The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-14 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, June 12.
(Before Sir JAMES PA.REER.)
MISS CATHERINE HAYES—HAYES V. BEALE AND OTHERS.
Mr. BACON, with whom was Mr. Cotton, moved in
this case, upon notice, for an injunction restraining the
Union Bank of London, its agents and officers, and one
of the defendants, Mr. John Chapman, the public officer
of the bank, from paying to another of the defendants,
Mr. T. F. Beale, the music-seller, of Regent-street, any
part of the moneys of Miss Hayes (about 3,0001.) in the
possession of the Union Bank. The motion sought also
to restrain Mr. Beale from carrying on further proceed-
ings in the Lord Mayor's Court in London against Miss
Hayes, or against Mr. Chapman, or the Union Bank,
and also to restrain Mr. Beale from further prosecuting
an action brought by him against Miss Hayes in the
Superior Court of New York, in America, and from
bringing any other action against Miss Hayes, in respect
of an agreement between hr and Mr. Beale, dated the
30th of April, 1851. It was stated that a previous
agreement had been entered into between Miss Hayes and
the defendant, Mr. Beale, on the 28th of November, 1850,
by which Miss Hayes agreed to go to America in Sep-
tember, 1851, where she undertook to perform for
five months. The terms of this agreement of No-
vember were that Mr. Beale should pay to Miss Hayes
5001. per month, and that the latter should receive one-
sixth of the profits realised by the speculation. The
travelling expenses of Miss Hayes, her mother, and her
attendant, and also of her theatrical dresser, were to be
paid for by Mr. Beale. Shortly after concluding this
agreement Miss Hayes went to Italy to improve her
vocal powers. She returned in April following, and as
she had reason for believing that she had not done her-
self justice by the terms she had consented to, and as
she had been offered nearly double—namely, 1,0001. by
Gurnsey, the agent of one of the defendants, Wardwell,
a merchant in New York, she prevailed upon the de-
fendant (Mr. Beale) to increase her pay to 6501., instead
of 500/. per month. Accordingly, on the 30th of April,
1851, Miss Hayes and Mr. Beale entered into another
agreement, to commence in September following, and
to continue for five months, by which Miss Hayes
agreed to sing and perform, in America and Ireland,
in La Sonnambula, Lucia de Lammermoor, Linda, Lu-
cretia, Don Pasquale, L'Elisir d'Amore, I Puritani,
Norma, and such other operas as might be agreed
upon, and also to sing at concerts. Mr. Beale agreed
to pay Miss Hayes 3,2501. by monthly instal-
ments during the five months, and also one-sixth
part of the profits, after payment of all the expenses,
direct or incidental. It was stipulated that Miss Hayes
was not to be required to perform more than four operas
or concerts, and a fifth concert in any ono week, such fifth
concert to be at Miss Hayes's option. The lady, how-
ever, was not to take any other engagement, or to appear,
sing, or perform in public, otherwise than under the
agreement, without the consent in writing of Mr. Beale
or his representative. Mr. Beale was to have the option
of continuing the engagement for a period beyond the
five months, not exceeding twelve months in the whole,
on giving to Miss Hayes a written notice of his intention
within one month previously to the expiration of the
five months. The engagement was to be considered as
commencing from the date of the first performance,
either in Egland or America; the time occupied in
crossing and recrossing the Atlantic was not to be con-
sidered or calculated as part of the engagement. In
the event of Miss Hayes being at any time
unable to perform her part of the engage-
ment from illness, any loss which may be sus-
tained in consequence should be made good by
Miss Hayes continuing her engagement so as to
make up for the loss at the rate of 650/. per month. Mr.
Beale and Miss Hayes then bound themselves to the ful-
filment of this engagement in a penalty of 3,0001. re-
spectively. In the month of June following, however, Mr.
