The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-24 00:00:00

COUNTY COURT. v --ESTE RDAY.

(Before Joseph Pollock, Esq., Judge.)
THE " WHOLESALE OBJECTIONS " AT THE LATE MUNICIPAL

REVISION,

BnowN V. BUCK➢IASTER.—Mr. Aspinall appeared for the
plaintiff, who is a watchmaker, residing at 33, Renshaw-
street, and Mr. Bremner for the defendant, who is secretary
to the Constitutional Association. Mr. Aspinall, on open-
ing his case, stated that under the first municipal reform act,
5 and 6, Wm. IV. cap. 76, sec. 9, any registered voter might
serve a notice of objection upon any party who claimed a
right to vote, but contended that there should be reasonable
grounds for objection. In this case there were no such
grounds, and accordingly the present action was brought to
recover, in the words of the summons, 7s. 6d. for work and
labcur done by the plaintiff for the defendant, in attending
the Municipal Revision Court, on the Bth of October last.
The plaintiff proved that he had received the notice of ob-
jection to his name being put upon the burgess list on the
15th of September, signed by Mr. Buckmaster. He accord-
ingly attended the revision court on the Bth October, from
ten.o'clock in the morning until half-past twn, and when
his name was called upon, Mr. Buckmaster said " the ob-
jection is withdrawn." _

Mr. BREMNER contended that the summons could not be
mentioned, because it was " for work and labour done, "
while no work had been done.

His HONOR held that the objection was good, upon which
Mr. ASPINALL moved to amend the summons as follows :
" For maliciously, and without reasonable or probable cause,
objecting to the plaintiff as not being entitled to have his
name retained on the burgess list for the borough of Liver-
pool, and thereby causing him great loss of time in attending
the Municipal Revision Court, on Saturday, Bth October.
His HONOR thought he could not allow that amendment;
but he would allow a new summons to issue without further
expense to the plaintiff.
Both parties having agreed to take the new summons as
issued,
Mr. BREMNER contended that there was no malice, or
want of reasonable cause upon which to ground the action
against the defendant. He had exercised but a statutable
right in objecting to the plaintiff; and it could not be con-
tended that he had done so maliciously, for they had heard
that hundreds of a like objection had been made against
other parties by Mr. Buckmaster. Mr. Bremner also argued
that as the objection had been served on the 15th Septem-
ber, Mr Buckmaster might then have believed that valid
grounds did exist, though he might afterwards discover that
no reasonable grounds did exist. He therefore submitted
that the plaintiff should be non-suited.
Mr. ASPINALL replied, that Mr. Bremner's answer to the
malicious intent was the oddest possible, for it meant that a
man could not be considered to have acted maliciously to an
individual, if at the same time he acted maliciously to hun-
dreds of others.
His HONOR said that he had no evidence of malicious
objections in any cases at all. It might be, for all that
appeared in evidence, that 200 objections were made, and
199 of them were held good.
Mr. ASPINALL proceeded to contend that there was the
strongest evidence that there was no reasonable ground for
the objection, for when the case was called on, Mr. Buck-
master withdrew the objection.
His HONOR said thtit he was not prepared to say that an
action might not be supported for bringing a person before
the Municipal Revision Court to defend his undoubted
right, if he was so brought maliciously and without reason-
able cause. Whenever such a case came before him, he
would have to decide it ; but in this case he was of opinion
that there was no evidence to support the charge of malice
or want of reasonable or probable cause. It was quite true
that malice need not be proved, but that it might be
inferred; but in that case it was for the plaintiff to prove
that there was a want of reasonable or probable cause for
objection. When a person abandoned an action, it was not
to be considered as a want of probable or reasonable cause,
and that was the position of the present case as it was
put before the court. That was the whole of the evidence
before him; but ho was of opinion that that was not enough
either to infer malice or want of probable or reasonable
cause. Ile should therefore nonsuit the plaintiff, but
it should be considered that he gave no opinion on
any other case which might come before him supported
by such evidence as he had referred to.
LIABILITY OP RAILWAY CARRIERS.

