The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-13 00:00:00

TAYLOR V. BROWN.

The bill in this casevla:fi the specific per-
formance of a contract for the purchase of certain pro-
perty near Bristol, which had been put up to auction
in two lots, and purchased (as the plaintiff alleged) by
the defendant in the month of May, 184. The ob-
jection raised by the defendant was that great delay
having arisen on the part of the plaintiff who lived in
Canada, proving their title, he had on the 13th of July,
1836, written a let ter to the plaintiff's attorney putting
an end to the contract
Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Lloyd appeared fcr the
pl,ietiff, and Messrs. Kindersicy and Follett for the de-

fendant.
The MASTER of the ROLLS was of opinion that tie
contract had not been put an end to, and that the de-
fendant must pay the costs. If necessary there must
be a reference to the Master to inquire whether a good
title had been made.

SHERIFFS' COURT, Nov. 12.
STOCRDALE V. HANSARD.

(In continuation from our Paper of yesterday.)
Mr. Stockdale—What did the Jury think that he
had allowed to him as costs ?—why, Ils. 4d., and yet
he was the winner of the cause. These reports of the
Inspectors of Prisons formed a consecutive chain. Prom
their reply he would read the report of the Lord Mayor
and Corporation of London, which stated that the work
alluded to was of a strictly scientific nature, and yet these
gentlemen, one of whom had acknowledged he knew
nothing of medical or scientific works, bad denied this.
A copy of this work was found in possession of a pri-
soner in Newgate, and the attention of the Court of
Aldermen having been attracted to it, they stated that
they considered it a scientific work. People with
glass houses should not throw stones, and of all
the obscene books he had ever seen, there never
was anything equal in obscenity to these very re-
ports of the Inspectors of Prisons ; and of all these
obscenities, there was not one which the Inspectors
themselves, including this Clergyman, had not extracted
from the prisoners by personal interrogatories. From
these reports every wrong doer might obtain informa-
tion for regulating his proceedings, and every evil speaker
might find in these reports a code of vice and immo- j
rality. Measures had been taken to deprive him of his
right previous to the trial of each of the other causes,
and the same thing had taken place yesterday ; there-
fore, he claimed the whole amount of the damages.
The UNDER SHERIFF—You cannot visit the defen-
dants with that of which they are not cognizant.
Mr. Stockdale would bow to the Under Sheriff ; he
knew Constitutional law. They could not vindi-
cate their privilege without bringing the Jury
and him to the bar of the House, and if the
House did, exercise such an act of despotism
be would appear at the bar, and nothing he could do to
vindicate their privileges should be wanting. The She-
riff of Middlesex was wanting in nerve, or he would not
have truckled as he had in making the application to
the Court of Queen's Bench, the effect of which would
be to deprive the Jury of their rights under the consti-
tution. The Attorney-General had stated that he could
be set right by petitioning the House of Commons.
Now before the action was brought, Lord John Russell
had refused to present a petition from him to the House
of Commons.
Mr. Under-Sheriff BURCHELL—That has nothing to
do with the present action.
Mr. Stockdale—lt is true he might petition

the House, but he could get no one to present
it for him. Now, could any sum of money compensate
.1 man who had been so persecuted ? He stated with
some exul!atlon that he found he was an instrument in
the hand of Providence in bringing this question for-
ward. He would not depreciate authorities ; but he
knew the Con,titution, and others knew it as well as he
did, who, from party motives, would sell their birthright.
He would no allude to the most valuable publication
that had ever emanated from the press of Messrs. Han-
sard ; he meant the seriatim judgments of the Judges of
the Con: t of Qaeen's Bench on this question ; and had
these judgments been given sooner,there would have been
no Chartism in the country, because the poor man would
have seen that there was a way of obtaining justice
without resorting to violence. On the former occasion
the magnitude of the Constitutional question had so
overhelmed his Counsel that he bad never stated to
the Jury what the damages were laid at, and they had
consequently given him 1001., but he was prepared to
show, that he had suffered immensely from having his
time occupied in the way it bad been, in consequence
of these proceedings, and was, therefore, entitled to
heavy damages. He might call those who would have
put him into Parliament, but a Peer could not be com-
pelled to give evidence here.
Mr. BunctiELL—That is a mistake, Mr. Stockdale,
a Peer can he compelled to give evidence here as much
as any one else.
Mr. Stockdale was not before aware of it, for
such attendance had been refused. He called on the
Jury, in assessing damages, to consider the labour and
talent that must have been employed to en-
able him to plead this cause as they had
heard it. He challenged any inquiry into
his private character. It bad been said this wa,
trying the same cause a third time ; but the fact
was, in contempt of the previous verdict, the defendants
had thought proper to continue the publication, and he
was determined to try the question in every form, and
would rather. do so while Parliament was sitting. He
no longer sued in forma pauperis, and was therefore
answerable for all the consequences. The plaintiff then
proceeded to read. at considerable length the opinion of
Lord Brougham on this subject, and contended that he
was entitled to such an amount of damages as would
give him indemnity for the past and security for the future.
He had no doubt there were those who wished to
see his back turned, but he was not going to
leave the country. The action had been brought,
and Messrs. Hansard had been informed of the
nature of it before the prorogation of Parliament. If
they were to take him to the bar of the House, and
commit him, and he would go there if sent for, he
would, immediately he was released, bring his action for
assault, and battery, and false imprisonment. The
plaintiff continued to address the Jury in aggravation,
in a most rambling manner, until a quarter to 3 o'clock,
having spoken upwards of three hours and a half.
No evidence was offered by the defendants.
Mr. BURCBELL summed up, and said there could be
no doubt the plaintiff was entitled to their verdict. A

great many observations had been made relative to
what had taken place elsewhere, and allusions had been
made to the jeepardy in which they were all placed.
Now, for his part, he should always resort to the Judges
for the law of the land, and to them alone. It had been
intimated there had been some fear on the part of the
Sheriff, he knew of no such fear. An application had
been made to stay the execution of this process merely
to intimate to the Court of Queen's Bench that notice
had been given them that they might be infringing
certain privileges, and not from fear : and if phy-
sical force was to be resorted to for the purpose
of preventing them doing their duty; as laid down
by the Judges of the land, it would be a thing to bq
greatly regretted, but he trusted the time would never
come when Englishmen would be afraid to do their duty.
This was a republication of a former libel, and so far
was an aggravation, there was no evidence as to their
being reimbursed. They should not travel out of the
record to express any opinion by the amount of damages
as to any question other than the actual amount
of damages sustained by the plaintiff, and that
was a question solely fur their own consideration.
He wished to draw their attention to one point. Mr.
Stockdale had put in a paper, stating that he had only
received 11s. 4d. costs, but it appeared that 390/. 14s.
had been paid as damages and costs to the Sheriff.
Now, Mr. Stockdale ougt to have stated this.
Mr. Stockdale—That was all I had as costs out of
pocket.
The Jury then retired, and after an absence of up-
wards of two hours, returned a verdict, assessing the
damages at 600?. Costs, '2os.