The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-02 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF CODIVION—(This Day.)
The EPEAKEletook the chair at 12 o'cl.ck.
The swearing in of the now members was continued
;o•day until the adj'urnment of the bows.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—(This Day.)

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

Sittings in Banco. Before Lord Campbell, Mr. justice
Erie and Crompton.)

THE CONVICT MANSELL V. THE QUEEN IN

ERROR.

It being known that this case would C3lllO on for rr•
guinea this morning, the court was denvily crowded.
It will be recollected that the prisoner, Thomas Maose'l,
was tried before Mr. Baron Bramwell, at Maid tone,
December list, for the murJer of a man named Burney,
lance corporal of the 49th Regiment, and was
found guilty and sentenced to de4ts. Certain
objections were raised at the trial by the prisoner's coun-
sel, as to the manner in which some of the jury had been
challenged on the part of the era sn. In order that
these points might be argued, the Secretary of State for
the Home Department had respited the cx cution of
the prisoner until the sth of May.
At 10 o'clock the prisoner was brought into court in
custody of Mr. Webtherhead, the Governor of Newgite,
and was placed in the seat of the Covimon Sergeant.
He is a man of short stature, and rather slight built.
He wore a large beard of dark brown hair, and during
the proceedings he evinced but little interest.
The counsel present on behalf of the prisoner was Mr.
F. Russell and Mr. G. Denman ; Mr. Welsby and Mr.
Ribton appeared on the part of the Cr) A 3.
Mr. F. Russell, in opening the case, said the applica-

tiun he had to make to the court was to reverse the sen
tence of death which bad been passed upon Thomas
Mansell, now a prisoner at their lordships' bar. The
learned counsel then read at length an abstract of the
record, and at its conclusion said the principal
point he had to submit to their lordships was that
a certain number of persons who had been called
to serve on the jury on the part of the prisoner
had been improperly put aside. 'he learnel gentle-
man tt en detailed the proceedings that had taken
piece at the trial at Maidstone, the effect of which
was, that instead of the number of persons who ought
to have been on the jury to try the prisoner, there were
only nine .out of the twelve properly sworn. At the
trial several jurors were ordered by the counsel on be-
half of the Crown to stand by, in consevenee of their
having conscientious scruples with respect to the punish-
ment of death. This proceeding, Mr. Russell con-
tended, was illegal, as the Crown had not the
power to order persons to stand by for su,li
reason—it not being a right to challenges. In sup-
port of the view of the case a number of authorities
were cited, and in conclusion the learned ceun el ob-
eerved, that instead of the right of challenge under the
circumstances he had stated being a prerogative of the
Crown, it was an abuse of it, and be tru-ted their
lordships would agree with him in opinion, that the
panel had been gone through before the jury who tried
the prisoner was constituted, that the jury by which the
prisoner had been convicted was illegal y constructed—
and that therefore under such circumstances the convic-
tion must be set aside.

Mr. G. Denman followed on the same siJe.

Mr. Welsby, on the part of the Crown, c-m
tended that the panel had not been gone
through, that the steps taken by the cluasel
for the prosecution were in accordance with the
law, that the jury by which the prisoner had
been tried and convicted was legally constituted, and
that therefore the prisoner, Thomas Mansell, had been
properly convicted.
Mr. Russell having replied, "

Lord Chief JusticeCampb_ll, after a few minutes con-
versation with the other judges, said their lordships wont.'
take time to consider their decision. He trusted that
the unhappy man now bebre the C mrt woull not, Ly
such a circumstance, encourage any hopes, for as far
as the Court saw-at present, there was nothing -t' justify
any reversal of the sentence. At the present moment it
appeared that everything that was proper to be done on
the occasion of the trial of the prisoner at Maidstone
had been done, and that the prisoner had been
tried by a fair and impartial jury. Under such circum-
stances he trusted that the prisoner would not drluile
himself into the belief that because the Court bad taken
time to consider before it declared its judgment, there
was hope of map?. The noble and learned kidge having
again urged upon the prisoner to avoid indulging in de.
lusive hopes, sail on Wednesday morning next, at the
sitting of the Court, their lordships would deliver judg-
ment.

