The Sun.
London, England, 1803-12-02 00:00:00

LAW R Epd

• . ,
tthlltt .Dse. r.
RUSE t V. SCARLET, £4.
•
Title .vas an- anion to • recover the tum of
181. 75. td; being the amount-of the ,Plaintire
The Plaintiff is a dealer in corn, hay, and other
articles, and the Defendant, James Scarlet, Esq. is
a Gentleman of,eniinence ot the Bar. The Plain,
tiff's demand was for corn, hay, andother articles,
furnished the Dafeadant's Coachman. -
It • appeared .in evidence that the Plaintiff bad
never seen the Defendant—had never had any corn.
munication with him, but had dealt with the De.
fentiant'e Coachman from September.' 8o i to. Sep.
tember 18oe. During that time the Plaintiff had
settled several Bills ,with the Defendant's Coach.
man. The Coachman having miactindaled
self, was: aboat to be discharged; the Defend.
ant's Clerk found out by accident that ' the
Coachman had been dealing with the_PlaintifF for
these articles, in consequence of which, and as his
master was about to discharge the coachman, the
clerk called on the Plaintiff for the purpose of learn.
Png if the coachman owed him any thing : the
laintiff said the coachman owed him a bill. The
clerk told the Plaintiff' that this coachman had mis.
conduaed himself and was about to be discharged,
bat that if the Plaintiff would make out the bill,
the clerk would carry that bill to his master, and if
any: thietgawas due of wages to the coachman, he
woufrO.ettheitynur to procure the money foe, the .1
Pia ntif£ to, blikly this bill, by stepping the wages_
of the. estailinian. The. Plaintiff's bill '• Wes" ace rda
ingly made out, to the amount of 164,175. rd. and
taken to the Defendant. When the accounts be.
tween the coachman and his master were examined,
it appeared there was no more wages due to the
coachman than 91. so that this could not satisfy the
Plaintiff's Bill. Mr. Scarlet, the Defendant, then
'desired that the coachman and Rugby, the Plaintiff,
might be brought together in his presence. They
were so, and the conversation which took place be.
tween the .Defendant and the Plaintiff' was to this
effed. Mr. ',Scarlet asked Rushy, the Plaintiff,
these questions, and received the following answers.
Who are you, .Sir ?---A. My name is Rushy.
Q. •111 you know any Ming of me I—A, I do
not.
Q. Did you ever see me before ?—A. To my
knowledge I never did,
Q. Did I ever give you any order to furnish any
corn, hay, or straw, for my purses I—A. You did
not.
Q. Did I ever give any authority to any of my
Servants to come to you to get credit fur these ar.
ticies from. you ?a—A. You did not.
Q.- Ilraw could you be such a fool as to trust
this man without coining to me to know whether.
I had given him authority to deal on credit l—
alavays paid me.before. •
Then inquiry was mode, whether this Coachman
defrau.ted any. of Mr. Scarlet's own Trades-
met', for the Clerk said he thought. his Master
was bound to pay them, and it was found he had
omitted to pay for a Coach which Mrs. Scarlet had
while her own was in use by Mr. Scarlet, on
the Circuit, although the Coachman had been fur-
nished with moat). for the purpote---
The Plaintiff insisted that Mr. Scarlet should pay
him this Bill, which he refused, and insisted that
he was not liable to pay it; upon which this Aaiun
was brought.
Mr. ERSKINE made a very able speedh for the
Defendant, and observed that the etnat of finding a
Verdkl fur the Plaintiff under such circumstances
would he. dreadful ; for no man who kept servants
' could be sure that he might- not be undone in an
hour. He had had a rogue of a servant, who was
with him three years before he deteaed him—he
was his coachman, and hed bought several silver
laced hats of a tradesman, „wi iaout his authority,
and be resisted the payment of the bill, not for the
valet of the thing, but fur the sake of resisting the
precedent, which was precisely the -motive at. the
honourable and learned Gentleman who was the De.
fendantan this cause. .
It then appeared taere was. ti batik of accounts
kept between Mr. Scarlet and tbis..servant, in which
Mr. Scarlet did not pay each. particular sum for
every item, but advanced. the.coachman money from
time to time, and the coachman was generally in
his master's debt. •
Thiawas the substance of the case upon thefaas,
. Lord ELiErnioltoucit observed upon the .Law to
this effeo, that it was not enough that Ireceuse this
man wad a servant that he should go and buy goods
on creelit, and so hind his master td pay, but that in
order constitute a servant his master's agent, so
as to coOtreet debts for his master, there must either
be an antecedent authority given him forthat put.-
, pose, or there must be a subsequent recognition of
that authority by the master, which amounted to the
-tattle thing as giving him that authority in the first
instance-a-4m his Lordship said 'hot .where a master
gives hie 'servant money to go to market, he could
mat, in slut case, be supposed to be .giving him
authority to take goods on credit, because in that
case credit was unnecessary ; and, therefore, his
Lordship thought that the question would turn
very much upon this—Whether the Jury, upon
looking at the book, were satisfied that the Dc.
;indent had always furnished his servant with mo.
ney; for if they were satisfaal of that, as there was.
no communication between the PlAintiff and the
Defendant, be thought the Defendant was entitled
to a verdia, because, in that case, no ground of
implied credit could be suppase* to arise ; but if,
on looking at the book, they thought the, Coach.
man was not always in cash, then the master omit
be, considered as taking it for granted that the
Coachman must have credit, and, in that case, the
master trust be forced to pay, for then the teas.
ter had given an ;implied
,credit to the id of the
servant.
rLit ejoUt hi!yfs iloubnl a verdia for the Plaintiff fur the
amount

13,1,L8Y, V.

