The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-03 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL COUNTY COURT.
(Continued from the Liverpool Courier of Wedne,
Sir G. Stephen replied that there was also a pro.
tection due to the community. He could not deny
, that his Honour had the power of committal ha this
case ; he knew that his Honour alone was to de
and that in addressing him he was appealing ftom
Ceesar unto Cmsar ; but yet he contended that under
the circumstances of this case, and under the strict
construction of the Act, the defendant could not be
committed. If the people found that his Honour's
view of the law was correct, the people of England,
instead of hailing the establishment of these courts as
a boon, would look upon them as a sidewind, by
which they lost the liberty of the subject and the
freedom of the press, and that they would exclaim—
" We asked for bread and you gave us a stone ; we
asked for fish and you gave us a scorpion." He con-
cluded by recapitulating his argument, observing that
he should blush for any son who saw his father in-
sulted, and his life endangered, as the defendant had
done, and who would nut rush forward (without con-
sidering much whether right or wrong) to the defence
of that parent.—(Murmurs of applause.) Sir George
Stephen, in the course of his remarke, observed that
this case had excited intense interest in Liverpool,
and a state of feeling which had never before been
experienced. He had heard the opinion on 'Change,
and he had seen respectable men in the public streets
expressing their feeling ; and he repeated that the
people of Liverpool regarded this question with in-
tense interest.
The Judge hoped the Learned Counsel would not
libel the people of Liverpool, for he could not call a
vulgar mob by that term.
Sir G. Stephen assured his Honour that it was no
vulgar mob who accompanied Mr. Whitty to the rail-
way station on his way to Lancaster.
The Judge—Mr. Whitty has, I have no doubt,
many personal friends.
Sir G. Stephen—Mr. Whitty has many friends,
and this will gain him more.
The Judge—l have nothing to do with the feeling
of the people of Liverpool ; I am only carrying out
the provisions of the Act of Parliament.
The Judge observed that there were two sections
of the Act of Parliament, namely, the 113th and
114th, which applied to the charges against the de-
fendant; and, by the latter clause, it appeared that a
bailiff was authorised to take into custody any man
committing an offence under this Act at any time,
and take him before the next Court to have him
punished for the offence which he might have com-
mitted—by express order of the Act of Parliament
—without warrant ; and that would lead to the con-
sideration as to whether the Legislature should
have given a less power to the judge ; and it
appeared to him that, if the bailiffs bad that
power, from the reading of the 114th section, if it gave
the power to the smallest officer of the court, at least
the same power should be given to the judge. No-
thing could be more decisive upon the point as to
whether the Legislature intended to give the judge
Such power. But it had been said that a vast number
of evils would result to the community. It was tax-
ing the common sense of any man to say that the
community could be injured by the protection
afforded by the Act. And, with all respect to the
Learned Counsel, it was rather idle to say that it was
dangerous to intrust such powers in the hands of the
judge. It was urged the privilege of the subject
would be injured in a case where the judge was com-
plainant, jury, and judge; but what was the fact ?
That in this court, in which, in nineteen out of every
twenty plaints which were entered there were no ad-
vocates and no jury, the judge had all the duties to
perform. After giving a general description of the
duties which he had to perform, his Honour con-
tinued—No man had a greater respect than he had
for public opinion. No man, in that court or
out of it, had a more keen perception of what
were the privileges of the public. Sir George Ste-
phen had mentioned the topic of the judge as-
suming the office of accuser. Whatever might be
said upon the subject he knew that the county
courts were in great favour with the public ; and
so far from their efficiency in Liverpool being
suspected, he could mention, as a fact, that, at
the assizes in Liverpool, instead of there being 180
causes at one assize, there were now at the last assize
not more than 60 or 70 causes. He next alluded to
the circuits of the judges of the superior courts, re-
marking that they generally resided in London ; and,
exchanging their circuits, sometimes went through
Wales, then other circuits, seldom going the same cir-
cuit twice over; but the county court judges went
over the same district continually ; and here he (the
Learned Judge) must observe he was fixed in one
large town containing some hundred of thousands of
inhabitants, and where his adverse judgments were
given against parties resident in his own neighbour-
hood. Public opinion was, however, right in the long
run, though, for a time, it sometimes went wrong.
