The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-08 00:00:00

THE HUNDRED OF WIRRALL COURT LEET.

Yesterday this court, perhaps one of, the most ancient,
and haring powers inferior to scarcely any in the kingdom,
held its first periodical sitting at the Shrewsbury Armk
Ilinderton. The Court was convened by the following
notice •=

'Hundred and Man& of Wirrall, t_ '
ip 4e w
Coley of Chester, TO WIT.
13y virtue of a Precept under the hand and seal of the
Steward Of the said `Hundred and Manor, to. Me directed and
delivered, you are hereby summoned to appear and be per-
sonally at the Court Leet, -View of Frankpledee, 'Hundred
Court, Court' Baron, and' Law My of the said' Mildred and
Manor of Wirral!, to be held at the house of Mr. I%loses
P.ohinson; the Slireivsbury Arms, Hinderton, Little Neston, in
and for the said Hundred and Miner, on Thursday, the stvenlb
day of May next, at .ten o'clock .in the forenoon of the same
day, then.and there to perform suit and service according to
law (!) and custon.
Herein fail not on pain of amereenzent.
Dated this day, of April, 1857.
WHITTAKER EDMUNDION,
- , . Reeve and High. Bailiff..

N.B. You are requestpd to take notice that the jurors will
be called aCthe Bitting of the Court, and ti fine will be infl-ctcd,
on every jurymen not answering to his name,

Mr. Robert Grace, as the steward of thO court, presided,
and after the court had been opened in the usual manner,
the following persons were selected 'at the jury —Mr.
James ROntledge, foreman. Iklesrs T. B. Slater, Thomas
Moulsdale, Wm. Redhead, Wm. C.mrter, Wm. Thltierstera;
W. Mundy, John J. B. Bird, R. Jone*,==— Haudcoek,
Lee WON], and Joseph Salton.
The Steward said-4entlernen, I shall now request you
to nominate.two affParers,7 that ,is the title given them
und'et the pOWers Ortbis act; their duty will be to act, if
necessary; as moderators between the jury and the persons
against whom any charge may be made, bit in all cases
that will be brOnght before ydti, their assent must be given
to your finding. At the suggestion'of the jury, me.
Savage and Mr. Walker were unanimously appointed:
" affeareis," and took the usual oath.
The'SteWOrtt: NOW; if there is 'any business to do; ttifr
court is perfectly prepared to hear it. Is there any pre.
senttnents to be made.

A -per-Son named 'John Smith then cants forward;
and , said—Your Honour, I have a complaint
to -make, and one of a most serious neure.
The Steward : Who are•Yun, sir. John Smith ! I ant
in Liverpool, b I have- frequently seen. the place -to
which I refer. The Steward : Well, is it a ,danEreroua
place yon' ire-going:to Complain of? Srattiii
It is very dangerous to andlattiderstand that ore or
two persona have.been killed in it. The Steward : Well,
*hire 'who are the oCi3-tipiers Jihn Snil'h : The
quarry is
,opposite -a pablic-house in the township of
Tranmere, and belongs to M'-. William_ and Mr., Matthew
Billinge. A Juryman : Do you 'know the if*ner ?
Anotheralurytnan t The trustees of Mt.' Bennett alitOthe
owners, The Steward Orentlenagn, we have nothing
WhateVer to do with the owners ; it- is sufficient for this
court to find that there is a nuisance the loWnShip,
which is dangerous to the, fe of, the people. Mr Courter
It isfari old-quarry;'and is a disgrace tO the township. It
has frequently been complained of, and yet vie never could
get it pat in prep I condition. The Foreman of the
jury, Mr. RoutFedge lam the surveyor 'to' the district,
and .I can say that the quarry is in a most danaeroris
and disgraceful state. For soma tirotc, past the Highway
Baard'llaie- been trying to'geeit-reinedied, but they have
fatted, ror itappears that they have not inffieientauthority. -
The Steward : Then you. know that it is a dangerous
nuisance. Skareral jurymen here eXplained that they had
known it as matt for some time. Others stated that they
had known it for two years, !seven years, eight yeara„ and
fifteen years, but it had never hien altered. Mr. Courter :
How came you to have your attention directed' to'this'
quarry ? John Smith : I will tell yon. It was f!OU1
repeatedly walking past the place, rind seeing the dangerous
state it. was in: Mr Courter : Your Honanr, Will-you tell
me what powers this court have in removing or amending
the nuisance, because the Highway Board; of which I was
a member, have considered 'the''neftlect over and
over again, and we have not been able to do
it. The Steward : The 6°,1.1 to which yoa have
alluded possess their powers under:the nuisances removal
act of 1852, but this court possesses powers, not only,
equal with that act, bat far greater, for that act only relate
to the removal of nuisances prejudicial to health;'while the
powers of this court have reference to all nuisances existing
within the htmdred. The jury then conferred together
(The Steward observing that the coart had only met to
decide as to that which was right between mau and man,
and therefore, perhaps. the justice of the case would be
better met by their entering into a friendly conversation
on the subject, as they all,ltnew the locality, and the
matter under consideration), and unanimously agreed to
permitted the nuisance to exist, and ordered that it should
be amended in the course of a month, or a further, and
much heavier fine would be imposed by the court.
John Smith then came forward and complained of an'
encroachment that had been made on the road in the town-
ship of Thornton, leading from Bebington to Neston, by
Mr. Robert Richardson having taken in a portion of the
road, and attached it to his garden. As it appeared that
the person who had made the presentment could not state
exactly the quantity of the road that had been encroached
upon, the subject was ordered to stand over until the next
meeting of the court.

