The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-03-07 00:00:00

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ROME CIRCUIT.

IiEIITTOAD, Hilt■ S.

This morning Mr. Justice HsavM arrived, and
read his Commission for holding the Assizes for
this County. There were six causes entered for
trial, of which only the following was of any im-
portance :
SEARS V. razarica.
Mr. GURNLY stated to the Jury, that the Plaintiff
in this case sued in forma pauper's, to recover da-
mages for a very virtues injury which he had sus-
tained The Defendant was a Surgeon at Hensel
Hempstead: and the declaration stated, that the
Plat* iff had broken his arm and dislocated hiselbow,
and had employed the Defendant as his surgeon.
It went on to state, that the Defendant had so ne-
gligently and unskilfullyconduaed himself, that the
Plaintiff for a long time was put to great bodily
paia, and was prevented from attending his business,
by which he suffered great loss. The Plaintiff was a
labouring shoemaker, who having the misfortune to
fall from his horse, he thereby broke the small bone
of hit right arm, and dislocated the elbow. The De-
fendant was called in to attend the fraCture ; on exa-
mining it, he said the arm was not broken, and
merely tubbed the part with a little vinegar. The
man was suffered to go on in this way until he
bad totally lost the use of his arm. The poor
man endeavoured to seek ether advice, and the
humanity of Lady Charlotte Villas induced her
to send a Mr. Pidcock, another surgeon, by whose
116•:StAtICe the arm was set ; but the Defendant ex-
pressed his displeasure at any interference on the
past of another professional man. Mr. Pidcock,
however, paid but that one e;tat, and the Plaintiff
was left, in the 11 Inds of the Defendant. At length,
Ending he grew no better, he applied to a Mr.
Kingston, at St. Alban's, and that gentleman, upon
ea sanitation,' out the arm so unskilfully set, that
he was aanally obliged to break it again in the same
place, and reset it, in order to enable him to per-
form a cure, which his stiperior skill at length hap-
p,ly effeaed, after the unfortunate patient had been
kept ior near three months, languishing under the
in-Id:taper twartmetit he had sustained from the De-
fendant The Learned Couz.sel then adverted to
the law upon this .u!,jea, and stated, that every
matt was bestial to bring a competent degree of
skill into his profession; and that if he either unskil-
fully or negligently conducted himself, he was
bound to make recompense to the party, whom his
want of skill or attention had injured.
The Learned JUDGI here interposed, and said, be
would not suffer the skill of a pritessional man to
be tried; in this aaion the Plaintiff might thew ne-
gligence, if he could; but he would not go into the
skill of the Defendant. IwfwM Min'
Two Witnesses were called, on the part
Plaintiff; but they proved, that, as far as attendan
went, the Defendant was not negligent, as he was
constant in his visits to the Plaintiff.
Mr Srrjeant Strzetteaci, for the D. fendant, told
the Jury, that it was evident this affirm had origi-
nated, not in the Attorney'. office, but in the Doc-
tor's shop at St. Alban's, and that Mr. Kingston
found it a very desirable thing to annihilate the cha-
raaers of two rivals, by which be brought gait to
his mill at St. Alban's.
The Learned JUDelt told the Jury the only tines-
lion was, whether the Defendant had been negligent
or not ?
Thy Jury found far the Defendant.
WRIT OF RIGIIT.
This writ is the last that can be brought for the
recovery of an estate, and is in rare use in modern
days, being one of the feudal ations, as now pend-
ing in this county, in a cause of Dnnis v Shep-
pard. The mode of trial is what is called by the
Grand Assize, a mode of trial devised by Glanville,
Justiciary to Henry the Third, in lieu of the Norman
Mode of deciding it by single combat; but the
tenant still has the right of waging battle by cham-
• pion, with his antagonist, if he chooses it. The last
of which judicial combats was in the reign of Eli-
sabeth. By the trial by the Grand Assize. four
Knights, girded with their swords, appear in Court,
and return the Grand Assize, that is the Jury who
try the cause. In the present case, the King's writ
to the Sheriff was read, by which the Sheriff was
direfted to summon, by good summoners, Four
Knights, who were to appear before the King's
Justice, girded with their swords, to make elation
of the Grand Assize, to determine whether the De-
mandant had the greater tight to demand, or the
Tenaat the greater right to hold, a messuage and
400 acres of land, at Obey, in this county. To
which wtit the Sheriff returned, that he had sum-
moned %% illiam Baker, Robert Dimsdale, John
Baron Dickinson, and Michael Hankie, Esqrs.
Those gentlemen accordingly appeared in Court,
each with a sword, and returned the names of the
Grand Assize. The aniseed course stands for trial
the next Assizes.
The other causes, were all nied, and the Civil Side
Entailed.
!FRIDAY, MARCH 6.
CROWN ODE—NtOttlrEK.
Joke Harris was in:aeted for the wilful murder
of Benjamin Stapp', on the 24th of September, by
giving him several violent blows on the head, of
which he died.
Mr. Common SVCJIAtT observed, that the very
nature of the charge against the pi isoner at the bar
called for their most serious attention ; and this
case particularly claimed their whole attention, be-
cause it must be made out by a number of cir-
cumstances, some trivial in themselves, but. when
all were added, they formed a weight of the greatest
magnitude against the prisoner at the bar. The
deceased and the prisoner were brothers in-law ;
the latter was an old man, but the deceased was
a much older. They lived together in a small
cottage, near Hemel Hempstead, the property of
the deceased, and the probable motive of the
prisoner to commit the crime (if he did commit
it) was avarice, as the deceased had shortly before
made a will, and left him all his property, amount-
ing to about 1501. He then detailed the circum-
stances of the case, as they are below stated in the
evil nca. The last time the deceased plas seen, was
on Tuesday evening, the 24th of September, and it
was on the night of that day he must have met his
death. On the Wednesday morning, the Prisoner
went out to wprk as usual, sod when he returned in
the evening, bb went to si" neighbouring cottage.
the residesse it one Elisabeth Grover, and then

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