The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-02 00:00:00

COURT OF BANIERUPTCY.

Ex PAWN': DUNCAN in re HAWDEN AND APGREGOR.—
Mr. Commissioner Stevenson gave judgment on Saturday,
as follows :—ln this case a proof is sought to be made by
Messrs. Duncan for the sum of £12,784 17s against the
separate estate of J. J. Hawden, one of the bankrupts, the
claim to which sum arises upon various bills of exchange,
two of which are drawn by both the bankrupts upon and
accepted by the said J. J. Hawden, and endorsed over to
Messrs. Duncan, and the remainder of which bills are
drawn by Messrs. Duncan upon and accepted by the said
J. J. Hawden, and made payable to Messrs. Duncan or
order. This proof is opposed on the part of the assignees,
upon the ground that, under the special circumstances
under which these bills were given, no separate liability
was incurred upon them by the bankrupt Hawden as to and
between him and Messrs. Duncan. These circumstances
are as follow—The bankrupts, Hadwen and M•Gregor,
carried on business at the Havannah, as merchants, under
the firm of Hadwen, M'Gregor, and Co., and the bankrupt
Hadwen carried on business at Liverpool, also as a mer-
chant, but alone, and totally distinct from the business of
the firm, except in acting as the agent of the firm. Mr.
John Duncan and his recent firm of Duncan and Co., have
been in the habit, ever since ths year 1843, of making
shipments of goods to the bankrtipts' firm at the Havan-
nab, on the joint account of themselves and of the bank-
rupts, and in equal interests; and two invoices of the
goods thus shipped were supplied and sent out to the
Havannah, one being made out as shipments on consign-
ment to Messrs. Hadwen, M'Gregor and Co., on joint
account, Messrs. Hadwen, M`Gregor and Co., and John
Duncan, or Messrs. Duncan, and the other of the nett cash
cost of the goods at six months credit; and on each occasion
John Duncan, or Messrs. Duncan, drew upon the bankrupt
Hadwen individually, for the whole amount of the nett cash
amount of each invoice at 6 months' date, which he accepted
in due course. The evidence of the bankrupt Had wen (which
is not opposed or questioned) shows that the agreement
or understanding between him and John Duncan, and his
firm of John Duncan and Co., was, that their acceptances
were given by way of advance, until the results of the
shipments were known, and that he, John Duncan, and
his said firm, engaged to keep him, the said Hadwen, out
of cash advances on these acceptances until proceeds were
received from the Havannah, and that the course, on the
acceptances falling due, was that if the proceeds had been
received from the Havannah, he, Hadwen, took up the
bills, but if they had not arrived, John Duncan, or his
said firm, re-drew on him and remitted to him, the bank-
rupt, the cash to take up the bill falling due, and of which
renewals there were numerous instances—and of all which
transactions there was an account entered, wherein
ording to the evidence of the bankrupt's brother,
Charles Hadwen, who was his bookkeeper) the account of
John Duncan and Co. with the bankrupt was credited
with the invoice amount of goods consigned to the
Havannah, and debited with the acceptances given for such
shipments, and at the end of each six months the account
was: credited with the money received from Messrs.
Duncan for the renewal of the acceptances and with the
proceeds received from the Havannah. The bankrupt
Hadwen, however, admits that he often retired these
bills out of his own cash in hand when it was convenient
to him, without waiting for remittances from the
Havannah, rather than have the bills renewed, but
that he did not consider it obligatory upon him
to do so, and in corroboration of this, he refers to a
letter from himself to Messrs. Duncan, dated the 13th
of December, 1845, containing the following passage :
" For these goods I will accept as before your draft at six
months on your engaging to keep me out of cash advance
at maturity until the returns come home from the other
side ;" and this represents, as the bankrupt alleges, the
arrangement upon which he had always acted in his trans-
actions with Mr. Duncan. Of this letter the bankrupt
received an acknowledgement from Mr. Duncan, dated
the following 15th of December, and in which is the fol-
lowing passage :—" I think if we keep moderate in our
accounts there is no fear of keeping you clear of casb
advanced for all done yet, and in prospect there is not the
slightest." The bills in question, upon which the proposed
proof is sought to be made, were given and accepted In
respect of goods shipped and consigned to the firm at the
Havannah, ou the like joint account and under the like
circumstances as those before referred to, and it is there-
fore contended, on the part of the assignees, that no
separate liability was incurred by the bankrupt Hadwen
upon such bills as to and between him and Messrs. Dun-
can, and in support of this view was cited the ease of
Castrigue v, Battigieg, decided by the Judicial Committee
of the privy Council, and reported in volume 27th of the
Law Times, page 111. The decision in this case was, that
an agent endorsing a bill over to his principal was not
liable to his principal upon such endorsement, although
made without any reservation, the course of dealing
between the parties showing that the indorser was acting
as agent far the indorsee, on whose account he bought and
remitted the bill, and there being no special circumstances
showing that such liability was intended. In the judg-
ment pronounced by Sir W. H. Maule, very important
principles were laid down as to the question of liability
incurred by an indorser of a bill, which, besides' the
authority of the decision on the ease itself, appear to me
to be applicable and completely in point to the question
raised in the present instance. The learned judge there
observes, that the liability of an indorser to his immediate
indorsee arises out of a contract between them, and which
contract in no c Ise consists exclusively in the indorse-
ment, but that contract arises out of the written indorse-
ment itself, and also the delivery of the bill to the
indorser, and the intention with which that delivery was
made and accepted, as-evinced by the words spoken or
written, and the circumstances (such as the usage of the
place, the course of dealing between the parties, and
their relative situations) under which the delivery takes
place. Thus, a bill with an unqualified written indorsement
may be delivered and received for the purpose of enabling
the indorsee to receive the money on account of the Indorser,
or to enable the indorsee to raise money for his own use
on the credit of the signature of the indorser ; in all which
' cases the learned judge observed, that the indorser is not
liable to the indorsee. Now, according to the doctrine
thus laid down by Sir W. H. Maule, as well as the prin-
ciple of tho decision in the cited case, the acceptances of
the bankrupt Hadwen in the present case will not pee se
create any separate liability as to and between him and
Messrs. Duncan, but such a liability must also depend
upon the contract or understanding entered into or implied
between them upon the giving of such acceptances. Now,
by the evidence adduced in this case it is, I think, clearly
shown that, as well by the express terms of the arrange-
ment between the bankrupt Hadwen and Messrs. Duncan
as by the course of dealing between them, it was not their
intention that the former shoe.ld be liable to Messrs.
Duncan upon these acceptances, but that they were given
to Messrs. Duncan by way of advance in anticipation of
their share of the proceeds of the shipments consigned to
the firm at the Havannah, and to enable Messrs. Duncan
to raise money for their own use on the credit of such
' acceptances and thus the present case appears to me to
fall completely within the doctrine laid down in the before
eked case.