Hardly had there been a good Act of Parliament
passed but it had been strenuously opposed by a por-
tion of the public. As an instance, he would only
mention the Poor-law Amendment Act, against which
there had been the most tremendous outcry raised ;
but it turned out that a snore wholesome statute had
never been enacted, and none of the outcry against
it was now heard. He recited some matters relating
to the operation of the Poor-law Act. He then went
through the evidence against the defendant, who,
he admitted, was in a painful position ; but
he denied that he was bound to follow his
father, right or wrong. He then proceeded, at
length, to give the reasons why the Legislature had
given such large powers to the judges of the county
courts: and observed that in the next session of Par-
liament he should feel it his duty to ask the Legis-
lature to give the judges still more extensive powers;
and he would state a fact that had lately come under
his own notice, without reference to the threat of
assassination and anonymous letters which had been
received by him lately. He had been grossly in-
sulted, at his own lodgings, by a man who had been
committed to Lancaster Castle for six months for
seeking to rob a widow and orphan, the widow and
orphan of a man of family, of talents, and of educa-
tion, who had met his death by visiting—in the dis-
charge of his honourable, meritorious, and Christian-
like duties—the abodes of misery, disease, and of
death. He caught the dreadful disease and died away
from his family. That poor man caught the disease
which produced death before he had the means of
keeping his family independent of his future exertions,
and because he (the Learned Judge) happened to
lodge. at the house of that lady, who had been com-
pelled for the sake of a honourable subsistence for
herself and orphan son to let off a portion of her
house, he had been subjected to the insults
of the man who had tried to rob her. Talk
about the powers of the judges being stringent,
they were not half stringent enough. Now, with
regard to Mr. Whitty, the elder, he had been chale
lenged to take that man, and he had now lodged him
in Lancaster Castle to undergo the punishment to
which he had been sentenced. With regard to the
defendant, the son, he could not agree with Sir G.
Stephen, that he was bound at all risk to commit an
assault on the officers ; and he must be taught that he
could not do this with impunity, and that he, like all
others, must not be guilty of an offence against the
Court. And, besides this, other people must be taught
that they must not insult the officers of the court. If
he had only caught that party who had used insulting
language to one of the officers, if he could only have
caught him, he should have made him responsible for
what be bad said. His Honour, after having several
times drawn attention to the consequences of com-
mitting the contempt of court, was rather discursive
in his observations, remarking upon the absence of all
sympathy on the part of respectable persons in the
opposition and obstruction with which he had been
met in the discharge of his duty, through his officers,
and declared his fixed resolve to send any man
who might publish any more libels upon him
to Lancaster Castle. With regard to not having
issued a warrant, it was entirely a matter of discre-
tion in his opinion, but he might probably ask the
judgment of others on that matter; yet, had he
thought the scribbling of a few lines on a piece of
paper would have protected the bailiffs from the vio-
lence they suffered, he would certainly have written
them. He would not have all this halloaing and
howling in the town for nothing, and he must pre-
serve the dignity of the court. He imposed a fine
against Mr. John Whitty of V. for insulting Hart-
ley, and 2/. for the same offence against Charnley, or
be imprisoned for seven days in Lancaster. He also
sentenced him to pay 2/. each as a penalty for ob-
structing them in the execution of their duty. There
was no imprisonment added to the latter penalty, be-
cause he looked upon it as a debt recoverable by ac-
tion, and if not then paid the defendant would be
liable to eighty days' imprisonment. If an action
were brought by Joyce, the damages might or might
not be laid at 50/. ; and he did not know that he
should, if he tried the case, be justified in cutting the
damages down.
The defendant not paying the fine, it was ordered
that the warrant be not enforced that night, as he
had been in court all day.
Sir G. Stephen said the defendant would be ready
at one o'clock to-morrow.
The Judge hoped there would be no more of the
indecent exhibitions of yesterday, or otherwise he
must take measures to have the man removed when
the public would not be present.
THE CASE OF THE POLICE•OFFICERS.
His Honour having made some observations, the
purport of which was to convey an impression that
Mr. Whitty had unworthily left the police force.
Mr. Dowling requested permission to say a few
words, in Justice to Mr. Whitty. No gentleman
was ever more highly esteemed than was Mr. Whitty
and during the time he held the office of head-con-
constable he discharged his duties to the satisfaction
of every one ; and, on his retirement, he not only
received the thanks of the magistrates, but was pre-
sented with a service of plate from the force over
which he had for so long a period the control. lie