The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-15 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—(This Day.)

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
(Before Mr. Justice Wightman.)
The Court was occupied the whole of the morning with
a cause of disputed acccount on the termination of partner-
ship, which was not of the slightest public interest. Tho
case of Barry v. Shipley was not proceeded with.

In the other courts the business was totally uninterestinr.
In the Court of Common Pleas an action for breach of
contract was being tried ; and the Exchequer Court was
occupied with a case relative to the purchasing of certain
railway shares.

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE.
(Before Sir C. Cresswell.)
MARTIN V. MARTIN.

This suit was instituted by Jane Martin for the purpose
of obtaining a judicial separation from her husband on the
ground of his cruelty and unkindness, which rendered co-
habitation with him unsafe. The respondent entered an
appearance and pleaded a denial.
Dr. Twigs, Q.C., and Dr. Spinks, wore counsel for the
petitioner; and Dr. Philliraore, Q.C., and Mr. Coleridge,
for the respondent.

It appeared that the petitioner was the daughter of a
farmer, and that the respondent was carrying on business
as a grocer, at Guildford, at the time of the marriage,
which took place at Long Parish, Hants, in the month of
September, 1851. The alleged ill-treatment commenced
shortly after the marriage, but the petitioner gave birth to
four children, three of whom are living, and, with the ex-
ception of occasional separations, she cohabited with the
respondent until 1859, when she left him finally.
Mrs. Martin was examined, and deposed that about six
months after the marriage the petitioner behaved with great
unkindness towards her, and while she was in a state of
pregnancy with her first child, he got into a great passion
and shook her violently, She was compelled to go to her
bed and had a very bad confinement. In the April of 1853,
he left her, taking a quantity of money with him and stated
that he intended to emigrate. He did not carry his threat into
execution, and wrote to her from London, requesting her for•
giveness, and desiring her to communicate with him by tiles•
graph. She complied, and he returned, and they continued to
reside at Guildford till 1864. In that year, from various rea-
sons, the business fell off and they removed, living for some
time in the Isle of Wight, and other plums. In 1866 the
respondent was unable to maintain the petitioner and
her children and they went to her father's, but he
rejoined her in March 1857, having :succeeded in
obtaining some employment. They afterwards re-
sumed business at Woking, and hero the treatment
of the respondent became most cruel. He compelled her
to attend the shop at a time when her health was very deli- •
rate. He struck her with a weight, which made her
knuckles bleed, threatened to kill her with &poker, loft her
without food, and ho frequently trod upon her toes, by
which he hurt her severely. The witness detailed other acts
of unkindness, and stated that her health suffered
severely from his violence. She was compelled
to leave him in 1859, and Went to live with her
mother. She had not since cohabited with the respondent,
who wrote several letters entreating her forgiveness, but
she did not answer them.

In cross-examination she said that she had not given the
respondent provocation, and that she had done nothing to—
wards him that she would not repeat. Her first child,
which died in 1858, was paralysed and subject to fits,
which she believed were caused by the ill-treatment
of the respondent to her prior to its birth. She
admitted having thrown a box of steel pens at
the respondent, but it was when he irritated her by his
ill-treatment. Shortly before leaving the respondent in
1859, one of his medical attendants stated he had over-
charged his brain with business, and that ho must not b.
thwarted. Dr. Watts considered that he was not of
sound mind some months before their final separation.
For some time sho believed him to be insane, and treated
him in a soothing manner.
[The case was not concluded when we went to press.]