The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-06 00:00:00

Miss Longworth or Mrs. Yelverton ?

(From the Law Times of To-day.)
' A majority of one has pronounced Miss Longworth net
to be lawfully married to Major Yefvertort according to the
law of Scotland. Both sides have assigned their reasons
for their strangely opposite conclusions. The question o.`‘
fact will doubtless divide the judgment of the public as it
has divided the Law Lords ; but, although looking for,
diversity where meanings were to be given to equivocal
passages in a long correspondence, we were not prepared
for the very wide severance between the views of the Judges
as to what constitutes a Scotch marriage. In common with
the greater portion of the profession, we had always under-
stood that in Scotland a public acknowledgment that
woman was a wife, accompanied with cohabitation, WB'
evidence of an intention to marry which it was
not permitted to impugn. According to the re;
cent decision of the majority of the House a
Lords, the intent could not be presumed from the cohabi-
tation and acknowledgement; or, rather, the presuroPtiall_
thence arising is open to question. Whether in
the facts were sufficient to rebut the presumption, is a P°l
on which there are, and will continue to be great differences
of opinion, and in the absence of the evidence of the Par",
themselves it is almost impossible to arrive at a satisisotei:s
verdict. But this may be taken now as settled laver that
to to perfect a Scotch marriage something more is
than for a man to call a woman his wife. So far the re-
cision is to be welcomed with pleasure, for it partially
not likelyto a
stricts within very much narrower limits than forattelifilc:ejn2nuut
t
liberty of marriage which the Scotch so much boast of, e
0.
in the face of the frauds which it promotes by encoulgfor
meat to and the misery it makes by the facility offer
the foolish or the cunning.
The Lord Chancellor certainly appears to v,e the best
of the argument, and the force of his reasoning is
to be lost upon the Court of Session, when the aPPliat
is made to them to order that judicial examination ote
th
parties which ought to have preceded the *Peal to the
Lords. Our readers are not aware, perhaps, that t
question lately decided was not raised on a final jadgfnea. '
but on an interlocutory proceeding. It is still open to Lite
Scotch court to go on with the case, taking the law frog
the House of Lords ; but it may require further proofs for
the satisfaction of its own conscience before pronouncing
final judgment, and these proofs may lead them to decide
that the case is not within the law as now determined;
then, from this decision also it might go again to the Lords,
to be reviewed by them with the added light afforded by
the evidence of the parties, the importance of which
will be at once recognised by all who read the extracts front
Major Yelverton's evidence at the trial in Ireland, which
we published a fortnight ago. Altogether the procedure.
is extremely clumsy, and if no other lesson is learned by it
the public mind will be strongly impressed with the folly,
the criminality, of maintaining in so small a territory as
that of the United Kingdom three different forms of mar-
riage, and one of them so ill-defined that the Supreme
Tribunal of the land cannot agree as to what are the ne-
cessary ingredients of such a marriage. The Times coup"
eels Miss Longworth to withdraw from the contest. We
cannot think she would wisely d-o so, if there is open to
her such a means of pursuing it as she alleges. Believing
herself to be a lawful wife, womanly spirit would counsel
her to maintain her right to the title by every means 01011
to her. Acquiescence in the degradation would be almost
an admission that it was deselved.

SALMON FISHERY CONVICTIONS,—The salmon
fishing season is now drawing to a close. The Pre:
sent season is one of the best ever experienced
recollection on the Severn, as is shown by the reduction 11'
the price of salmon, which has been selling at 10d. to 15;
per lb. The strictest watch is being kept to Prect
illegal fishing, and to enforce the observance of t 0
weekly fence time. The United Association for
Protection of the Fisheries of the Severn an d nlot
tributaries have just obtained two convictions egal;o,
fishermen at Glocester fur infraction, of the law. °lle
was Henry Spiers, of lmore, near Oloceater,
was charged before the Glocestershire magistrates, at
tei;
Shire-hall, Glocester, with attempting to take 081°'°1111y
the Severn with a drift net in such manner as to prestica
diminish the meshes of the nets used to less dial%
sions than those authorised by law and against the 100
section of the Salmon Fisheries Act of 1861. webo
was proved by the acting conservator, John Griffin' tof
found the defendant fishing on the 18th ult. with a uettlio
from 30ft. to 40ft. long. There were three portions 01302
no!, and they wera all used together, the effect of wf the
was practically to diminish the size of the meshes °
centre net. The magistrates said there could h —ofir6t
doubt this was an evasion of the Act, but, as it was thed.o
case that had been brought before them, they should rde find
the fine to X 2, the net to be forfeited. John DforEfiel at
William Morefield, of Sandhurst, near Glocester, wertioe
the same time charged with breaking the weekly cl°se_,oo
by fishing in the Severn with a net between Saturday.
juiv.
It appeared that the conservator, Griffin,
and Monday morning—to wit, on Sunday, the =7th et,
en
in company with Policeman Bradley at Sandhutrobto:sn
William Morefied passed them. Bradley spokohoo
addle
which he ran away to a boat and struck it wit t _
see,
three times, immediately whereupon another boare,el;
and
to emerge from the river bank with John ra
al'd they
another man in it. They were drawing in a ne.rLfr.
had been wt
w.
The
magistrates fined John Morefield 2,2, and Youth'
crossed the river and pulled the net on to thewLop.e;erej,aeldi
who Wee a mere boy, 78 only, on account of y