Beale thought fit to assign and transfer the benefit of this
contract to the defendant, Mr. John Henry Wardwell, a
merchant, of 200, Broadway, New York. Mr. Beale by
this instrument agreed to provide for Mr. Wardwell the
exclusive services of Miss Hayes, Mr. Augustus Bra-
ham, Herr Mengis, and Lewis Henry Lavenu, to sing
and perform, in four concerts or oratorios in each week,
in New York and elsewhere for three months from the
arrival of the parties in America, and Mr. Beale gave
Mr. Wardwell the option of continuing the engagement
for two months longer, after a month's notice, with
liberty during the extended period to substitute
operas for concerts or oratorios, the performances
not to exceed four in one week without the consent of
Mr. Beale or his, representative. Mr. Wardwell was
so pay Mr. Beale 5001. for preliminary expenses, and
2,2001. during the engagement—namely, for Miss
Hayes's services, 1,8001. per month; for Mr. Bra-
ham's, 200/. per month; for Herr Mengis's, 100/. per
month; and for Mr. Lavenu's, 1001. per month. Mr.
Wardwell agreed to pay the travelling and living ex-
penses of Miss Hayes, her mother, Dr. Joy (Mr. Beale's
agent), and Miss Hayes's attendant, of Mr. and Mrs.
Braham, of Herr Mengis, and Mr. Lavenu, from the time
of leaving England until the end of their engagement,
and a fair sum for the expenses of returning to England.
Mr. Wardwell agreed to pay Mr. Beale a moiety of all
receipts beyond 5001. whenever the same should ex-
ceed 500/, for any performance. The two parties
bound themselves in a penalty of 4,0004 for the
fulfilment of the agreement. The plaintiff, it was said,
had not been made aware of this sub-agreement, and it
was a matter of complaint that it had been purposely
kept from her knowledge. In August Miss ave.,' ac-
companied by her mother and an attendant (Dr. Joy,
the agent and manager of Mr. Beale), left Liverpool for
New York. Miss Hayes performed there in the follow-
ing month, and continued to do so for six weeks But in
the middle of November (about the 14th), Miss Hayes ex-
pressed to Dr. Joy her resolution not to sing again under
the engagement with Mr. Beale, and offered to pay to
him (Joy), as Mr. Beale's agent, the penalty of 3,0001.
for her breach of the agreement, she receiving what she
was entitled to for what she bad peformed on her part.
Miss Hayes, in her letter to Joy expressing this reso-
lution, stated that for some reason or other, acting under
his directions had become disagreeable to her, and she
refused to continue doing so. It was stated that although
Miss Hayes's performances were highly attractive to
her American audiences, Mr. Wardwell, early in No-
vember, 1851, determined on assigning his interest in the
contract to another person, and he did so to a Mr. An-
thony (one of the defendants), who
__tv,
was stated in the
affidavits to be a creditor of Wardwell s. It was alleged
that Miss Hayes after this, and after her letter to Joy,
went to Albany, having entered intod freshl contract,
and that Anthony thereupon proceeded
for
the
in the
Court of New York against Mr. Beale
of fmriss enpaenalty,
and proceeded to attach the moniescourt. Proceedinygesehbayd
process in the Lord Mayors .
n ton Bank,
in the Lord Mayor's. Court
also been taken by Mr. Beale
er of the U
against Mr. Chapman, the maneag
to Miss
to attach 3,000/. which belong d. Hayes, and
This process, it was
which sum was lying there. . stated,
ld be made effectual by execution on the 22d inst.,
unless the injunction were •
wou granted as prayed. Mrproceedingsagainst
•
Beale also had instituted
Miss Hayes
Upon this
in the American courts.
bestate of facts, it
was asked that the 3,000/.
mightpit fr.paid o
by the Union
free
Bank into court, so as to __ any liability
to attachment in the Lord Mayos
.Court, and to abide
the result of the pending litigation between the several
Unless a court of equity interposed, it might
parties.
happen that Miss Hayes might be compelled to pay both
which would be agreat • '
and in America,
here
Hee s's case that the agreement with Mr.
