The Sun.
London, England, 1803-11-04 00:00:00

L 4 V
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COURT OF KtNCIBENC.II, Nc.‘,,. 3.
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COAL TRADE.. ' . • ..-11'.
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DAVY AN 1:0 ANOTHER. "v. LOWE. • •, . .

MR.' YASSCJIft opened the.caseiatelliepere,,ofihe?
-PlaintitTos-anttstiiil, he would venture•toconsider ilk
is one of consirlieable importance,. and suelt de,'
served the serious consideration of the jury..., fie
said, h was impossible for any person
,who attended,.
as most of the SubjeCts,of this, Country did,, toithe
Proceedings of Courts of Justice, which; were all
open, and, generally., intereesitig,t9,mankind,/ who.
had not observed that Frauds prattiecd on, the Coe.'.
'sinners of that necessary aeticle, of tlfr,. Coals, had
frequently occurred; Became, therefOrs, extreme-,
ly important to 'find out, in whatiquarter cepsider-,
ahle, portion .of these. Frauds,existetl. , That they
existed, more pr lea',
,qeArters,. he, verily
lieved, because, ia. eil concerns. thire34urge,yarious
'and extensive, the number oflodividueie employed
in them must lie very great, and, among e yala mnt-
, her of men, 6'oll cpnditione of Society, -abere al.
ways would be some disposed, to take advantagtof;
:others by fratid. He said he should establiakbefore',
,the. Court to.day, that persons engaged in the.COal :
Trade were themselves often the vlctimalaf feauds.
pladisedagainsttheen by others, and thAt,,net only
by the los.a,they,slaytained in Penalties impopedatpun
them hy
,but what was a s'iill,greaperioss,.
loss of Ikeputation, without which a man could
' not live, otlhave his' being as a inee ins this Coon_
try and plesibly that., might have been. the case
even with Ina Clients, for in consequence of the very
case now befote the Court, they .might have been
loaded. with very heavy Penalties, and . have lost ,
their Charafter, If the, Fraud, he -was about, to tiffs_
close, had not been
.deteCted ;, nor did he.donht
'that many others had sufferethfrom the same cause;
for although some Dealers in Coals had been justly
exposed to public reprobation ; yet Dealers in Coals
themselves had also been vi aims of the freutisof
others, although unknoWn to the. Public. For: in.
stance, if a Dealer in Coals contracted to deliver to
his Customer a certain quantity,. of Coals by Pool •
Measure, the person buying them might .eotriplain, •
and he would have a right to' complains that, the
measure was short,. and the Dealer would have
been iubjeCt to heavY penalties, and' the loss
of his.reputetions Such would _have been the case
with the Plaiotiffi, had
,they sold the coals which
.were 'measured out to them by the Defendant in this
cause, and that, very ,Defendant would be a witness
at once to fasten. his own freud upon another, and
to, establish his own integrity ; e mischief which
the Vigilance of a Court at biotic; might not have
Teen able to detefl, Having said this, he ,should
proceed to state to the jury theeourse of she Coal
Trade, out of which this C.iuse s,arose,, Coals were
;told either by Pool OrWharf measure, the party boy,
ing them was entitled.to what was called the in 7
grain, that' was one
.in 'twenty. In measuring
Coals on board, the .Bieibei was nor employed, but
'there was a measure used called a Pat, which vat
contained ninebuShels.; This measure was, axed in
the ship, and persons were employed •io raise it up, '
after it was filled svith Coals, and to cast it into the
barge or lighter alongside the ship our' of which the
Coals Are taken. The Coal Meter takes his sta-
tion to'see both the filling of the Vat and the shoot.
• ing or the Coals into the barge. Any person.may
purchase thesvhole. in the•vessel, but they must be
all measured in this Manner, because the Duty upon
the article is colletied from Olt 'measure thUs
,taken
by the Meter ; he is. the Meter between 'the buyer
and theoller, and also between them and: thePitb-
tie ; not only so,. but he was.often broUght
witness when any, fraud had been praelisediti any
of the subsequent itages of the sale of Coals. The ';
barge into Whieh the Coals are thus•shotr is divided
ittio .Rooms, containing, generally, from 5 .to. to
chaldron, a room of 5 Chaldron containing 89,
and thae of to, 378 bushels.ts—The.present Pfaina,
tilt's had purchased all the contents of a vessel called
the Seven, Brothers; they had had occasion to ob. e,
serve, more than once,. that short measure hufbeen
Miter; Ao.them by means 'of the ;Defendant, who
was, a public Meter in the P 001,.. They saw, by
what had, frequently passed in Courts of - Justice,
what was interesting- to us all ; that; mai)), dealers
had .had large penalties infliCted an theist; on account
of delivering Coals short of ineastne ; they were ap. .
prehensive they might themselves become victim) in
like manner by the fraud of another, and' therefore
they resolved to do their best tb deter it.- Their
barge was brought to the Seven Brothels, fin- the
purpose of receiving their Coals so purchased: The
Defendant took his station as the Meter ; the Coals
were.measured, ands from what one of the clerks
of the Plaintiff's saw, they Were satisfied, they had
not received their' full measure ; and here, Mr.
Eitsxt ?alai& he could not make the charge against
the Defendant short of fraud, for it was observable,
that he was:paid in proportion.to.the quantity ,the
Coals measured, and therefore the more he made of
them, the more 'he got for his trOubie. Fraud it
muss be, or else culpable negligence ; and when the
quantity measured in this case came to be consider-
ed, and the Oficieney found upon re-measurement,
it would be very difficult, If not impossible, to ac.
quit the Defendant of • fraud, in this bargei there
were two rooms to be, fillet!, a.,iniddle room and .a
head room, one of wh(ch ought
,to. have in it. 184,
and the other' 378 bushels, or It and 4.z vats, and
would have bad these quantities, if the Cnal,.merei.
had done his duty, .As goon as ails. process was
over, and the Defeedant had finishgti his work, the,
Plaintiffs' Clerk informed that the caels should
bele-measured. Ifthey bad not giveaidnin notice.
'but had measurethhem again behind his back, .he
,might have had' just reasoo to carpplain, and
,have said," I ought to have had a
.n opportunity of
meeting' my accuser face to face," tut he 140 full
notice a 3 'soon as he had (tones and he might hairs
been present at the re.measuremunt if lie pleased.
Therleintiffiedid not wish to tOnctal'itiar they sent
their Cletk•on boiled on purpose to deteft this fraud;
.for they had-before .been' imposed opon: toan iro.
tnense amount, and they tuspetted that the Define
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