chairman, and
Mr. Robert Culling Hanhury honorary secretary, have
reported in favour of inviting the leading members, both
lay and clerical, of the Church of England, without dis-
tinction of party, to join in a deputation to the Prime
Minister for the purpose of ur;,ing upon the govern-
ment the necessity of legislation fur amending the rubric
which immediately precedes the Order for Morning
Prayer, and also amending the Church Discipline Act so
as to facilitate the restraining of innovations. They fur-
ther recommend that the Premier should be requested to
advise her Majesty to issue a commission which shall in-
quire into the propriety of amending the rubric com-
plained of, and of rendering the enforcement of church
discipline in such matters prompt and inexpensive. In
the event of non-success in this application, they recom-
mend recourse to parliament and an address from each
house to the crown. Prosecutions of ritualists are depre-
cated, and lastly the committee "cannot too earnestly
and emphatically impress upon the conference the im-
portance of regarding and dealing with this question in
such a manner as to carry with them in their proposed
solution of the pre-cut difficulty the largest possible num-
ber of members of the church of England."