The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-13 00:00:00

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, SATURDAY, DM

JONSSON e. rtru.nnon•r.
This wu an action by the indorse against the areeptcrr of a bill
of exchange for 240?. dated rth June, 1:e20, imitable six weeks
afterdate, and drawn by the defendsm's brother John.
Al r. CHITTY conductul the idatotira MC, and 31 r. SCAR LETT
the defendant'',

The plaintifr is (:apitain Johnstone, a gentleman formerly of sumo
for his transactions between the coast of Bent and
land, in the spirit trade; the defendant was represented to be a
shopkeeper and general dealer. at Moulsfore, in Berkshire. The
plaintiff's case rested upon the usual proof of the hand-writing of
the drawer and acceptor.
In answer to the action, two grounds of defence were set up.
first, that the plaintiff had thsroutited the hill for the defendant at
the usurious interest of 10 per cent. I and second• that the bill in
question hail been, when do relieved by several successive bills,
the last of which had been taken up by Mr. I/cennan.
The principal witness to support this defence was John Full.
! ',Tooke, the defendant's brother. and dower of the bill, and Ins
proved that his brother' loving in 11121 occasion to raise some ma
wiry, he. the witness, applied to the plaintiff for his assistance.
The plaintiff agreed to discount the bill in q.t.-4ton, in considers.
tion of a discount of ten per cent. The plaintiff &dew:red the whole
lof the money in cash, Teak Ing at that time no deituoiut. fee dis-
count. The witnes. s. John, had at that time a running account
with the plaintiff. in which the discount of the bill in neestlou was
charged. When the bill beanie due, the defendant was mishit• to
take it uo. It was then rerewed, and two other renesals after.
garde took place, the first h:11 never haying been cancelled by the
plaintiff The last renewed bill was taken up by Mr. Delman.
Two of the intermediate renewed bills were now p•oilticed and
The witness accounted for the non production of tit
last, which had been taken up by Mr. !Seeman, by saying that
the, detendnnt, when in prisms, burnt une-haff of it; but no account
was given of the other half, Liryand the witnssa's statement tint It
was 101 t.
A witness was called, on the part of she plaintiff, to mese that
John Fullbruoke teas a person unworthy of held' on his cage.
(In cross-examination. this witness said he was now a servant of
Captain Johnstone, and had been employed by him fur the last
Astir years, in building four sub-marine boats.
The 1.0111) CHILI, JUSTICE left it to the Jury to determine lb*
case upon the credit of the witnesses called to prove the wo grounds
of i!efence which bad been set up. Either of those grounds, if sa-
tisfactorily established, would be a cmuplete answer to the action.
The Jury retired fur about half an hour, and found a verdict for
the defendant.

rnearcig v. tir.YnEVIES.
This was an action for assault and tale imprisonment. Mr.
Hanoi; 11 A X stated the case. The plaintiff wax a grocer, in Elul.
street, in the northern part of Westminster. A lady named Brost..
n.-r, with whom the defendant, a foreign dotter of medicine, was on
terms of close intimacy, had some ante since lodged in Earl-street,
and left the neigh bourimoil In the plaintiff"' debt. for grocery goods.
The plaintiff traced the lady to a country dwelling at Shepherd'a
Bush; and having taken out a summons against her in the County
Court, privet:Jed in person, on the Voli Msy last, to rerre her with
the process. On arriving at her horse, the Doctor came out, and
refused the plaintiff' an interview with the lady, and desired him to
quit the premises. The wit. he would not go away until
he had accomplished the purpose of his errand ; upon which tba
Doctor sent for a constable, mid gave the plaintiff in custody for a
breach of the peace, ■nd ordered the constable to lock him up.—
The constable, however, refused to proceed to that extremity, as
there was a Magistrate then sitting at Hammersmith, who would
hear any cause of complaint against the plaintiff. The defend.
ant then desired hint to take the plaintiff before the Justice.
Accordingly the plaintiff was taken before the Magistrate, who.
upon hearing the complaint, dismissed it as frivolous and vexatious,
and advised the to bring his action for the false imprison-
ment. This advice he had eilopted, and now sought a reronvense
in damages fin the tujoatilialde conduct or the defendant. The
plaintiff' hail been detained in custody of the constable for nearly
an boor, and lie bad been subjected to the unpleasant exposit?. t:t
walking a mile and a half through a populous neighbourhood, with
a constable at his heels.

