The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-23 00:00:00

Judgment affirmed with costs.
THE RIGHT HON. SIR T. WILDE, KNT•, LORD CHIEF JUS-
TICE OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, AND HIS WIFE,
FORMERLY AUGUSTA EMMA D'ZSTE, V. GIBSON.
This case came before their Lordships upon appeal
from the decision of the Vice Chancellor Knight Bruce,
setting aside a purchase made by the respondent, Mr.
Gibson, at a public auction, of a freehold property be-
longing to the wife of the appellant, called Mount Albion
House, and certain lands adjoining, in Ramsgate, on the
ground of fraud. The wife of the appellant is, as our
readers are doubtless aware, the daughter of his late
Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, and inhe-
rited the property in question from her mother, the
Lady Augusta Murray, who, upon her marriage with
the Duke of Sussex took the title of Lady Augusta
Countess D'Ameland, the plaintiff in tho court below,
the respondent here filed his bill for the purpose of being
relieved from the purchase of a messuage and land at
Ramsgate, made by him from the wife of the appellant,
then Madame Augusta Emma D'Este, and completed by
a conveyance and payment of the purchase money in Dec.
1838. The plaintiff in the court below, which had taken
possession of the estate, put his case for relief upon the
ground of the existence of a right of way over the pro.
perty, which he asserted to have existed at and before
the time of the sale, without the knowledge of Madame
Augusta Emma D'Este, the defendant in the court
below, and which had been fraudulently concealed
from him. Madame D'Este, by her answer to the
plaintiff's bill, contended that the supposed right of
way had, in fact, as she conceived, been wholly
extinguished. She denied all fraudulent conceal-
ment, or intent to do so, either on her own part
or that of her agents; she insisted that the plaintiff had
not been deceived or misled, and that at least one. half
in breadth of the supposed way, if it existed at all, had
merged in a public highway, of the existence of which
the plaintiff etas fully aware. The main facts of the
case appeared to be as followsi—The way in question, as
to the existence of which at one time and in some form
there was no doubt, is called " The Liberty Way," and
it originally led from a street called King-street, towards
the sea or cliff, traversing lands which belonged to the
late Countess D'Ameland, the mother of Augusta Emma
D'Este, the defendant in the Court below. Near its
course, as far as that course could be ascertained, stood
the dwelling-house, formerly owned and occupied by the
Lady Augusta D'Ameland, and called Mount Albion
House. The way originally and up to the year 1820,
consisted of a mere track, passing from King-street, over
what was then open and uninclosed fields, towards the
edge of the sea cliffs for the use and convenience of the
owners of the adjoining lands, and used by the public,
by the consent of the owners. Of all these open lands,
Lady Augusta D'Ameland, and through her the
defendant in the Court below, became by degrees pos-
sessed; and hence it was that the defendant in the Court
below was advised that the original right of way had ceased.
The way being a mere track across or over open fields, its
course does not appear at any time to have been correctly
defined; no road was ever formed, nor was there any
regular beaten track or hard path, and no posts or rails
or other marks by which its course was defined ever
existed. In the year 1820 the Lady Augusta D'Ame-
land, finding the use of this way in the neighbourhood
of Mount Albion House, her residence, disagreeable,
and u t that time not being the owner of the whole of the
lands for which the way was serviceable, and under the
mistaken idea that the parish had power to deal with
the way, applied to the parish of St. Lawrence to allow
it to be stopped, offering to lay out another line in lieu of
it; and after some negotiation, and some parish meetings,
a deed was finally executed, by which the Lady Augusta
D'Ameland bound herself to pay a rent of five shillings
(two shillings and sixpence to the parish of St. Law-
rence, and two shillings and sixpence to the township of
Ramsgate) in consideration of her being allowed to
close up that part of the way which ran past
the messuage, and over the land in question, setting
out however a new line in its stead. From that
time until the new road was opened, that part
of the way had been permanently closed up.
In August, 1838, the appellant, Lady Wilde, then
Mademoiselle D'Este, caused the whole estate that had
been conveyed to her in 1829 by her mother, Lady
D'Ameland, to be put up for sale by auction, in lots for
building purposes, and Mr. Gibson became the pur-
chaser of one of the lots, containing the mansion house
and ground for the sum of 2,0301. Mr. Gibson, upon
entering into possession of the property, built a wall
upon the verge of the New-road, as required in order to
divide the road from the property he had purchased ;
but the inhabitants of the town of Ramsgate and the
parish of St. Lawrence continuing to demand payment
of the nominal rent, and threatening to pull down the
wall as encroaching upon the Liberty-way, the respond-
ent applied to the appellant to take back the
premises and repay him his purchase-money. This being
refused, the respondent in 1840 filed his bill to set aside
the contract. and upon the case coming before the Vice-
Chancellor Knight Bruce he decreed according to the
prayer of the respondents' bill, and set aside the pur-
chase. From that decision the present appeal was
brought.
Mr. Bethell, Mr. L. Wigram, and Mr. J. P. Wilde
appeared as counsel for the appellants, and
Sir F. KELLY and Mr. SWANSTON were in support of
the judgment of the Court below.
The case is expected to occupy two or three days in
argument.

WOLVES.—The Echo de la Creuse states, that not-
withstanding the advanced period of the season, on the
night of the sth instant several wolves attacked four
horses grazing in a field in the commune of Gueret.
One of the horses beiLg fettered was incapable of making
his escape, and was unfortunately devoured by the
wolves.