It was Miss • and this view w
Beale eves inequita,b e,
whilst
the as strengthened
by the circumstance that byagreement be-
two Hayes he was to pay her 6501.
himself and Mt
tween
per month, by the selesequent agreement with Mr.
to receive from him 1 800/
Wardwell he was , • The urgency
of Miss Hayes's claim to the interference of the Court
arose not only from the facts disclosed upon the affidavits,
from the
but circumstance that her property was in
jeopardy at a time when she was out of the jurisdiction
of the Court, and unable to give explanations of the case
made on the other side.
Mr. MALINS and Mr. CHAPMAN BARBER, for the de-
fendant, Mr. Beale, denied that the agreement between
Mr. Beale and Mr. Wardell was concealed from Miss
Hayes, the plaintiff. They stated that the possibility
of such a sub-contract had been the subject of con-
versation in April, at the residence of Miss Hayes,
when the agreement of the 30th of April was entered
into, that lady herself having suggested that if Mr.
Beale found or considered her terms too onerous,
he might find many parties who would gladly accept
them of him in this manner. In answer to the complaint
of Miss Hayes that she had found acting under Dr. Joy's
direction obnoxious to her, reliance was placed upon the
following passage in one of the lady's letters to Mr.
Beale, which was dated on the 2d of November, twelve
days before her complaint:—" I have only to say of Dr.
Joy, that he is unremitting in his attention to me, and to
.very wish of mine; and I believe all the party have but
trete feeling towards him, of kindneAs and respect for his
mseny good and excellent qualities." The doctor, in his
affidavit, deposed thus:—" I say that I behaved myself,
on all occasions, with the strictest propriety, and endea-
voured, in every way, to consult the wishes and conve •
nience of the _ said Catherine Hayes, who on many

occasio.as stated to me and to various persons that
she was highly satisfied with my conduct towards
her in ail respects." It was clear that Mr.
Beale was an innocent party here. The contract
solemnly entered into with him was deliberately vio-
lated by Miss Hayes, although it was to Mr. Beale
that she was indebted for the suggestions of an American
tour. The alleged obnoxiousness of Dr. Joy's direction
was a mere subterfuge. The risk had been almost
exclusively that of Mr. Beale, with whom, up to the
time of breaking off the agreement, she had been on
terns of professed friendship. In the letter, part of
which had been read, she wrote thus familiarly:—
" I trust you will all enjoy the blessings of health.
We bon, been visiting Boston, Providence, Hartford,
Springfield, all most charming. I hope with the same
success which attended our first efforts. * * * Give
my best love to dear Mrs. Beale, Maria, and the little
ones. I shall look forward to a happy meeting with
you all in dear old England. Maria and Henrietta de-
sire their sincerest love to all, and believe me, my dear
Mr. Beale, yours most sineely,

CA.TH ERINE HANES.
"Adieu, cl?a, r Mr. Beale, may " all happiness be yours;
kindest regards to your dear father."
Mr. Stevens appeared for tho Union Bank.
The VICE-CHANCELLOR said, that in this case Mr.
Beale had a demand against the plaintiff. It was under
her contract, and it was, he apprehended, purely a legal
demand. Prima facie Mr. Beale was entitled to pursue
all the remedies that malted from that legal demand.
It appeared that he was, in fact, suing Miss Hayes in
England, in the Lord Mayor's Court. Ire was also
suing her in America. What she now asked was an m-
junction to restrain him from carrying onthese
proceedings. The common ground stated in thf!b.T.,wa's
what would certainly be a ground of equity "
btoined: by
proved—namely, that the contract was
Beale from the plaintiff by fraud or misre;ersoeunntdatitt
In order to obtain an injunction on that g
and show
plaintiff must make out some prima facie case,
this,
some ground $9 lead $llO Court to *PPP" wi"