The Sun.
London, England, 1807-05-22 00:00:00

111 CH COURT OF APPEAL.

On Tuesday, a' very important Appeal came on
to be heard before the Lords of the Privy Council,
at their Chamber, from the Court of Appeals in
Jamaica. The an-tout-it in dispute was about 60,0001.
and she question.at issue was of the utmost import-
ance to West-India Planters, Merchants, and 'Fae-
tors in general. The Appellants were MeSSrs. Cle-
ment KiiWan. and Matthew Kirwan, of Ritchter-
court, Lime-street, in the city of London ; the
Respondents, Messrs. John Campbell; and Francil:
Whittle, ofJamaica, Merchants, • •
The circumstances of the case are a3follow
Messrs. Campbell and Whittle, in. the Month of
:March, 170, sent 'a quantity, of sugars tO*Messrs.
Kirwan, of London, for sale, and at dies:nue time
direEted them to insure the cargo from, ,sea'risk, on.
its' voyage from* the Havatinah to London ; they
prOpo'sed, at the 's..finte. time, to, dram upon them..
for the amount-of the sugars, and expressed their
sanguine expectations of, obtaining a high price.:-.
Messrs. Kirwan made.the insurance ifccordingly; and
notified the same. to Messrs. Campbell and Whittle,
and informed them, that at that time the market in
this 'country for sugar was very. flat. In the September
following, they again wrote to Messrs. CaMpbell and
Whittle, informing them that their bills to theainount
would be honouied ; but that still there was no near
-prove&
,of an advantageous sale. lii subsequent
letters, in OCtober, mg, and Jan. 1.00, they stated .
the inexpediency of disposing ok the'sugars while The
markets still continued so- low.; and Messrs. Camp-.
bell and Whittle, in their answer, 'expressed their
satisfaaion at theiCcondua, and. their gratitude for
the tare-with which their interest had been consult-
ed. Messrs. KirWan deposited the sugar in Mr.
Lingham's warehouse, inThames-street, where there
are frequently goods to. the amount of 500,0001. de-
posited. In the month of July Messrs. Kirwan. in-
sured the property against fire for three months,,
without having received orders to that effeet, nor did
they advise Messrs. Campbell and Whittle of it, bpt
in .their account charged the premiums. At the ex-.
:)iration of the months,. the market. still cqntil
n6i_og in such a state as to reader the sale unadvisa7
bl 6 , Messrs. Kirwan, not 'expecting a rapid improve-
It of the Market, again., without orders,_ at their

_
discretion,. Insured the sugar for three meoths
more at the expiration of that period,,viz..abent the
end Tanuaty, a better prospeet opening, and Mess.
Kirwan, being informed by their Broker, that sO early
as the 'Feb. a sale of Havanna' sugars was to
take place:, and their's would then probably be dis-
posed of, t!it y, in consequence, judged it inexpedient
to incur, fin; zo shorta time, the, expence of three
-months prerrna of insurance against fire : nufbr-
tunately, bower
er, on the 11th of February, a lire
broke out in Lit, 'gham's warehouse,- and-the sugar,
nmeuse amount, were deStroyed.
and -goods to an
Mess.Cat-npbellaiid, Whittle,-then Appellants, brought
•
an action in the Coin t of Jamaica against Mess. Kir-
Avan, then ReSponden, 's, upon the ground that .they.
were bound to have cat itinued the insurance upon
;,,
ifter its arrival in England.
the property against fire:
The cause was tried by a Snecial Jury, and they gave
a verdict in fayour of the App lellants for 60,215 j. i
and costs.
TASTaIt of the ROLLS,Lord ELL.ENBOROUGH, the
and Lord HENLEY, were the N. !embers of the, Privy
Council who attended to hear .and determine this
important cause.
The ATTORNEY-,GENERAL and. _Mr. STE,vgxs at,
tended for the Appellants; and \ Ir. DALLAS and
Mr.:Scsat.urrfbr the Respondents. Vuring the able
discussion of the question, the follow ng impOrtant
points of law, &c. with respe& to trA !, were laid ,
down and admitted : The Appellants 1\ lying aEted
entirely from their own discretion, and tcere being
ro law to oblige them to insure, or enstokt in the
trade to that effeEr, in insuring the p,roperti,twice,
when on shore, without having any, orders to, that
effeet, they were not liable to the consequence
the fire, but were,competent to a6t according to their
own discretion.
The circumstances under which a consignee is
bound to insure property consigned to hiin are as
folloW
Where a merchant Abroad, has of &s in the hands

of his correspondent here, he' has a right to expea
that he will obey an order to insure, lie6iise he
is entitled to call his money out of others' bands
when and. in what manner he pleases. The
second class of cases is, where a merchant abroad
_ _ .

has no effeCts in the hands of his correspondent ;

Yet, if the course of the dealing between them is
such that the one has been used to send orders, for
insurance, and the other to comply xi.;tl them, the
tfin-mer has .a right tb expe'a that the f6r;z-
surance will still be obeyed, unless the latter give
him notice to discontinue this Course of dealing.—
Thirdly, if the' merchant. abroad send bills of lading.
-to his correspondent-here, he may ingraft On them an
order to insure, as the implied, condition on, which
tbe..bills of lading shall be accepted, which the other
Must obey, if he accept them, for it is one certain
:ti-lnslaion. It- there be no obligation to insure, to
less where these circumstances exist, even where an
order has been given, surely, a fortiori, there can be
none where no order has been -given ,at all.
the case occupied their Lordships from • ten
o'clock till foul', when, 'after mature deliberation,'
their Lordships were pleased to reverse the verdict
6f the Jury in Jamaica, thereby exonerating Messrs.
Kirwan from being liable to make good the damage
done by fire, they not having received any instruc:-
tions to that effea.

COURT OF KING'S I3ENCH4 MAY 2f.

ROBERTS V. CAMDEN.

The- Plaintiff -is an Attorney, at Hollowell, in
Plintshire ; the Defendant is 7a Gentleman of for-
tune In that neighbourhood. This was an action
for slander.

After Mr. SCARY TT had opened the pleadings,
The ATTORNEY, GENERAL,- for the 'Plaintiff, said,
that this was an example of the most foul and male-
volent calumny that Could disgrace the records of the
COurt. A name-sake of the Plaintiff was'under some
derangement in his affairs, and it became necessary
that they should be investigated. The Plaintiff Un.-
,'ertook this business professionally; and, in fulfilling

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