The Sun.
London, England, 1806-03-13 00:00:00

HOME CIRCUIT.

HERTFORD, MONDAY., MARCH lo.—This
morn-
ing, about twelve' o'clock, Mr. Justice HEATH ar-
rived, and read his Commission for holding the As-'
sizes for this County; After hearing Divine 'Ser-
vice, the Learned Judge proceeded to the business
of the County.
There were only four causes on the Civil Side, but
the gaol is heaver than usual.

DYSON V. TRISBY.

This was an action by one horse-dealer against
another for slandering his charaeler, in saying he
always bought unsound horses, and that he would
expose him to the Regiments which he served with
horses.

Mr. Scrjeant BEST, for the Plaintiff, expatiated on"
the value of every man's charade, particularly in
those points connected with :his trade ; for, to slan-
der a man in his trade was not only to injure his re-.
putation, but went also to deprive him of his living.
The Plaintiff and Defendant, he observed, were both
horse-dealers, and the Defendant had sold the Plain-
tiff a horse, .which proved to be unsound, but he
did not for that-reason traduce his character.. He
returned the horse, and said no
.more. It happened,
however, that meeting the Plaintiff's son at Barnet
Fait, he (the son) told him to send for the horse
home again : upon this the Defendant poured out a
volley of abuse against the Plaintiff, called him by
several abusive names, too grass to repeat ; said he
always bought lame, blind, and spavined cattle ; that
lie was i rogue and a- thief, and cheated every body,
which he would prove ; and added, that he would
go to Woolwich and expose him to all the regimentS
which he served ; and the consequence of this was,
not only the general loss of char-atter, but also the
loss of customers, as he should prove to the Jury,
who would no doubt give ample damages in return.
To prove this case, he called Thomas Milton,
who proved the abusive words, and stated, that he
left off dealing with the Plaintiff for above a month
in con Sequence of it.
The next witness was the Plaintiff's son, to
whom the words were spoken. He stated that, be-
ing at Barnet fair, he told the Defendant to fetch
away the broken-winded. horse which he had sold
them ; upon which the-- Defendant broke out, and
uttered all the abuse stated in the declaration, and
swore he would go to Lord Paget, whose Regiment
they furnished with horses, and expose the Plaintiff;
and that he would go to Woolwich, and let the Ar-
tillery knoW that he dealt in nothing but unsound
horses.

- On cross'-exatnination, he said, that he had'said
nothing to provoke this abuse, though he admitted he
had called him rascal and scoundrel, &c. He denied
that he had accused the Defendant of having cheated
his father, by selling him a bloken-winded horse.
They did hot call that cheating in their profession ;- .
it was only deceiving. He added, that his father dealt
horses to the amount oft 0,0001. a-year.
• Mr. Serjeant SHEPHERD, for the Defendant, ad-
dressed the Jury in a very pleasant speech. He
read the declaration, in which the Plaintiff' set out,
that by the slander, he 'had been injured in the
opi-
nion of our Sovereign Lord the King, and of divers
Officers of Cavalry of our Sovereign Lord the King,
- who used to buy horses of him, and r ridiculed the
nation to which the Defendant had. resorted to give
importance to his cause. If, he said,'all the squab-
bles among horse-dealers at I3,arnet Fair were to pro-
duce anions, and be tried at Hertford; instead of a
beggarly list of poor causes they would have a sheet
full, and it would be a most glorious harvest for the
Lawyers. Words of heat and anger, like the pre-
sent, were. never considered as matter for serious da-
mages, for they did no serious injury to the charader -
• of any man, ,-and he had the authority of a late
Learned Chief Justice for this assertion.,
He recolleded a cause in which the Defendant
accused the Plaintiff of having committed perjury in
a former cat si This was certainly a most serious
accusation, and the witness clearly proved the words.
It oecurred•to the acuteness of Lord Kenyon, to ask
what else the Defendant said; to which the witness
replied, " Why, my Lord, he added, that you were
a rascal, and all the Jury d—d fools." Upon which
that Learned Judge told the Jury, that the Defend-
ant, by adding him and- the Jury who tried the for-
mer cause, eVidently spoke in such blind passion,
that he was not likely to be seriously believed, con.
sequently could not injure the charader of the Plain-
tiff to any alarming extent; so this was, the case
here; the Defendant .had dealt in much unmeaning
abuse, and it was not likely it had injured the Plain-
tiff. As • for the special damage alledged, that Mr.
-Milton did not deal-with him, it was too farcical to
be for a :moment believed •

Mr. Justice HEATH told the Jury that the words
were um!. uestianably,aEtionable, but that the special
damage alledged was ridiculous. It was like the case
of an assault where an apothecary was called in to
curb a wound, which any old woman in the parish
would manage as well. It was like bolstering up a
falling-wall, and deserved no credit. They would
consider whether they would give one shilling or
forty, the latter of which would carry costs. •
Verdia for the Plaintiff—Damao-es is.
The two other causes tried to-day were uninte-
resting,