The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-01 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Feb. 28.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
SMITH V. LAMING.-THE .MANUFACTURE OF OXALIC

ACID.

The plaintiff in this case is in business in Church-
street, Mile-end New-town, and the defendant has pre-
mises at Mill-wall, Poplar, and both of them are manu-
facturing chemists. The plaintiff's case was, that
having agreed to instruct the defendant in the manu-
facture of an oxalic acid, in consideration of certain
advantages, the defendant had not performed his part
of the agreement, and so the present action was brought
for damages.
Mr. Serjeant Byles and Mr. Lush appeared for the
plaintiff and Mr. Serjeant Shee and Mr. Cowling for the
defendant.
In the course of the case, it was stated by the plain-
tiff's counsel that there were only three firms in London
who made oxalic acid, and that those firms supplied the
whole world with that article. The mode of making it
is to mix nitrous acid with molasses or other saccharine
matter, and then the mixture deposits the acid in the
shape of crystals. This process also causes the pro-
duction of another substance called mother liquor, and
which, like yeast in beer, sets up the process a second
time, and so the manufacture is continued. Until
lately oxalic acid was worth ls. sd. per pound, and 20
years ago it fetched a guinea a pound ; but by an im•
provement in the manufacture, the price is now reduced
to about 10id. per pound, and had, indeed, been as low
as 6d. The former high price was caused by the
fact that nitrous acid, from its corrosive nature, could
only be used in glass or earthenware pots, which were
necessarily of small size, but it was discovered that by
mixing a small portion of sulphuric acid with it, the
nitrous acid loses its corrosive character, and so can be
used in large leaden vessels. This simple discovery led
to a great reduction in price. The defendant being de-
sirous of manufacturing oxalic acid in Paris, an agree-
ment was entered into between him and the plaintiff on
the 19th October, 1852, by which the plaintiff agreed to
instruct the plaintiff to make oxalic acid, and to supply
him with 20 tons of mother liquor, at the price of 4001.,
on board a ship in the river to be supplied by the de-
fendant. The plaintiff was also to supply plans for
buildings, and apparatus to produce one ton of oxalic
acid per week ; and the defendant agreed to carry out
the plan within three months, and to pay the plaintiff a
royalty of 2d per kilogramme, until he should have paid
upon three hundred and sixty-four tons. If the works
were not ready within six months, then the defendant
was to pay the 4001. for the mother liquor. The neces-
sary instructions were sent to the defendant on the 20th
November, and the mother liquor was prepared, but it
was discovered that there was great difficulty in get-
ting the article into France. Although according to
the French tariff, oxalic acid was admitted, yet
the article necessary to make it was excluded. This
difficulty was communicated to the plaintiff, and
it was stated that the only way to get it in was by
obtaining an imperial decree ; but it was said, "As
his Imperial Majesty will probably care very little about
oxalic acid, and perhaps refer the case to one or other
of his councillors, who may probably be the only manu-
facturers in France interested in keeping it out," there
was not much hope, and the matter was not proceeded
with and so fell to the ground. The consequence was
that the plaintiff not only got no royalty, but he also
did not get the 4001. for the mother liquor ; and, under
these circumstances, lie brought his action to recover
damages for the loss he had sustained.
In the course of the case the plaintiff's counsel stated
that his client did not wish to enforce strictly his rights,
and was content to take the amount which he had ac-
tually expended in preparing the mother liquor-3001.
After some discussion these terms were assented to,
and a verdict was taken for the plaintiff for 3001.