The Sun.
London, England, 1807-07-06 00:00:00

LAW REPORT.

COURT or KINC's BENCH, GUILDHALL, 11.71.4 4.

GEO. ZYNG., ES CL V. LAWSON AND OTHERS. 1
This was an issue from the Court of Chantery, in' •
the matter ofThonias Nairn, a bankr.upt, of whose
estate the Defendants -..'ere Assignees, to try whe
ther the name " Thotnfts Nairn," subscribed to, a
surrender indorsed upon the back of a lease, was, •.•
the said bankrupt's hand-wr;ting.
In the year 1798 Mr. Byng, the Plaintiff, ;'rant-._
ed a,lease. of certain lands and in the Isle of
Dogs, to the bankrupt Nairn, who, upon certain
conditions, afterwards re-lett; to one Spratley„ tbe
interest Which he held himself, with some Small
addition •to the r rent ; and in the yeajsot„ as
appeared by an indorsement
,Oty the, back of the Ori-
ginal lease, Nairn surrendered a certain portion to
'Mr.
,Byng, the signature to which , was. contended
not to be his hand writing. .The nuVelty in'this
case phietly consisted of the variety of ways in which:
Nairn had been aunstomed..to.sign his name, and;
the contrariety ,of the evidence. The execution of
the surrender,' it appearedovas attedted by t'Wo sub-
scribing witnesses, Mr. Burke, then Nairn's -Agent
and Attorney, and a Mr. Lently, Steward to Sir
Georg-6 Osborne, and occasionally Surveyor to Mr.
Byng. Mr. Burke swore positively to the execution
Of the surrender by Nairn; and a number of bills,
notes, deeds, and other papers were produced,. with
Nairn's Signature upon them, to sliew the different
ModeS in which be was accustomed to sign his name;
and his signature appeared in near 'twenty different
shapes, and elen varied as drawer and indorser, of
'the same bill.ofexehange.
• On the part of the Defendants, Nairn himself
Was examined. ' lie had been 'a miller on the Isle
of Dogs, and used to supply some of the shipping
on the river Manses with bread. He- denied most
positively that the signature to the indorsement up-
on the lease was of his hand-writing. He never
saw the deed from the time it was executed in July, '
1798', until about the beginning of July, 180.5.--
During ail that suite it lay in the hands of Mr. Burke,
his Astotisey, along with an his other deeds. and .
papers. lie had heard many times that tnere was
something, on toe back--of. the, lease, but he could
never believe it until he had seen it. '• He never had
any conversation, nor entered into any treaty. with '
a,,y.person whatever on the snivel ot: surrendering
• that lea Se.
Upon his. cross-examination by the. ATTORNEY,
GENERAL, tt he had been .offered 201. not
to say ally •atiout that lease in his lied, exa-
mination before Oh' Commissioners, but this. le as a, •
(hatter he could not think adoihg. He heard from
Spratley, that Something, had crept on the back Of
the lease but tie told Price. •Mr. Burke's clerk, that.
it was pot his signature. I~ie admitted tie did some- '
times vary a little in the manner of sigong his
name ; and in 1801 he completely changed 'his
thod, in consequence of a fibricated receipt being
attempted to be passed upon him by a person who
used to purchase 'bicad front him this person was
a sea-faring man, and bad :gone away in
.his debt
three or four voyages, but when; he last returned, he
produced a
.receipt, 'purporting to be sigma by the
Witness, for which reason he had ever since signed
his name in a ditteretit way. This person, be con.
'tinned, was since dead ; and when 'asked his name,
he hesitated for sonic time before he gave an an-
swer, and even then only spolte.to his belief:
' Upon this, Lord ELLENBOROUGH appealed to the
_Jury, whether they had any doubt ; but, in order to
put the matter beyond ad question; Mr. Lently was
called, who stated most positively, that he was pre-
sent in 'the" honse of Mr: Burke, in Gold-square,
and did see Nairn execute the surrender.
The Jury innuediatily found a verdi& for the
Plaint id. •
'the ATTOR.NEY-GENERAL then observed, that
r..liiirke was reSolved to prosecute Nairn for per.;
Jury, and requested his Lordship. would have him
connnitted; hut thi.; Lord ELLENBOHOUGH refused.

PALACE C(TURT, isuLy 4.
liliAltHAN V. DAVISON.