The Sun.
London, England, 1870-07-18 00:00:00

A. BARONESS' WILL DISPUTED.

Lord Penzance and a special jury were on Saturday en-
gaged in hearing the cause of Fuller and Kenny v. Cox and
others. The plaintiffs propounded the will of the late
Baroness Mergey, and the defendants opposed on the
ground of incapacity, and undue influence having been
used.—The testatrix, who was described as a lady of great
personal attractions, was well known in London society,
and was the daughter of Mr. Holcroft, who was the
author of the celebrated comedy, " The Road to Ruin,"
and who was well known in the literary world. His
daughter married in 1828 a gentleman possessed of a con-
siderable amount of money ; but he only lived a few years.
Subsequently the testatrix went to Paris, and there met
the Baron Mergey, and ultimately married him. He only
lived a few years.—A number of medical gentlemen were
examined on behalf of the propounders of the will
and they spoke of the testatrix as a very intelligent
woman, and some of them stated that up to the time of
her death the Baroness was of perfectly sound mind.—For
the defence Mrs. Cox, wife of the well known picture
dealer of that name, one of the defendants, and a half-
sister of the testatrix, was called, and spoke to cer-
tain peculiarities in the conduct of the testatrix.
She would not see witness, and was suspicious
about the food beilig,f poisoned.-1-Ultimately an
arrangement was come to, by which the op-
position to the will was withdrawn, the plaintiff under-
taking not to press for costs.—The jury, under the
direction of the judge, found for the plaintiff, and Lord
Penzance pronounced for the will.

LORD ROMILLY ON THE STATE OF

THE LAW.

During the progress of a case in the Rolls Court,
Lord Romilly, adverting to the present uncertain state .of
the law with respect to property, made some observations
which are deserving of record now that the question of
law reform is engrossing so much of public attention.
His lordship said that the enforcing of titles to property
depended upon certain principles. Care was taken that
those principles should be as much as possible in unison with
equity, but interminable litigation arose from the fact that
different tribunals placed different constructions upon
them. It was a great pity, therefore, that there were not
decisions bearing upon at least some few of those princi-
ples, given by competent tribunals, which could be pointed
at with reliance as being sufficiently clear, lucid, and
fixed, to defy their being successfully appealed from or
upset by subsequent judges, unless they were unquestion-
ably against the whole current of authority. That was an
object which, in his opinion, was more capable of attainment
than was really the case in the present day, when so
much care and painstaking were evinced in the arguments
of counsel. The existing state of things was attributable
to the indecision of doubtful minds—to the fact that judges
who were diffident of their opinions were reluctant to decide
legal questions upon which they deemed it probable that
disputes would arise. He did not mean to say that in any
instance a judge should so far sink his individuality as to
sacrifice his sincere belief to what might be a questionable
principle ; but he was convinced that if more mutual
investigation took plaee the law could be placed on a far
more fixed and satisfactory basis.

The Lewiston (Maine) Journal says that a young
woman, an operative in a factory in that city, who died
suddenly, had paid a mortgage of $5OO on her father's
farm, besides supporting herself.
GIPSY LIFE.—For some time past successful
efforts have been making to clear Wanstead flats and their
neighbourhood of the tribes of gipsies and other vagabonds
who have been for along time a great nuisance there. The
result of this effort of the police may be gathered from the
report of the proceedings before the Waltham Abbey
bench. But . the reader who may be curious to know
something of the camp life of these gipsies will not there
gain information on the subject. The scene that presented
itself when the officers visited the camp can, for reasons
which will be obvious to every right mind, hardly be de-
scribed. It may, however, be stated that the police found
some 60 or 70 persons, including men, women, and children,
sleeping in a state of nudity (a general practice among these
people), and that regardless of age, sex, or relationship. For
instance, in one tent the officers found a man, his wife, and
their children ; in another, two women and one man ; in
another, one woman and three men, one of whom was the
woman's reputed husband; and in another, a mother and
her son, the latter a man grown and some 30 years of age.
Such was the " unclean nest" that was " stirred up" by
the police in the- parish of Loughton; and within some
'eights or ten miles of the capital of England ! If althorn
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