. way an action for midicioli%ly, holding, the
Plaintiff' to bai4,..an4 artei.iing him without any.
reiisonahle or prob Ode cause.
It appeared thartlie Parties hat) dealings together;

fi;fr~~

grit 11~ itiVeitte4 t

aiti~i

51. as money Line tipon it
,bal,ance ut
the Phiintiff in tli;i st (then 11.1endant)
paid 40. into Court; whith tire, o;4er aicigpied
dropped kis action.

The CH E JUstict told the liity it 1;va,,..
enough that the Defendant in this case should hate
made a mistake and arrested the Plaintiff when he
had no tight; as it afterwards turned out; to arrest
him, hut it must appear that , the Defendant tided
maliciously; befote the Plaintiff Could be entitled to
damages in this case.
Veldid fur the Plaintifr, damages 4.01.

OLp. BAILLY.

sgcoßD D4l--711uRsoici1 DEC• IO

Thorot L9ng was inditted for stealing two loge;
containing about t tzlbsi• of 'raw, coffee from on
board the Ship
,Font' Sisters, lying in the RiveF
Thames, stated to be the property oi Messrs. Cale.,
Godwin and Coles ; and, in .another Count,
ato be
the property of persons unknown.
The only Witness to bring the charge horne to
the Prisoner was one of the OftLers, belonging, to.
the, Thames Police. Office, who .give in evidence,
that as he was passing airing, about seven- o'cloek!
in the evening of the 24Th of OCtober, he observed
the Prisoner
and another us os (both .of whoin
knew, and that they werg.watettnen) enthing froM
St. Catherine's Stairs, with each g small bag np,..r.
their shoulders ; „stiv,Posiiig ne4,figuti
he Nilo than, wliiilt thei erc'el•se)tig,,, 'Fin 'CO
al fist is .ther cotild; When Onicae :Mitt got .
within a few yards of the Pricotter, the latter-46ew
down, his bag, and ;mining iotoe house, bolted the"
door. The Officer then pursued the other man, who'
also threw down iir bag, and then to de his escape.
The Officer then'e.anyey ed:binli the bags..to a Pub-
lie-hothe for sedet',,i';' and as he. tV4l$ coiniog Out.frons•.
thence the Prisoner passed. the door, whom he then.
took into curodi.. Knowing- there was ~Prize.
ship, called the Four Sisters, lying off that, pat;
• •of the River, •the Officer went on board her the
next morning, where he ii6v several-T3ags marked
Q.. S. ex,'4ly like those he bed taken, whereupon
he gave infutination to Messrs. and Co.a
Clerk .of whom proved that their hotise' was
ployed by the Admiralty as Bioken. to sell the cargo
of the above Prize, a part of Which wittei.,free pack.
ed in bags like those • prr.i.luce'd, mmtked! Q. 'O. .and
that the numbered 77 and 97 Were wanting, en those
which were afterwards landed, arid which number's
were marked on those two bags. •
The Prisoner said in his defence, that thr othWtnittit
to ,a-ham the Officer had alluded,, conic to WWI' And,.
informed him that lie had purchased some smuggled
cotne, and requested he would
,assist him to carry_
it away, to which he had consented, and that be.
knew nothing more of the mutter. Near a dozen
persons appeared in his behalf, who all affirmed! that.
lie merited the charaaer °fan honest, sobrr, inclus..
trious young man.

After a consultation of more than twenty mi..
nUtes, the Jury returned a v'erdiet of N9t
when Mr. justice (.3:11/1/41IANI, who tried the cause,-
in very striing'ltrms. adimmiishe'3. the Prisoner to
let this be a berious wiirning with relied to his fu...
turc condudi•fot although he did not mean to reflet
upon the Jury fur their verdia, yet, in' hiy mind,
there was little doubt of the ,fitd, a)000311, it ha.!.
not been proved to their satiAfadion.

Charles Davison was indkied 'for stealing a blaak
silk cloak and is silk pelice, the property of Mri.
Dale

• ,
A Witness stated, that as he was passing. along.
Charlotte.street, illuemsbury,- ow the 231 i• of last
Month, between ten and eleven o'clock in the MOrn-
log,. he observed the Prisoner itioking in a snspi..
cious manner through the railing before No. r 7 ;
this -exciting his attention, he watched him, and
soon. after saw him in the area, whence he came up,
and then the Witness walked On'tOPlututreti.street,
where, meeting a Constable, he -communiczted to'
hirti his suspicions,• and looking down Charlotte.
street, the. Pri:ioner• was riot to be 'seen. • -On This
the Constable went towards the house, and .just is
he came to it, the Prisoner came out Of
and part of the pelica was hanging oue Gin under
his coat : he immediately took to his heels, but the
first Witness being still waiting, caught him in his
arms, and the Constable corning up, al:I:took both
pclicc and cloak from his bosom. They were iden.
tified by the Prosecutrix, who said that hut a very
short time before she had left them in the house.
keeper:. room;• • .

The Prisoner had no Counsel ; but in crass-exa_
mining, he entivoured to fix the charge upon
the first Witness, and who, in his defence, he ctid,
hint ()tract( to sell him the ►hings, when he Met
him in Ourlotte-street, and upon his 'declining'
to he a icusfonier, had thrust.them into his boSont
as the Constable came up. But this, being, so aired!),
contrary to what the• Constable Itahloiselfuhtetved,
the Jury without, the least hesitation found him
•

.Alichad Bt4aux, alias Walkar, was capitally con.
vided of being at large in this Kingdom before the.
expiration Of the term for which he hiid been Or&ced
to he transported.—ln this case there was nothitsg
more than proving the identity of the Prisoner, his
having been convicted in this Court about a twe“.e.
month since, his being sentenced to transportation,
his having been sent to the 1-links at Woolwich,
and his miopc from thence..