The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-24 00:00:00

-;OURT OF EXCHEQUER, Dec. 23.

CLARK V NEWSOM.-FALSE IMPRISOrMENT ON A CHARGE
OF FORGING RAILWAY SCRIP.
In this cause Sir F. Thesiger and Mr. Humphrey ap-
peared for the plaintiff Mr. Watson and Mr. Greenwood
appeared for the defendant.
This was an atAion in which the plaintiff sought to re-
cover compensation in damages for haring been given
into custody upon a charge of uttering forged railway
scrip.

Ifrom the opening statements of Sir F. THEsIGER, it
appeared that the transaction in question arose out of
the case of Faulkner and Fabian. The plaintiff was at
the. Hall of Commerce, as a jobber in railway shares I during
the course of his transactions a pertion of the name of
Richards brought to him fifty shares in the Bucking-
hamshire Railway, and desired plaintiff to sell them for
him, and that he would give him the usual broker's coin-
Mission. These shares Were accordingly sold Id a per
son of the name of Robins. Just rtt thfs period Faulk-
ner and Fabian were arrested upon the charge of
forgery. of scrip in this same railway, and within tt few
day of that period, defendant, who had purchased the
shares of Robins, which turned out to be forged, caused
the plaintiff to be given into custody on the char ~e now
complained of. Tne plaintiff was examined before the
magistrate at Guildhall, upon which occasion he was
ordered to be remanded for four days, and at the end
of that period Was brought up in company with
Faulkner and Fabian. It was under these eircum-
tances that the present action was brought i and he
was certain that the Jury would consider it a Case in
which they Would award large damages to the plaintiff.
A number of witnesses were called) who gave evidence
corroborative of the above statements.
Mr. WATSON, on the part of the tiefentlanth dohtendrd
that the defendant had tin* ho there than his duty in
giving the plaintiff into custod'•l ad that h
was evident from the fact that tfle magistrates thought *thods ugrhigthitt
so suspicious that they refused to discharge him on bail.
His .darned Friend, for the plaintiff, had dwelt at &Atte
length upon the hardship of his being deprived of his
liberty for four days t that was an act rot. which the dez
fendant was not liable, it was the act of the magistrates.
It had been said that the forging of railway scrip was
not a forgery under the statute, but a forgery at common
law, and that therefore the plaintiff ought not to have
bean arrested without a warrant and previous deposition
on oath before the magistrate ; but whatever might b 4
the opinion of the court of law at Westminster upon
that point, still ho would contend that in moral
turpitude one was equally as bad as the other.
The plaintiff refused to give any reference as to his
character when called upon to do so, he was not known
as an established broker on the Exchange, end the de • fendant was perfectly justified in what he had done, and
the smallest damages were all that the plaintiff was en-
titled to receive.
Mr. Barber, clerk to Mr. Robins, stock broker, stated
that the plaintiff was introduced is their house by Rich-
ards, that they had purchased several quantities of scrip
in the Bulkinghamshire Railway from Richards which
turned out to be forged, and which they had since been
obliged to make goer!.
Mr. Harding, solicitor to the Buckinghamshire Rail-
way Company, gave evidence of the forging of the scrip
in question, and identified some produced by the de-
fendant which had been purchased from the plaintiff, as
forgeries.

Edwards was present at the time the plaintiff' was
given into custody, and the plaintiff offered to pay down
101., and to deposit some Indian sc►ip as security with
Mr. Robins for the payment of the remainder, but upon
the arrival of Mr. Newsom (the defendant) who came in
at the time when the offvr was made, he (the defendant)
said, " No, no, this will not do ; it is necessary for the
character of Mr. Robins, and due to his position on the
Exchange, that the affair should be publicly inves-
tigated, and that he would be no party to any private
arrangemeht of the matter." Witness also attended at