The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-22 00:00:00

rove both that the right had been reserved, and that it had been
conetantly exercised. Ile therefore looked with confidence to their
~•istict.
The evidence, which was ti mere illustration of the speech of the
• ..earned Conmed, was then gust into. It consisted of documente,
seine of them an areient as to reign of Edward I f., which showed
the appeintment (by Ring Edward in or.e instu.ce, and the Puke
of Northumberland in the other) of different persons to he super-
• %heir. and head-keepers or vett anti venison in the remit of Lang.
strothdale. The leans emni.ted in lent% and the deeds of leoffinent
conveying the fee, were also pat in. and from them it appeared that
the forestal tights hail been reserved. The rolls of the manor were
also proved, ten none rem put hi of a date within the last
li:seared years. The tickets, granting to different persons a license
to +hoot, were proved, hut it appeared upon them that langsttioth-
' elate was stalled a manor, and -not a forest. Several persons were
culled to prove the tern/snort, but their evidence scarcely supported
the plaintill's case. The oldest amongst them suited that he had
never known the owners of land in the forest pre-meted from shoot-
cire emit of late yeari, and that different inrsons had kept hounds
on the forest. and hunted there without interruption. The trespass
of the defendant was proved by Mr. Hanrulen to whom a deputa-
tion over the forest had been granted, who stated that he had men
Mt. laidge kill a groom on the forest in November lent.
This was the care fer the plaintiff.
r. Wit L LOIS submitted as a ground•of nonsnit that a grouse
(which hird alone the defendant had been proved to kill) was not a
bird included in any greet of free chase and warren.
Mr. Justice PAM( overruled the point, but saved it for future
• eatiesdemtion.
Mr. IV lI.LIA MS then addressed the Jury for the defendant, in a
very powerful speech. Ile observed that he should not attempt to
excite the feelings of the Jury by any remarks upon the odious
right which was now sought to be eetablitheil, btu would meet it
ar if it were the most just and equitable of all the rights that could
plineibly he exercised. He was coufident. however, both from the
evidence which they had heard, and also from the evidence which
the plaintiff had kept back. thrt their verdict would put an end to
any further assumption of the right. Ile begged the Jury to ob.
serve, that although the Court rolls had been produced of a date
some hundred years back, yet mine had been bought forwent which
were dated within the last hurdred years. What was the inference
to be drawn from their suppression, but that they would have
proved that l,angstrodwisle was not a forest, but a manor. That
such was the caw was evident from the very tickets a inch the Duke
of Devonshire had been in the habit of issuing, in all of which
it was described as a manor. The musty parchments of five hun-
dre 1 years old, which had that day been produced before them.
proved nothing, sinless it was also proved that the right which they
reesenised had been exercised ever since. That the right hail not
• been exercised ever•since had been proved by the witnesses of the
plat-Mit for die only &simian whom he had thought proper to call
had proved beyond all doubt that the owners of land had never
'been disturbed in sporting, and that some of them had even kept
hrunds in the forest without any interruption. The fair inference
was, (hal the right of free warren had been abandoned at the time
alien the Duke of Devonshire had reseed to breed deer on the 40
acres oti land which had been originally reserved for that purpose.
. The Learned t:ounsel proceeded at some length to argue on the in.
sufficiency of the evidence adduced by the plaintiff, and concluded
an able speech, by expressing his reliance on the verdict of the
Jure.
Mr. Jusice PARK summed up the cue in favour of tire de.
I;:ndarti.-
The .fury retired for about en hour, and then returned a verdict
for the plairdT—damage one shilling.
It is suppened that this verdict will not stand, as it seems to be
againsitlie evidence. The trial excited considerable interest, on
anoint of the peculiar nature of the right claimed by the plaintiff.
• Theft* of free chase and warren, though common in ancient
times, has gradually been circumscribed, and at this moment there
are only two or three instances in the whole kirgdom where the
right continues to be exercised.