The Sun.
London, England, 1830-11-08 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Nov. 6.
FULLOCK V. ALLANSON.

This was a suit for trying the validity of the al-
leged will and codicil of the Rev. John Monkhouse,.
of Brumshot, Harits, which were contested by the
sister, and only next of kilo, on the ground of in-
sanity. The case was argued and very fully re-
ported last term.
..
Dr. LUSIIINGTON, who Was absent when the case
was argued before, was now heard on behalf of Mrs.
loßarbara Allanson, the sister of the deceased. He
proceeded at considerable length to analyze the Con-
tents of the will and codicil, which appropriated the
hulk of his property, real and personal, to the object
of education, bet in a very peculiar manner. The
language of the bequest was extraordinary, particu•
lerly the exceptions to the admission of children of
persons guilty of certain mood misdeeds. His be-
quest to the Provost and Fellows of Queen's Col-
lege, Oxfurd, as trusters for a Society of Unitarian
Christians, was a strange bequest for a Clergymen
of the Church of England to make, as it 11/:18 next to
lan insult to the College. Then the peculiar bequest
of Is. to those whom be supposed had poisoned his
dog Carlo was remarkable, as it proved the incipient
notion of poisoning in 1824, which haunted his
mind till 1827, the date of the will. The bequest
in the codicil of 11. for good and wholesome milk for
the poor of the parish was another proof on the face
of the Instruments of what sounded to folly, which
the extrinsic evidence completely confirmed. The
learned advocate then went into the details of the
evidence, commenting upon the acts attributed to
the deceased--;-munely, his belief that attempts had
been made to poison him and his family; that e well
90 feet deep,„ and 12 broad at the bottom, had
been poisoned by corrosive sublimate; that his
eggs were steeped in poison : that his butter was
poisoned; his going about armed; his extraordinary
entries in the parish registers, containing reflec-
tions upon the character of the persons mentioned
there; his strange inscriptions upon his carts and
waggons, in Greek and Hebrew, expressive of Uni-
tarian sentiments, and his irrational mode of acting
upon the suspicions he entertained, supposing them
to be just. The deceased was precisely of that cha-
meter in which insanity might he expected to ma-
nifest itself. He was gloomy, desponding, shun-
ning society, and making dogs his companions, and
he supposed them to have souls. His talents and
capacity, which were admitted, tended to support
the presumption of insanity; for a sane mind, such
as Mr. munhhouses, would not have evinced such
weakness and credulity upon particular topics.
Sir JOHN NICHOLL said, the question was, whe-
ther the testator was of sound mind when he pre
pared and executed the will. The instruments
were in his own bend•writing, and there was no
want of formality about them. The history of the
deceased was this :—He died in October, 1828,
aged 70, a bachelor. lie was the son of a farmer
in Cumberland, and a fellow of Quee»'s College.
He had oucupted the rectory of liramahot, which
was college preferment, for twenty years. He was
eccentric in his ,conduct and . habits from an early
neriod. His sister had two daughters ; one of them
was married to a farmer termed Harrison, who, on
the invitation of the deceased, came from Cumber-
land to manage his glebe and tithes. Up to the !tit},
of April, 1827, there was no severeece of affection
from Hartison's family, nor imputed deluSion of
rotor'. The poisoning of the well, which Was the
groend-work of the alleged insanity, was fixed to
that day. The will wits executed on the 19th of
April, and the codicil on the 24th. A great many
circumstances had been brought forward to prove
that in May and June the deceased laboured under
an. invincible delusion that Harrison bad attempted
to poison him. But the question was, whether, at
the time the will was prepared and executed, be was
really insane ? The deceased was doubtless a very
eccentric man ; but act nil insanity was not at-
tempted to be proved till April, 1827. In respect
to the dog, which died in 1824, his notion, of poison
was no delusion, for others were of the same opi-
nion, particularly the farrier who attended the dog.
The remarks in the register were occasioned by the
immorality of the parish, and though,eecetriie, were
na evidence of iitsartity. These entries had corns,
men:ed as early as 1813. The will had been at-
tested by two clergymen, both intimately acquainted
with t:ie deceased, and both had deposed that he
was of perfectly sound mind. He thought, it L prop .r
therefore, in this view of the case, to konounee- for
the will; the two codicillary paperel and the-
Costs to be 'paid Out of the estate. codicil s