The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-22 00:00:00

ST. ALBAN'S PETTY SESSIONS, Sept. 20.

(Before the' Earl of Verula►u and a Bench of
Magistrates,)

lIOPTON V. MAJOR STAPLETON-TRESPASS IN PUR-

SUIT OF GAME.

This was a very singular case, in which the plain-
tiff sought to inflict the full penalty of 40s. for pur-
suit of game in the neighbourhood of St. Alban's.
The matter was originally brought before the
court on the previous Saturday. when an applica-
tion was made for an adjournment on the ground
that the defendant was unavoidably absent in Berk-
shire. The application was resisted on the allega-
tion that on the day following that on which the
summons was served on the defendant, he, under
peculiar circumstances, committed a second trespass,
but the Court, on the condition that the defendant
should pay the costs of the day, consented to the
requested postponement of the hearing. This day
the parties were not present, but Mr. Hopton was
represented by Mr. G. Annesley, solicitor, of St.
Alban's, and Major Stapleton by Mr. T. W.
Blagg, solicitor, of the same place. The object
of the plaintiff's solicitor was evidently to
bring before the magistrate some remarkable cor-
respondence which had taken place between the
plaintiff and defendant on the subject of the tres-
pass, and also between the defendant and the late
mayor of St. Alban's (Mr. Kinder), who is the free-
holder of the ground upon which the trespass took
place. It will be seen from the few observations
made before the Court that the plaintiff's solicitor
had not an opportunity of producing the correspon-
dence, a copy of which was, however, furnished to
the reporter. It would be exceedingly unfair to
one of the parties connected with the matter to deal
with the correspondence, but it is not trespassing
upon its comparatively private character to say that
a portion of it is in an exceedingly bellicose tone;
and:that had all the writers been of an equally ex-
citable temperament the probability is that a couple
of challenges, if not a brace of duels, would have
been the result. Without in any way making use
of the correspondence in question it may be stated
that Mr. Hopton rents from Mr. Kinder the right
of shooting over some 600 acres of land in the neigh-
bourhood of St. Alban's, and that Major Stapleton
considered he had a kind of permissive right from
Mr. Kinder to shoot over a small portion of the land
in question. Mr. Kindel denies that he ever gave
such. permission, and stated to Mr. Hopton that the
-major had no right to be on the ground. Mr. Hop-
ton wrote to Major Stapleton to this effect, and
hence the remarkable correspondence which the
plaintiffs solicitor was desirous of giving to the
world, but which the defendant's solicitor prevented
being read by pleading guilty to the trespass.
Mr. Annesley, at the hearing to-day, was pro-
ceeding to call the attention of the bench to what
he termed an aggravated case of trespass on the part
of the defendant in the pursuit of game, when
Mr. Blagg said that since the adjournment of the
case he had made inquiries into the matter, and he
was satisfied Major Stapleton had no right to go
over the ground. He should therefore plead guilty
to the information. _ _

Mr. Annesley did not understand whether Mr.
Blagg would submit to the full penalty of 405., and
therefore perhaps the bench would permit him to
go into the particulars of the trespass.
Mr. Blagg—lt is simply a trespass.
Mr. Annesley—lt is an extremely aggravated cne,
and a fine will be totally inadequate to the offence.
It is a case that should be made public.
Mr. Blagg said it was evident that Mr. Annesley
desired the whole of the case to be made public.
Mr. Annesley—Just so, and that is what you do
not wish.

Mr. Blagg—l plead guilty to the trespass, and
I do not see bow you can go into the case after that.
Lord Verulam—We know nothing of the case and
cannot tell how to deal with the trespass until we
know under what circumstances it was committed.

Mr. Blagg—l am williug to submit to the full
penalty of 40s.
Lord Vern lam certainly thought that if one gentle-
man pleaded guilty to deliberate trespass in search
of game on the lands of another gentleman, the full
penalty of 40s. was not too much to be enforced.
The fine, with the costs of two witnesses and the
solicitors for the plaintiff, was immediately paid.
The case will come again before the petty sessions
on summons for a second trespass, and will probably
be subsequently heard of before one of the superior
courts.

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