HARKER V. THE MANCHESTER, SHEFFIELD, AND LIN-
COLNSHIRE RAILWAY COMPANY.—The plaintiffs, Messrs
William and Adam Harker, are fruiterers, carrying on
business in St. John's Market, and the defendants were re-
presented by their agents, Messrs. C. T. Faulkner, and Co.,
Old Quay Wharf, Nova Scotia. The action was brought
to recover £2 145., for damage done to thirty-six baskets of
cherries, through the negligence of the defendants in not
having forwarded them at the proper time.
From the evidence of the plaintiffs, it appeared
that on their receiving the advice of the dispatch of
the fruit, they called at each of the delivery offices
of the company in Liverpool, but were told that no
cherries had arrived. The advice stated that the cherries
had been forwarded on the Ist of August, and in due course
they should have arrived in Liverpool early the next morn-
ing. They did not arrive until the morning of the 3rd, but
owing, as it was alleged, to the delay in their transit, were
then much damaged.
On the part of the defendants, it was contended that they
were not liable, inasmuch as they had forwarded the goods
at the proper time, and if any delay occurred in their
carriage, must have been with the NOrth Western Rail-

way.
Mr. Hughes, a gentleman in the employ of Messrs Faulk-
ner and Co., stated that the cherries had arrived at
Grimsby on the Ist of August, that they had been forwarded
early on that morning. by the first fruit train for Manchester,
—that they arrived in Manchester on the afternoon of the
same day, and were forwarded thence by the afternoon train,
so that they should have arrived in Liverpool some time
on the following day. The North Western Railway Com-
pany moreover alleged that the fruit had arrived in due
course, and the witness accordingly contended that under
any circumstances the defendants could not be held liable.
His HoNon observed that it had over and over again
been decided that the parties to whom the goods had been
entrusted for carriage, were answerable for the conduct of all
the intermediate agents, no matter who or what their num-
ber might be. That had been fully decided in the case of
the Lancashire Railway Company ; and though in this case
he had not a doubt of the liability of the defendants, he
would adjourn the case until the 9th of December, to enable
the defendants to show that they had arrived at the time
alleged by the North Western Company, or to ascertain in
what quarter, and with whom the delay had occurred.

SEWS IN BOHEMIA.—The provincial government of
Bohemia has issued a circular forbidding Jews to give their
children christian names, or to keep christian servants,
BOOK READING IN ANCIIESTER.—The detailed report
of the Manchester Free Library contains a point or two to
which we have not yet drawn attention. By the way in
which the literary account is kept, we are able to judge of
the taste of the reading class and of the comparative popu-
larity of authors in that town. Shakespeare, we are pleased
to find, is the writer most in demand —his works, and books
illustrating these works, having been issued 352 several
times within the first year. The book next in popularity to
Shakspeare is " The Arabian Nights"—which in the year
found 294 readers. Scott and Defoe come next in rank.
" Ivanhoe" was issued 241 times ; " Robinson Crusoe" 239
times. Swift's "Gulliver" was read 123 times ; Smolletfs
" Roderick Random" 82. Biography has been very much
read. In the history of England Mr. Macaulay is the popu-
lar favourite. His History" has been read by 124 ; the
" Pictorial" by 60 ; Lingard by 41 ; Hume by 31 persons,
French history, especially of the Napoleonic time, has been
in great demand. Many of the books have been glanced at
and laid aside. Two readers appear to have gone through
Hume. Fourteen attacked Clarendon, but only three reached
the seventh volume ; the same number toiled through Lin-
gard. Of the crowd who began with Alison, only one came
in at the death.—Athenceum.
THE DIGNITY of NATURE.—The cultivation of the mou-
stache by our working classes seems to be a remarkable in-
stance of an uprising of the dignity of nature against
the dignity of conventionalism. It is one a those
symptoms of public opinion almost beyond the pale
of hostile criticism. The beard, indeed, has the ad-
vantage of high medical authority as being in some way
conducive to the health of its wearer ; of high artistic au-
thority as being a natural exponent of masculine beauty ! of
immense antiquity as having been the fashion of our ances-
tors; and, above all, it has the advantage of being a natural
gift to the masculine gender of every nation, people, kin-
dred, and tongue under heaven. .
The artisans who recur to the example of Sir Christopher
Wren, and Inigo Jones, and Michael Angelo ; the sailors
who may choose to revert to the example of Drake, and
Raleigh, and Sir Cloudesley Shovel, should vindicate their
respectability by the cleanliness as well as the respectable
trim of their beards. Unfortunately, the beard has been de-
secrated by its use for political and other symbolism, and as
a distinction by absurd sectarians. It should, by numbers
of men of known position, be retrieved from this desecration,
and being based on reason and sanatory uses, be made again
the outward and visible sign of good sense, instead of secta-
rianism and extravagant folly.—The Builder,