The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-01-12 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGEWCZ.
COURT OF OF CHANCURY, Tut/Der, JAY. 11.
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• ,

This was the first Sea/ day, after the bolidays.
OPERA HOUSE.
CHAMIRRS, V. WATERS.
Mr. HART said, that he !meta move his Lordship to allow the
defendant now to put in an answer to the plaintiff's bill. He would
state ;Monty the facts of the ceae, and he did not think that his
Lordship, after having heard them, would refuse the application
that he was instructed to make. • •
The original bill was filed by lilts Chambers on the 26th Jtn,
1023, at a time when Mr. Waters was living at Calais, and out
of the junsdiction of the Court ; he nevertheless immediately entered
an appearance, and put in his answer on theist of May, 1823 ;
on the 15th of January, 1024, the plaintiff moved for and obtained
leave to amend his bell, which he did not however do until the fol-
lowing March. An appearance was again entered by Mr. Waters,
but as the facts stated in the amended bill were of very great itn-
portanceipersonal esentnuniestioa became necessary to explain them,
and Mr. Waters wee in such situation that he could not come to
England for the purpose, and on the 3d of August last instruc-
tion. were giver, to him to move for a Commission to proceed to
to Calais, in order to take his answer. This motion•he had emit-
ted to intim from the great press of business, and the near approach
of the vacation ; but he could assure the Court, that his client had
always shown the greatest desire for the acceleration of ti a decision
in this cause. Ile was ready to go too hearing in the eh. r est rime
possible, and all the delay that had taken place was atuLtuteble
to the other side, as his Lordship that know ast putting in ata
answer to an amended bill, consisting of 389 folios, was a matter
of some moment, and required both time and caution.
Mr. SUDDEN admitted that the motiop was a eery important
one, and if it were tc be granted, it would be taken advantage of
by every dilatory person who might thinktproper to come forward,
and ask for an indefinite time for the purpose of putting in an an-
' swer. Mr. Ilart had complained, that the auserded bill had been
spun out to the length of 389 folios, but he would beg his Lordship
to remember, that this was in consequence of the answer put in by
the defendant to the first bill, and the second bill was nothing more
than an echo of the stateperas contained in the defendant's answer,
which the plaintiff wes compelled to take notice of. A replication
to the answer had been filed on the Ist of June, and a rejoinder ea.
the 3d of July. Thee on the 3d of August the defendant comes
with a notice of motion, that he might be allowed to put in his an.
ewer, and that a Commission might issue to Calais to take it, and
six weeks granted for its return. All this he did when he was in
contempt, with the knowledge that the rep lication had been file.'.
If he was now allowed to put in his answer he might raise new
points, and there would then be no chance of the cause ever eon:-
mg to a hearing. He could see no way in which justice could be
done to his client if this motion were granted ; he therefore hoped
that his Lordship would dismiss it, and thereby vindicate the prat.
tine of the Court, and teach the defendant, that lie was not to be
allowed privileges beyond other persons because he happened to
live abroad for the avoidance of his creditors.
Mr. HART in reply said, that he saw no reason why the same
indulgence that would be. granted to any one else should be denied
to his client, because it was his misfortune to be embarrassed he
was very much surprised to hear such a position advanced by Mr.
Sugden. Mr. Waters was always anxious for a settlement, and
that was proved by his voluntary appearance, OA Mk. Chambers
might have waited till the end of time for justice, the defendant
being out of the country, and consequently not within the juristitz-
tion of the Court. lie denied that the amended bill was an echo to
the defendant's answer, for if the affidavit which he then held in
his hand was :rue, the amendments required very serious ctunide-
rat ion.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, that the question of thq
amendments being an echo to the answer was an important fact in
the ease on the one aide or the other; according to the affidavit they
were of a very serious nature. As he understood the case, the first
hill was filed in January, I0"3, after the defendant went abroad,
bat he appeared voluntarily, and put in his answer in 31 ay. The
plaintiff then did nothing until January. 1824, when he applied to
amend his bill, which woe not Pled until March, 1824, nine months
after the defendant's answer had been put in, and that it consisted
of so many folios an to require a new engrossment. That the de-
fendant then entered an appearance immediately, and gave instructs
tions to his Counsel to move for a taammission.

i+ir. SCODEW said, that perhaps a gr. at deal of time and opposi.
'ion would be saved, if an affidavit was to be trade as to the pre-
cise time when those instructions were given, aS that could easily be
done by the Attorney on the other side or his clerk.
The LORD CHANCELLOR approved of this suggestion, and di-
rected that such an affidavit should be Immediately framed, and that
if it was satisfactory, leave should be given to the defendant to pi.;
in his answer on paying all costs.

SIKRSE V. ZIAIIQUIS OF ORMONDI.
Mt. HA': said, that this was merely • yucstion for his Lordship
to decide ; it related to the construction of a clause in the Will of
the late Lady Ormonde estates had been sold to the amount or
from ♦ to 500,00e1. ; until his Lordship's decision was given, no
conveyance of the property could take place.
The LORD ClIAWet LLOI said he would look at it, and gi►e a
decision to-morrow morning.

COURT OF KING'S DENCH, Tvrstuy, JAs.ll.

