The Express.
London, England, 1860-07-27 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 27.

Tug judgment of
the case of Norrtnos v. Payees being substan-
tially equitable, will give general satisfaction,
however dubious or imperfect some of the grounds
on which it rests. The learned Judge has assigned
reasons which will not bear very close examination ;
and logically involve results he would at once
repudiate. But the decision is essentially just,
and, if it peens without appeal, we shall all re-
joice that the cause of reason and common sense
has triumphed over the dark and mercenary wiles
of religious imposture.
It must be clearly borne in mind, however, that
the evil here brought to light cannot in general be
dealt with by our judicial tribunals, and that in
this particular case it is only by accident as it were
that it comes within the scope of the law. It was
simply the more direct and common form in
which Mr. Pauccs transferred to himself the last
instalment of the Ncrermos property that exposed
him to a Chancery suit. He may be said to
have already appropriated with impunity the
whole of the money belonging to three of the
Mimics Nom Dor, amounting by his own confes-
sion to nearly 18,0001. But in each of these
cases he had taken the precaution of providing in
the shape of a husband a material guarantee for
the technical legality of the transaction. He in-
duced, or rather, having gained complete power
over them, he directed three of the sisters to
marry creatures of his own, and he then received
their fortunes, not from the ladies themselves, but
through their husbands. " Three of the Misses
N,Yrritmle," says Mr. 12aurca in his cressexa-

STUART in

ruination, " married. They all married after I
" became acquainted with them. They all mar-
" tied persons who were emanated with me, and
" whose opinions were the same as mine. • •
" I suppose I must say they married through my
" instrumentality, inasmuch as they married
" through my telling them it was the will of
" Goo they should so marry. Their hos-
" bands procured their money with their consent
" and gave it to me. I think they gave me between
" 5,000/. and 6,0004 each or thereabouts." The':
property of three of the sisters was thus secured
with ease and safety. Over the fourth sister,
Miss Loewe Jars NOITIDGE, Parxcs seems to
have acquired a still stronger ascendancy ; but
even in dealing with her, his spiritual power was
tempered with a certain amount of prudence and
worldly wisdom. The law is very jealous of gifts
made to those who have the means of acquiring,
and the opportunity of exerting, undue influence
over the giver. The clear proof of such influence
is m general sufficient to vitiate the gift or bequest.
Mr. Panic, was aware of this, and he sought,
therefore, to accomplish his object indirectly rather
than directly. Ho represent• the transfer of Miss
2COTTIDOE'S property to himself as a perfectly
voluntary act on her part. " LOUISA," he says,
"at the end of 1841 or beginning of 1846, re-
" garst,el me more than once to accept her money."
But supposing it had been made, this voluntary offer
was of course the direct result of the overpower-
ing influence Per ces had acquired over the mind
of his victim. He had carefully peptised the way
for the absolute surrender of herself and every-
thing she had by convincing this weak-minded lady
of his supernatural character—that he was that
second incarnation of the Deity, whose predicted
advent was to close the present dispensation. And
certainly no stronger case of undue influence
arising from gross imposture could well be imagined
than this. The attempt to evade the law by'
alleging a voluntary act on the part of one whose
will was under absolute control was thus a
failure. The principle laid down by Mr. Justice
Burn in another case has • direct application
here. He says :—" There are many instances in
" which attempts have been made to violate law by
" ingenious artifices which seemed at first sight to
"be the act of the law." " But when the
" Court," he adds, " sees that the real intention
" of the contriver is to violate the law, and that
" that intention has been effected by uaing forms
"of the law to compass what it really forbids,
" the judges have looked through the form
"at the substance or real nature of the
" transaction." This is what the Court
did in the present instance. It looked through the
pretence of a voluntary gift to the interested reci-
pient, who had absolutely destroyed the giver's
will. And where the undue influence was
so strong, and the victim of it so weak, the Judge
had little difficulty in deciding that the gift was
invalid, and that the property of Miss Norrtnos
must therefore he transferred to her legal repre-
sentatives.

But in general the law cannot be brought to
bear directly on such cases "as these. Acts are
not legally vitiated by the mere fact that the
agents hold unsound opinions or are influenoed by
superstitious motives. The law cannot reach
religious delusion; nor is it desirable that it
should, for the attempt to arrest their working by
legal penalties would be equally futile and vexa-
tions. Superstitions as grow; as those of the
Agapeinone not only exist amongst us, but attract
many disciples. Take Mormonism for example. Its
pretended revelation, its promise of an earthly
paradise, and the looseness of its social code attract
numerous followers, who offer their substance to
the teachers of their choice. This very week the
English disciples of this gross and sensual super-
stition met in annual conference at Southwark t•
report on the progress of their faith, when the