The Sun.
London, England, 1806-03-15 00:00:00

HOME CLRCUIT.

Cutotsvpsz, MA,Rcit 13. The Lour CHIEF
BARON and Mr. JuStice HEATH arrived in this town
last utbt, and\this morning they proceeded to busi-
ness. Tha.LORD CHIEF BARON sat on the Criminal
Side, and Mr. Justice HEATH on the Civi, Side.

- CIVIL min.
There were nine causes• only entered for trial, all
of which were tried iu the course of the day, and
NenTe unimportant in their nature and circumstances.

SEDUCTION:

MANN V. BARRETT.

Mr. GARnow stated, that the Plaintiff in this
cause was a fespe6lable, though not very opulent,
farmer. The litho') was brought to recover a corn-.
pensation in, damages for one of the worst injuries
that a man could sustain from 'another, namely, the
debauching of his daughter by the Defendant, who
Was theson of a neighbouring and opulent farmer.
The case also was the more aggravated, as the De-
fendant had gained access to the Plaintiff's house as
the honourable suiter to his illughter. He had
abused the freedoms alloWed 'him in that charataer,
seduced the girl, and left her with child ; Which
child had• ever since been maintained at the P'aintiff's
expend.. He was sure the Jury would consider this
as a case for ample damages, which they would
readily pronounce, when. they heard the evidence.
Ann 'Mann said, her father was a farmer, the De-
fendant was the .son of a neighbouring farmer ; they
had known each other from children ; she lived about
two miles from her father's house. About two years
ago he first began to court her, and he then promised
trtat nothing bad should happen to her till she was
married. He visited her until Oetober last, whiCh was
the last time she saw' him before that day, when she
saw him in Court. When he first began to keep her
company she told him she had only -1121. left by a
relation, and that her father was not able to give her
any thing, and she was afraid ,his father would not
consent to the match. He answered, that money did
"not make happiness, and that he would not sell him-
, selffor money. She became pregnant by him, and
he prothised he would marry her as soon as he could
get a place to go . to. On the.ist Over he pro-
mised he would go to Bellericay to get a licence, but
she never saw him again. She lay-in at her brother's
house.

On cross-examination she said,sshe• went to live
with her brother about two years ago—she always
slePt at her brother's house, but she weht backward
and forward to her father's, where she assisted her
mother, as usual,- to do the household work of the.
family.
being the evidence for the Plaintiff,
Mr. Serjeant BEST, for the Delendant, insisted,
-that there must be a non-:suit, on the ground that
the ataion could not be maintained.by the father,
Unless the. daughter formed a part of his tinnily,
which he argued, she did not, in the present in-
tarite.