Silting, at Guildhall, before Loan CDTIC7 JCSTICIL AbaorT
and Common Juries.
FIELD V. GAMOW.
This was an action for an assault and false Imprisonment, corn.
witted by the defendant on the plaintiff upon the high seas.
Mr. BROUOII•M stated the case to the Jury. The plaintiff,
Mr. Field, was master and raft owner of the fishing smack called
the Diamond. The defendant was an officer at that time in the
Revenue service, and was commander of the cutter called the
Cameleon, stationed off the western coast. The present action
arose out of an act done by the defendant, under a pretended au.
thority from the Revennecolleetor, Mr. Watson, of Rye. On the
26th February last, the plaintiff, and a crew of three men, went out
to sea in the smack Diamond. for the purpose of catching fist, ;
they had been out two days without being able to cast their nets,
owing to the wind having- fallen to a perfect calm ; on the third
day, being the 211th, they were returning to the harbour of Rye,
when within four miles of the shore, they overtook the boat Rose,
with a crew of five men, who requested to be taken into the smack,
that they might get ashore in less time than the boat would take
them. They according went on board, and the boat was tied to
the stern of the vessel. When the smack had proceeded about two
miles futher, a galley, with fire men on board, came up with and
hailed her. The men in the galley then got on board the
smack, and began making a search in every pan of her. One of
the five men was a person of the name of Lipscomb, who seemed
to be superior to the other four. Ile went to the head of the vessel
and requested to have the helm given up to him, saying to the
plaintiff that he had an information against the vessel, and was ir.
strutted to take her down to the revenue cutter, the Cameleon, in
the Hastings Road. The plaintiff replied, " I don't know about
letting you have the helm, for you don't know where the cutter is
any more than I do," and he immediately ran her off to sea.
About twenty minutes only had elapsed when they fell in with
the Canieleon herself, with the defendant Oamon on board.
The cutter came alongside the smack, and the defendant de.
sired the plaintiff' and his crew of three men, and also the
four who belonged to the boat Rose, to come on board : this
they accordingly did, leaving Lipscomb and the others who had
recently entered the smack still on board of her. As soon as
the plaintiff got to the cutter, the defendant ordered him to go
back, and get his papers, which he did, and in the coarse of
the afternoon they were given up to the defendant. At the time
the plaintiff got on board the cutter he asked why he was de.
mined ; when the defendant said he had orders to do so from
Mr. Watson, the collector at Rye. Plaintiff said be hardly be.
lined that to be true t open which the defendant took a
letter out of his pocket, and read two or three lines, but not
sufficient to remove plaintiff's doubts. Lipscomb and the other
men who were left on board the smack, then took some provi.
aloes from the Cameleon, and immediately went out to sea. The
defendant sailed, with the plaintiff and his crew on board, down
to Hastings Road. There the defendant sent a boat ashore.
which soon after returned with a deputation officer, with
whom the defendant had an interview, but what passed eoeld
not be ascertained, nor perhaps was it material to know. It was
about seven o'clock in the morning of the 29th February when the
plaintiff was first taken by the defendant. About eleven o'clock
on the same morning the Cameleon was despatched from Hastings
Road, and went eighteen miles out to sea. Now had all this been
necessary and proper, the conduct of the defendant would have been
quite the reverse from what he afterwards did. The Cameleon was
lying near to the harbour of Rye, so that the defendant ninght
have taken the plaintiff and his men to that place, instead of which
he took them to flaming* Road, about fifteen miles off: The
plaintiff's papers were also on board, which the defendant might
have inspected at tint, and have set the plaintiff at liberty ; but
no, he took them down into the cabin and there left them.
sailed with the plaintiff to the shores of Hastings, and afterwards
took him a cruise a upwards of eighteen miles. AU this was ro
doubt done for the purpose of a decoy to some smuggling vessel,
which they would otherwise have fallen in with. It was now nine
o'clock in the morning of the !st of March. When they had got
thus far out to sea they again met with the smack, which they had
lost sight of the whole of the preceding day. The smack came
alongside the cutter, and the defendant -then, for the lint time,
looked at the plaintiff's papers, which he might and ought to have
done at the very tint. Ile then sends for the plaintiff to come
down into the cabin to him, and eays " Good morning,—here are
your papers ; you may take th:m and go." The plaintiff; how.
ever, rather hesitated to put an end to the affair in so unceretno.
nious a manner, and replied, " No ; I don't know that I shall take
them now." " Oh, then," says the defendant, "if you refuse I
shall run you down to the Admiral at Portsmouth, and there let him
do with you as he thinks proper." The plaintiff, considering
that his family would be alarmed at his protracted absenre,
thought it better to take back his papers and go on board
his smack : he and his three men accordingly left the Came.
loon, and the other four also left that vessel, and took to their
boat, the Rose, and they all sailed bark to f:ye. Such was
the conduct of these men, who were invested with a little Ink+ au.
thority. It was certainly necessary that the revenue should be pro.
tected, and that some such power as that given to the defendant
should eziet somewhere; but It was not therefore to follow, that
those who were appointed to execute the law should so use diets
authority as to abuse it, to the injury of any one. As an instance
or the feelings of the defendant in the present ease, he would just
'
mention one anecdote: When the plaintiff refused to take 1-,:s
papers back, the defendant said to him, " If I had been on boani
the smack, and you had refused to let me take the Witt. as yoo