During the delivery of this brief address, the pri-
soner appeared slightly agitated, but nithing more. Ho
was then given into the custody of the Governor of
Newgate, and4conveyed back to prison.

CJURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
(Sittings at Nisi nice.)
HOLLOWAY V. KELLY. —" SHELLS OF THE OCEAN."
This was an action brought by the pl tint'ff, Mr. Ile
loway, against the defendant Kelly, for selling a
spurious edition of the song "ShePs of tha Ocean,"
whereby he had infringed the copyright of the work
whic'l was the property of the plaintiff. The song was
putlished on a sina'l card set for the German con-
certina, and was sold at one penny each.
Evidence having been given that the song in question
was the property of 141 r. Holloway.
sergeant Thomas, on the part of defendant, said ho
trusted that the jury woull give their verdict for the
defendant when they became acquainted with the whole
facts of the case. The learned counsel said the de-
fendant was a poor fellow with a wife, mother, and
four small chil lrer, who inhabited a small hole in
Gray's-inn-lane, and who to gain a living sold penny
publications and such like, and amongst other
he unfortunately sold a certain song, called " Shells of
the Ocear." Notice of action was served upon him, and
the present proceedings, charging him with printing and
publishing a spurious edition of the song, were com-
menced. He would call the wife of the defendant, who
woull give a simple manner in which the circumstances
arose. After that he felt sure they would not ruin him
by giving a verdict against him.
Maria Kelly, wife cf the defendant, stated that a short
time ago a man named Fortune called upon her, and
asked her to purchase some music of him, and she
bought about two dozen songs. On the second
occasion Fortune called, she bought about four copies
of the song in question, but she did not know that the
copyright of the song belonged to Mr. Holloway. She
bad bought in all about a dozen and a-half copies of the
song "Shells of the Ocean," and had realised a profit of
about 9d. by the transaction. She did not know that
she had committed any offence by purchasing the songs
in question.
In answer to the questions of the counsel for the
plaintiff, the witness said that her husband did
not print the edition of the sorg now in ques-
tion, and the reason her husband's name appeared
on it as the printer was, that Fortune, the man
of whom she bought the copies of the song, stated that
as he was continually changing his lodging he hoped
she would allow him to put her name on the song, as
then his customers would know where to find him.
The defendant was also called, and stated that as soon
as he received the letter of the plaintiff's attorney he
immediately sent to Mr. Holloway all the copies of the
song he had,
A witness named Fortune said he was the publisher of
the edition of the song "Shells of the Ocean ;" he got
them printed for him and hawked them about.
When he sold the songs to the defendant he
did not say anything about copyright. Ho had
printed a number of songs, some of which he
bad put his name to, others he bad not. When he be-
came acquainted with the circumstance that Mr. Hol-
loway's solicitor had sent the defendant a letter, be
(witness) took the plate and all the copies he had by
him to the plaintiff, and distinctly tol I him that he was
the printer and publisher of the song in question. He
bought the copy of the song, which he had had engraved,
:rem a person in the Male-end-road, and gave a penny
Eor it.

Verdict for the defendant.

Tan TRIAL OF BACON.—The witnesses resident in
Stamford who are to give evidence on the trial of Thrs.
Fell-r Bacon and his wife for the murder of their child-
ren received their subreenas on Tuesday. They are
summoned to the sessions of the C.ntral Criminal Court
commencing on the 11th inst., but it is intimated their
attendance will not be required till Wednesday, the
1313, and it is probable the trial will not take place till
the following day. Mr. Bodkin will be leading counsel
for the prosecution, instructed by the solicitors to the
Treasury ; and Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Poland will be
counsel for Bacon, instructed by Mr. Atter, of Stamford.
It is thought that legal aid will be assigned to Mrs.
Bacon by the Sheriffs.—Stamford Mercury.
THE RIFF PIRAIES.—A. l-tter from Albucemas has
been received at Madrid giving an account of another
outrage committed by the pirates of the Rlff. On the
27th of March, the Moors intimated that they had a
boatload of poultry and provisions for sale, and four
Spanizh T=ailors and an interpreter went from a ves:.el to
purchase ; but no sooner had they landed than a dis-
charge of musketry was made by a party placed in am-
bush, and the sailors were all more or less wounded and
taken prisoners.