The Learned Judge said,•he,never, recolle&ed any
case exaelly like the present, wall therefore he would
save the point for the consideration Of the Court.
Mr. Set:want 138sT then addressed the Jury en
the m•nits of the ease. He lamented that this sort
of nEtiun had 11,!eti so much encouraged, which was,
t,', permit a •Piaartiff'fii
cause,; for althoUgh the aelion was brought in the
Nine of ti:e father, yet in all these cases the da-
ena,)es were for the daughter. Thus, by this ftetion
of raw; one of its first principles" was violatea. He
then adverted to the circumstances of the present
case, and contended that it was not One which the
'Jury would think worthy of heavy damages.
The Learned Judge, in summing' up, told the
Jury, that the evidence of the girl herself was to
be received with a great deal of
_caution. She was
swearing fo cover her own indiscretion ; it was her
interest to represent herself as seduced by a promise
of marriage ; add to this, that she was most proba-
bly aEtuated by a degree of resentment against the
Defendant, for the disappointinent and disgrace she
had suffered. He thought that the present was one
Of the weakest cases he had remembered. It did not •
appear in evidence that the Defendant was received
by the Plaintiff's , family, as the admitted suitor of
the girl j, and it did appear, that she thought his
father- would not consent to the match ; and cer-
tainly it was her duty not to or receive his
visits without his father's consent. 'Under these
circumstances, the Jury would say what was the
proper quantum of the damages. •
Verdi& for the Plaintiff Damages 1001.
On the Crown Side only two cases were tried.
,Elizabeth Lister was convi&ed of stealing-Bank.
notes, the
"property of her master, John King. The
Prisoner, by her own confession, picked the lock of
the draWer where she saw her master deposit the
notes, and being accused of the fait, she ran away,
but was afterwards -.apprehended. She was sen-
tenced to twelve months' imprisonment.
Isaac Lotcho/Joseph Lotcho, and Charles Lotcho,.
three brothers, were conviaed of stealing a variety of
copper articles, two great coats, linen, and i:fher
things, from the house of John Hannan, Esq. at
Waltharnstow. • By the oaths of Debby Vinnicombe;
• Elizabeth Cousins, and Hannah Topp, "servants of
Mr. Harman, it appeared, that when they got up,
-on the morning of the 7th of November, they found
the house had been broken open, and the articles
• above-mentioned stolen.
• Vickary, •11.4 y, and ArMstrong, Officers of War-,
• ship=street Police Orlice,. seeing. the robbery ad'ver-
tised, searched the premises of the Prisoners, Where
they found the stolen goOds, and took the, Prisoners
into custody.

On Wednesday se'nnight Michael Whyl6y, alias
Wiley, ahas Jemason, alias Ward, was apprehended
.in Birmingham, and 'en Tuesday he was safely lodged
in his *old apartments in Chester Castle, having
broken out of Me same, with loin- others, on the
31st of March, 1802 ;* he was then committed for.
SteQing a box, or chaise seat, out of a room, at AA-,
bury, near Congleton, containing 7001. andupwards,
the property of John Egerton, Esq. of Oulton Park.
When appraended. he was *in compav with two
men (who esmtped).and three women ot_ bad cha-
rafter, the father of one of whom Was lately trans-
ported from Warwick: On .his apprehttosion, in
80 be had in his possession upwards of 400 pick.
lock keys, and whqn last taken he had two picklock
.keys, a dthp-key.atici a bottle of phosphoruii.. .

LA'!' REPORT.

COURT OF CHANCERY, FRIDAy, MARC!! 14.

