The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-15 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

-0

ACTION AGAINST THE SHERIFF OF KENT.—In the Court
of Queen's Bench the case of Dignam v. Bailey was
heard. It was an action by a judgment creditor against.
the Sheriff of Kent for allowing his debtor whom he had
in custody to escape. It appeared that in June 1866 the
debtor, one Brassington, made a composition with his
creditors by deed under the Bankruptcy Act, engaging to
pay them ss. in the pound. One of the creditors, a person
named Clayton, held a bill of exchange of Brassington's
for about £2O, and as he refused to assent to the compo-
sition be passed it away to the plaintiff, who sued and
recovered upon it, and took Brassington in execution on
the judgment. The sheriff's officer, however, being
shewn the certificate of the Registrar in Bankruptcy
that the deed had been registered (which by the Act is to
operate as a protection), the sheriff at once discharged him,
and hence this action. It has since been held that the
deed was no protection as against the non assenting credi-
tors. Upon these facts the learned judge told the jury
the question for them was what damage the plaintiff had
sustained through the discharge of his debtor under such
circumstances. The jury gave a verdict for £23 18s. 9d.,
the amount of the bill and the costs of suing upon it.
PASSAGES FOR WRONGFUL DISCHARGE.— In the Court
of Common Pleas the case of Brown v. Whitbread and
another was heard. The plaintiff brought his action for
damages for a wrongful discharge. He had been hired for
three years by the defendants, who are paper manu-
facturers, bad served them for nearly two years, at a
salary of 1:180, but bad got into difficulties. The de-
fendants of jetting to the plaintiff's pecuniary position, as
entailing inconvenient conseq ,ences on themselves and
their business, discharged Lim before the end of the second
year, and they now paid into court the balance due up to
the end of the second year, and a quarter's salary, and a
small additional sum in lieu of notice. The real question
was whether the defendants had paid enough. It is always
a difficult matter to ascertain what sum should he paid
into court, and in the present instance the jury gave the
plaintiff £4l 10s., making, together with the money paid
into court, £lOO. The full salary for the last year had
been fixed at £l9O.

BREACH OF CONTRACT.—In the Court of Queen's Bench,
the case of Crowther v. Walley was heard. This was
an action by a tradesman residing at Huddersfield, against
a money-lender, or money-lender's agent, for breach of
contract to lend him some money. It seems that in
August last an advertisement appeared in the Hudders-
field Chronicle stating that loans from £5 to £l,OOO
were made to respectable persons. The plaintiff, at
the period being in want of money, wrote to the
address named in the advertisement, and said
that he wished to borrow £450 upon mortgage
of leasehold property. In answer to this the defendant
wrote : " We can obtain £450 for you upon personal or
other security, if all is satisfactory. As to interest, if you
effect a life policy in an office of our clients' selection for
2.500, as collateral security for the loan, the money can be
lent at 5 per cent., for five years, repayable by instal-
ments or otherwise." After much negotiation, the plain-
tiff spent £2O in having the deeds prepared, &c., and seeing
no chance of obtaining the loan, he brought the present
action. The defendant's counsel at once agreed to the
return of the money given by the plaintiff, and a verdict
was returned for that amount.

CURIOES CASE of FRAUD.—At the Clerkenwell Police-
court, Mr. Charles Case, an omnibus and cab proprietor,
appeared in answer to a summons which charged him with
having, on the 27th February last, unlawfully obtained of
and from the Hop and Malt Exchange and Warehouse
Company (Limited), by means of certain false and fraudu-
lent pretences, the sum of £35, with intent to defraud. From
the evidence of Mr. Herbert Renny Duke, the secretary to
the company above mentioned, it appeared that on the 4th
of December last, at about half-past five in the afternoon,
he saw a hansom cab overturned in front of the company's
premises in Southwark.street, the cause of the accident
being a heap of earth over which it went. The horse was

a dark brown one, and from the examination he then made
be was enabled to say that neither the driver nor the
horse were injured ; and he told the driver, who said he
was not hurt, and only a little shaken, to call on him the
following day if any damage was done. Instead of doing
this the defendant sent a letter, through his solicitor,
demanding compensation for injuries sustained by himself
and ho►:se. Thinking the demand exorbitant, witness and
a director of the company went to the defendant's yard and
there saw a horse that hopped on three legs and had
a large wound. After that a letter was read, stating that
the horse was dead, and £43 4s. 10d. was remitted to the
prisoner's solicitor. The money was paid on the repeated
statement of the prisoner that the mare seen at his stable
was the same one which fell down. It was proved that
this was not the case, and the driver of the horse in ques-
tion was called, and he said that the animal was brown,
and not a black one, as was the one seen in the prisoner's
stable by Mr. Duke. This witness having been corrobo-
rated in some material degree, the case was sent to the
Central Criminal Court for trial.

The freedom of the City of London, in a gold
box of the value of 100 guineas, is to be presented to Field-
Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, Constable of the Tower.
BRIDGING THE CHANNEL.—The COUriZer du Pas
de Calais gives the following piquant account of an inter-
view between the Emperor and M. Boutet, the engineer,
who proposes to build a railway bridge across the Channel
between Calais and Dover : " The Emperor was ex-
tremely gracious to M. I3outet, and put several ques-
tions to him which spewed his Majesty's perfect com-
petence to judge of the difficult subject. He was so much
pleased with the answers that he said to Mr. Boutet :
' Let me have a full report of your scheme, with plans,
:stimates of cost, the time required for the execution,
and the calculated profits to the shareholders. I
will go into the matter myself, and we will support you.
Your project seems to me far more practicable than any
hat I have ever seen, whether for tunnels or bridges.'
While the Emperor Was speaking, M. Boutet's plan of
the proposed bridge was spread out upon the floor. The
Prince Imperial took a run and jumped over it, where-
upon General Favtl, who had presented M. Boutet to his
Niajesty, said, ' Monseigneur, you are the first person who
lat; passed over the Channel bridge.' The Emperor
;fled approbation, and repeated to 31. Boutet, We
buppolt you. "