John Dailey, cativable of the hamlet of Hammersmith, prre4.
that on the 25th of Slay the deitnd int came for him to go to ti-
house of Mrs. thosienor, for the purpose of taking the plaintiff
into custody. The Doctor did not reside in Mrs. Orosreoor's
house. lie only visited. On arriving at Mrs. Grosvenor's, he
laund the plaintiff standing on the foot-path, close to the house.
The defendant ordered witness to take him away. M'ltness de-
sired the plaintiff to go away. He amid he should not until he
had seen Sirs. Grosvenor, whom he had come to serve with a sum-
mons out or the County Court. The defendant then insisted that
witness should lock the plaintiff mi. Witness objected to do that
sa there was a Slagistrate then sitting, v.ho would dispose of the
flintier.

31r. flaorox.tra.—l believe you gave the defendant some ad.
vice without a tic, which lie would not have dune in your owe case.
(A...l.augh).

11'Itiiess.-1 advived him to compmmise the matter.
Mr. 0I:II A /PI nit was very wholesome ads ice. and mono
no, I dare say, titan you would have received from the doctor. (A
laugh.)
Icitnesa—lle would not take my advice.
Mr. Ilitot:Gittiss—l hope you will do so by him. (A laugh.)
IVitness-IVe went before the alegistrate. The defendant gut
there as son as we dial. The 31ngistrate, upon hearing the em.a.
plaint, immediately dismissed it. The plaintif was in my custody
for shout three quarters of an hour. We had to walk ami a and a
half and better.

Cross-ezainined by Mr. DEW MAW—When I got to Hrs. Oro's*.
nor's house, it was about halt past six in the tuning. Theta
were frost twelve to twenty persons collected before the house.
chiefly boys; I heard ho noise or disturbance. The defendant
charged the plaintiff with mating a disturbance. and collecting a
mob before his house. I heard no noise; every body was very
quiet. The plaintiff refused to go away until he had served Mrs.
Grosvenor with the summons. I took the plaintiff into custody at
the defendant's desire.

Two other witnesses were called, but their evidence did not go .e
the merits of the ease.

Mr. 14:w MAN tufdrewed the Jury In mitigation of damages.
Ile admitted that the plaintiff must have a verdict—a farthing
damages would he quite sufficient to satisfy the justice of she
cue, inasmuch as the defendant would have to pay the costa We
both aides.

The Loan Coins. .1 s rter said, the plaintiff must have the!.
verdict. The Jury would say what damages they would give, recol-
lecting that the defendant would be liable only fur taxed ants. The
plaintilf would have to ply his own extra costs.
The Jury found for the plaintiff—Damages, 101.

MOLT, ASSIGN tr or Rll.ngs V. WIIITTAZra aWD i•enisx.
This was an action brought by the Assignee of a Bankrupt,
to recover of the late Sheriffs of Middlesex the value of certain
household furniture and stock 6t trade, the property of Hilda,
and seized under • writ of execini,m. to satisfy the claim of a
judgment creditor, amounting to 711. Ills.
The bankrupt II Wier had been en oil and eolaurman and genre.,
revidiag in Brick lane, Spitaltields, and his gads had been
seized in February last, in discharge of this claim of a judgment
creditor, by the name of Oliver. !gilder had bee:, gaol from
the 10th of January preceding, and in the following March • con, -
mission of bankruptcy was sued out against him, upon the p, .
tition of • man named Smith, claiming a debt of o e hundred
pounds. Hilder's surrender to gaol on the Inth of January
was deemed the act of bankruptcy under the commission, and
his property was therefore claimed by the assignees, on be-
half of the general body of the creditors: but it was disputed,
on the part of the judgment creditor, whether the debt of
Smith, on which the Commission had been issued was • /ton&
fide debt, or • fraudulent claim, contrived between him and the
bankrupt.
lie. 51 , foe the plaintiff; proved the surrendet of Milo
der, to the Fleet prison, on the 10th of January last, anti his sub-
sequent removal by Ilabeas Corpus to the King's Bench, with the
honing of the commission of bankruptcy in March. He called
several witnesses to prove the delivery of goods by Smith to Hader.
On tie part of the defendants it was urged, that Smith was not
of stitficiont property to have supplied II dare with goals to each
an amount t that he was frequently changing his reeidence, and
had opened a ahon at Barking, the whole stock of which had been
sold by aucrion for 371. The servants of Hilder had never sees
any good* delivered at their master's house by Smith.
the Loan J STICE left it to the Jury to say, whetbee
Smith, the petitioning creditor, had ever supplied the goods to
!tilde?, upon which he claimed the debt of 1001.
Verdict for the defendants.

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