The Sun.
London, England, 1807-12-02 00:00:00

1. IF Li) Ok'.

SERIE ANTS' Mist HA LI-, y

SEPOEE THE TWELVE JUDGES.

TUE MING V. EDWARD GILSON.

• .
The
,Detzindaitf kiasicuilvi.eted at the Old Niles
last SepteMber. Session, of wilt-Alf and malicionsly
setting fire to his divellihg-house, with intent to ac-
fraud the London. Aisurance Fire Office. It w:11
be remembered,. that It was proved in evidence, aut
the policy wag entitled in the month, of May, t 80G,
Far 6001. upon household goods and furniture 4po•
sited ilia house, No. 'B4, Ntood-street, Cheapside,
but :the Defendant 'having removed to No. 13, Bok-
wcil-eourt, st.• Clement's, the
insurancewas :con-
tinned upon the samagoods, and the removal recog=
nized by an
.indorsemeelepon the back of the Poli-
cy, signed by taro 61 the Direaors of the said
ance CoMpany. 41(iniint of law arose ut the trial -
upon this tad, theTeleeision ,of which • was left for
the Twelve Judge:v.*. the case was this day at-•
(rued.
0 •
• Mr. Keetrie.who appeared in behalf of the De. 4
fondant, said he had two .objetlions to take betOte
their Lord Ships, and should he be fortunate enough
to sustain either of them, the conviaion must ' be
set aside. The first was, “. that a Policy of Insur-
ance was net, available, unless it was ender the Cotn.
mon:Seal of the Company : now, thoujh the origi-
nal Policy, in the present instance, had that Com-
mon peal affixed to it, yet the Indorsement, which
was t 1 fresh Policy, had, not, and consequently, "it
Was not available in itself, and bad in law.' e-Second-
ly, There was no Stamp to the Pblicy, afire eebly
to -!'
the -loth of, ANNE, ch. 19, and ..coniL-,qnently
could not be received in evidence."—The last r+-
ieelion, however, he meant .principally to rely upon,
and contended, generally; that as. by the 44th of
GEORGE no instrument, not beipg duly stainpe
ed, conid be made available for civil purposes,
so, ne instrument, not being dilly stamped, eould•
be received ,in evidence upon the Irial'a an lne
dividual ior his Jite. or death. There was no
doubt, he said, but the Policy in question was
void in law ; and had the fire happened by
accident, and the Fire Office thought proper
silt the payment of it, the party insured feel nolie-
tnedy by a suit at law. Thetwbewould ask, would •
it not be an anomaly in the justice of the country
to say, that such an instrument could be made
able for the purpose of proving a crime.?—Mr,
•KNAPP cited many cases :to , prove his:position, anti
concluded by insisting that the Policy could not be
legally received' in evidence, 'add in rte absence the
'Defeedatit Mest have been acquitted.
• •Mr.• PoOLEY argued the case for the Crown, and
contended • thet in the way the Policy was offered
it • %/4s evideece.....)••,The legal operation, he:
said, of the instrument was immaterial, the queB4
tionwas, Whether, in-the•vontemplation of the De.
fendant, he did not imagine he should.. be' able to
cosunt.a. frautimpon'the Fire Otliee, by tieing :poi-
sesreNl of sneli it'Policye• The law had siid, tear •no
lestrurnent, net duly stamped, should avaithle
.44 the purposes the, instrument,eant to ciiteß,
but it had tret said, that it should not •be available
for Collateral purPoses. The Corpus. „delicti iii .the
present indiarnent .Was the fraudulent intent, and
the- Policy' was teiven'in evidence (l Ideate to siieien animo
IN. ha of the Party. The Learned
,Counsel then
cited many cases, and amongst.others that of the ,
king v. Colin Recuhis,' where" a similar objection
was tak,n to an instrument not dilly-stamped. The
case, was roterrocl to the Judges, who overTruledtbe
objedinn, observing, that though the instrument
by the Revenue LaV;'s required a stamp, and ren-
dered. it of no etre& as the instrument it purportdd
to 'he, yet it was such an instrument as might begi-
ven ut 'eviderive to prove tt - crime, if it went- to
'iffeiti the intent of the party. In cases of forgery,
the Jost:Uintlt was always given in evidence,
and the policy was evident, as no man could await
,hiMaelf of his. own fiend.. In short, he should re-
peat, that the indiament charged the Defendant
with an intent to defraud the Fire °dice, apd the
POliey, valid or nor valid, was of as evidenco
of that intent. The Jury found the Defendant
The decision 'of the Judges will be made .known
at the Old Bailey Sessions.

CITY flu,sulass.—lYesterday the tinar) ,M*Yolt
held hi first Court of Aldermen, at GniWhat!, at
which 14 Aldermen, the SheriG, and other City
attendecL The Thanks of the Court were
unanimously voted to the Right Hon. the late Lotd
Mayor. The Assize of Bread WAS ordered to tr.
.contionid :it the quarter') of
two per Cent. to the Orphans, due the sth January,
was direkqed to commence the t t thJuuary
The seveiil Piecepla, tot the eleetion of Comm' on
Cortneiltnoh and 'Ward Officers, on St. Thorn2s4
My,' were ordered to'be Issued as nsU4l.—The.next
Court was appointed for the, Blew Lien of a 11041 e Of
the.Coirtof Requests, in the room of John A-10mi
deopsr.:—Thi.t Searchers and Sealerk of'
for the' year eitioing, were
,eleeted......ri+Several Bilys
and usual' Orden, were passed.

Four werepersons drowned. on Sunday .latit, by..
imprudently venturing upon the ice belotelt tzAs
iutftLietu 04(41110 bear them. An iniptNition. was
talari;i .yesterday at •Newiligton., .on the both' of Pe-
ter Fowler,, a, joiner, rei.littg in Grays inn
....-
who Watt driikOrietl,in a poiid mar Newington,-atid
who4l,•wifc ...way* fißtfaiitur. lit. the time of the *ad
accident. The 4emaitgi,htid been to see hi% brother,
and it:wasthy ibatbe was 'moil t„
ao
on tit, wi►f;rt.l ,3Cti)lg boys were sliding. Verdi t
Acc,Wenia Dtyitl4;-7-A lad. of the nape of ,Bretnen, •
1.•,4 LlOwned in a rsid SomerVrown as was
also a youth at R4144/400, exclusive of another in
Jryde Vart,i,,lwtips6 'Oa lb wee *lent iene4 y.otiterday.
Early on Monday morning, the body of a rasped,.
ably tires 0 man, apparently about the middle age,
Was found iii The-b was owned'in
the tourse of Morittay ; and the dkensed proved to
be a. working jeive4rs;..of the name of Andrew,Pro.
gets,. whoi,'resided:. in • West Smithfit'fid. Ho had
gone fro► ! home on -Btlnday niorniqgy- to see 44
san,. who is at neighbourbt.:Td
1,-lonnsfo and . wasittiler*ards at .1w Pacit".'llorse,
Tornhampregoi,ullit it place he. 'left at. six o'olwit
in the evc-nitig,. ~?4,ing he. going to ii„ttigl4i..
bridge.' He bad been drinking pretty fri.,.tly,nd it
was supro*ti'tkiffrli. bad fllitm t.lO u, anti rtittt 'by
the inleni4n:ytt thrrweattter.-