The Duke of Cambridge shows himself prompt to re ward
as well as determined to punish. His appointments in the
new military train seem to haw,' been guided by merit alone,
winout a particle of favouritism. Amongst others the
promotion of Lieutenant Dunham Massy, 19,h regiment,
of Reclan celebrity, to a troop in the new corps, will be
hailed with pleasure by the whole public of England and
Ireland. This young officer is the youngest of his rank in
the army, and i 3 a Knight of thu Legion of Honour.—
Limerick, Chronicle.
THE VICTORIA. CROSS.—This decoration consists of a
Maltese cross, formed of the cannon captured from the Rus-
sians. In the centre of the cross is the rural crown, sur-
mounted by the lion, and below it a scroll, bearing the
worth, " For valour." The ribbon is blue for the navy and
red for the army. On the clasp are two branches of laurel,
and from it, suspended by a Roman V, hangs the proudest
honour an Englishman can wear. The execution of the
work has been entrusted by Lord Panmure to Mr. Hancock,
of Bruton street, and is highly creditable to his taste and
skill. The decoration carries with it a pension of £lO a
year.
A STRANGE BUT CRUEL CASE AT PyDSEV.---...A case, which
is not yet decided, was heard on Friday, at the Bradford
West Riding Court, in which George Lawlev, landlord of
the Junction, Pudsey appeared. The said landlord is in
the habit of encouraging boys to attend his house, and
on Friday week no fewer than fifteen of them assembled in
the taproom, and. drank freely of beer. The lot singled
from their number John Burton, whom they seized,
blackened his face with soot, smeared it and his head with
blood, placed a rope round his neck, and thus dragged him
up and down, and then, pretending that his head was cut
and wounded, cut off all tho hair, and covered the scalp
with sticking plaster. A surgeon's certificate was produced
to show that the youth was too ill to attend, and the case
was remanded until he recovers, orders being! given to look
out for the ringleaders, one of whom, more cruel than the
rest, severely burned Barton's thigh with a red blot poker,
, What kind of civilisation exists where sni.di outras-es are
considered as mere jukes ?