HILARY V. WALLER.
Yesterday Messrs. RtcxAims :and HOARE were
heard for the Appellants, and the SOLICITOR-GE-
NERAL and Mr. SuAnw ELI. for. the Respondents.
It was a question on the validity of a title to a ter.-
lain Estate, called. Fingrath, Whichliad.been part
chased for. 3 t,oooi. and the MA.s:rflit of the ROLLS _
had decreed that it was a good and Competent title;
The decision Involved the doctrine of presumptions
in equity, and the cases referred to in the ar,urrientsP
were from 6 `'reset', jun. 185, 7 Idem.. 427, B'ldem.'
13 t, 4 Term Rep. 2, and one additional- case. from
ed Atkins.
. The LORD CHAtccEt.r.ott, >in prenouncing jueg-
ment, said, "-It appears to me to be for the interest
of the Appellant that I should give immediate judg-
ment in this cause: His Honour has decreed, that_
the agreement for the purchase of the-Fingrath estate,
should be. performed. I'admit to 'Mr. Ittcuaitnse
that no purchaser ought Ito be compelled to fulfil
such an.agreernent unleSs the seller can establish a
good title and I mean here, in the clearest sense of
the words, salt as in a Court wouldybe considered as
a marketable title. I take the pre's-tit-46°n of the
validity of a title, from lapse of fin* and :unin-
terrupted enjoyment, .to stand' upon. . such ob.-,
Violas grounds that it does not require,the 'gtabtlety
of a lawyer to Comprehend. it ;,, it depends upon the
nature and character of man; and it is this siM-,
ple truth, that we shall be diSposed to enjoy what-
ever belongs to us." His Lordship preceeded,tosap-
ply this familiar principle to corporeal and iticorpo-
real hereditaments ; and then contititiedLord
Kenyon (whom I must always remember; nbt only
with' sentiments of rest e& and admiratibn;blit with
:ardent affeaion and gratitude} had a ease befbreb
him, in which the question was, If-theylaintilf were
a Mortgagee ; Deeds and writings were produced ;
all the documents were perfect and complete ; yet
all was waste paper, they were not worth-the parch-
ments on which the charatlers appeared: That
Noble and Learned Ridge said, that the elaimabt
had not received the interest upon the mortgage
for twenty-five years, and therefore, it 'nnist be
considered as .satisfied. ,It -is the infirtni.w at
human being that we catntot "'dive, into natiqni-
ty—as well might we believe: that :men of a certain,
gigantic. stature existed 'in the antediluvian world,-
without testimcny, historical or divine, as credit some
of the conjeaures hazarded in. a cOna of Justice.—
[His Lordship here cited the cases -in which the opi-
nions of Mr. juStice Gould,-ofiLord-M.instield, of,
Lord Ellesmere, had' been ,givcn in this dodrin e of
presumptions, 'and then'proceeded.l, :It is not often
that poetry travels into a Court of Law or, Equity—
Lord Coke, hoever, said, that it waS.inyenteel to
enable Students to remember , the sage makims of
Law ;it may he allowable, therefore, extract a
few lines from Cowper : ,• , •
" We turn to dust,-4nci alt our mightiest wdrks
" Die too : the deep founti..ttions that we tiy,
." Time ploughs theM up,--anct not a trace reat.ains: .
We btiild with what we dzem-eternal rock.
" A distant age asks Where the fabric, stood ; , .
" And in the dust, Sifted alO'search'd in vain,
" The undiscovered secret sleeps."

f`.Let us for a moment endeavour to turn the
deed of itin4 into plain English ; yet so ambighons
it seems, that I would almost rather, lose the estate
than read the title of the instrument. The St. Clair
and Heron Estates had been. sold to. Gordon and
Knightsbridge for 14001. These were to be secured,
and there were .ome incumbrances which must have
a speedy termination. But were they to be secured
forever, whenlong enjoyment removed all uncer-
tainty ? and for this ineffedual purpose was the e*-
tate of Fingrath to be hung up in the limbo of va-
nity, without the probability of its being brought to
sale ? What I have stated may with difficulty be
colle&ed from the deed, for it is, drawn 110- as if it
were intended to be a fraud on the understanding cif
man. In addition to this we may infer, that eleven
years was the expefted period of the infirmity of the
St. Clair and Heron Estates • after that, the security
was no longer required, and the means of
Am
nity, no longer necessary, are resigned. I not
to conclude that the St. Clair and Heron estates are
good estates to the purchasers, after a.repose of 140
years ? Suppose a claimant were to descend from the
clouds, whether he-represented the Crown, or under
whatever. authority his pretensions- might be sup-,
ported, could such a Plaintiff recover ?, Would not
this Court grant a perpetual injunalon after an un-
interriwted possession of 140 years ? In this case
the object of the security is stated, so that we cab.
form sonic judgement of the purpose for which it
was given ; and if the design be not: fulfilled in a
period of 140 years,
_it could never be satisfied-in a
longer -time than the Philosophers learned in the
theory, of the 'earth have allotted us for the &ration
of the globe we inhabit. My judgment, then, is
founded on the presumption; because, without send-
ing the case to a Court of Law, I am as confident as!
I am of my owvi' existence, that the Judge of such a
Court would instru6t the Airy that a re-con:qq:4z.e.
'of the estate had been made. lam the more for-
titied in this judgment, as the -smile opinion bad'
been before entertained by the Master of the:Rohs::
Judgment eirmed. •
•