. Johit' Smith : I have another presentment to make to this
court. Mr. Courter : I should like to know who you.are
and where you live. John Smith : My only wish is to
have the rights of the poor protected azainst the encroach.-
ments of the rich. I live at No. 4, Springfield-street,
Liverpool, but I am coming to live here. Mr. Bird I
think Mr. Smith is a veil. useful man. The Steward : It
seems that he has a desire to put our highways in proper
order. John Smith then went on to complain of a pit at
at the juncture of the "three lanes end," i❑ the township
of Little Nestoo, which he stated was under the jurisdiction
of the Lord of 'the Hundred, Mr. Morton. This subject
was adjourned for the jury to inspect the spot.
Mr. Courter then said he had been a resident in Tran-
mere for upwards of 25 years ; and he had to complain
of the state of a well in the township. It formerly sup-
plied the whole of the inhabitants wi.h water for domestic
purposes, but of late it had been allowed to get in.() such
a dilapidated state that it was danrroug to life, and he
had heard that a child had been drowned in it. After
some conversation the jury and the afic.rs came to the
determination, of inflicting' a fine of £5O, or have the
well properly secured within a month..
An old man, named Ralph Wool, then carve forward
and stated, on oath, that be had been ordered off ten
ancient footpath acre ss some Fields, which Mr Christ°
pher Bushell bad recently purchased in with the. estate o
which he was erecting an elegant mansion. Mr Norman,
upon being sworn, stated, that he had known the foot-
path to have been public property for upwards of forty
‘ears, and led from Wollister to Rahy, and was the way
that all the labourers went to and from their daily work.

Th, jury then adjourned for the purpose of .inspecting
all the nuisances complained of, and after perambulating
the township, and minutely inpecting 'every place _that
been mentioned to them d. tided that the pits were un-,
donbtedly dangerous to the lives of her Majesty's subjects,
and ordered that the Lord of the Hundred should pay
a penalty of £5, end fence the pits in within a month.
They also reported that it was clearly 'yiSible that Mr.
Bushell encroached upon the rights of the poor.by planting
trees and taking in a portion of an ancient road, thus,
stopping up the thoroughfare ; and it was unanimously
al:reed by the jury that he should be mulcted in a penalty
of £5O for hating thus appropriated laud that did not
belong to him, and that be should restore the footpath to
its original position in the course of a month. Mr.
Courter : Have we the power of making such a tine ? 'The
Steward : Our powers are unlimited ; we can impose what
penalties we like. This Court. has all the pravvers of the
Court of Queen's Bench, and if you like to inflict a penalty
of £l,OOO, you have full powersi of doing so, and I will
take care, that it shall be paid. But, gentlemen, Ido not
think you should make vindictive damages; and as Mr.
Bushell, who in this instance has done a disgraceful act, by
taking that which did not belong to him, may be contu-
macious, we will be very partienla-; and-as on have said
the fine'shall be £5O, and the " aff areres" have assented to
it, I will make the warrant out for £5O, and he must either
pay that or give us anwher footpath...
At the conclusion of the busineas, Mr. Cour er and
Mr. Bird axpressed their unqualified. satisfaction at, the
way in which tbe business of the court had been conducted,
and expressed a hope that much good might result from
the awards. of the court, The lord of the manor invited
the jury to a substantial dinner, provided by host
Robinson, which was very much enjoyed.

It has been stet-. I that a grand review in honour of
the Grand Duke is to take place in the Champ de Mars.
Paris, on the 6tb instant '• the troops huller arms will, it
is said, be 60,000 in number.—Court Jouiwal.
THE Cass or Miss SMITH.— Several contradictory
statements hale been circulated relative to the time and
place of the trial of Miss Madeline Smith. We believe
that nothing has yet been fled in either respect ; but the
I accused has taken advantage of a • provision in the law,
known as" running letters," whereby she must be indicted
within sixty days, and tried within forty more, or else
discharged. The crown, however, has the power of
postponing the trial for forty days more by " criminal
letters," so that, practically, one hundred and forty days
altogether may elapse before trial ; and the ordinary course
of criminal procedure seldom requires a. longer period of
preparation than is really gainedby this mode of forcing on
the trial.—Glasgow Post.