The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-26 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE UNIVERSAL BANKING CORPORATION.—In the full
Court of Chancery the cases of Messrs. Harrison and
Rogers, which were appeals from Vice-Chancellor Stuart,
were heard. In the first case Mr. Harrison, a gentleman
living at Chester, appealed from a decision of the Vice-
Chancellor, fixing him as the contributory of the company
for fifty shares. In the second case the official liquidator
of the company appealed from a decision of the Vice-
Chancellor, absolving a Mr. Rogers, of Chester, from
liability in respect of one hundred shares for which he was
on the register of the company. In both cases the alleged
contributory intended to make his application for shares
conditional on his being appointed a local manager of the
company. In the case of Mr. Rogers there was evidence
that this condition was communicated to the compaty
at the time the application for shares was made, but in
the case of Mr. Harrison there was no such evidence. In
neither case was the appointment made. Their lordships
affirmed the decision of the Vice-Chancellor in each case,
and dismissed both the appeals with costs.

THE CLAIMS or ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN—The fol-
lowing case, in which will be found some points on the
above question, came on for argument before Vice-
Chancellor Giffard. A man named Thomas Wells, by his
will, after certain bequests to his son, who bore the same
name, directed his trustees, after liquidating his debts, to
divide the residue into seven equal parts, one of which was
to be given to his widow for life, and after death
to such of his six children as received the remaining shares.
With regard to those six shares the trustees were directed
to pay the same among all his children living at his decease
(except Thomas). The testator had five legitimate and
two illegitimate children (Thomas and Ann), and the
question upon this petition was whether, having regard
to the mention of Thomas (who was illegitimate) as one
of the testator's children, and to the direction to divide
the residue into seven parts, one for the widow
and the remaining six for the children, except
Thomas, the illegitimate daughter Ann was entitled to a
share in the gift. It appeared that after the death of the
testator one of the shares had been mortgaged, and that
the mortgage deed, which was executed by Ann and two
of the other children, treated her as entitled to one of the
shares. It was contended on the one side that Ann, as an
illegitimate child, could not claim unless clearly named by
the deceased ; whilst on her behalf it was contended that
she was as much entitled as Thomas, another illegitimate
child, who had been clearly designated as one of his heirs.
The Vice-Chancellor said there was no designatio per-
sonce in the case of Ann, and the mere mention
of Thomas as "my son " did not lead to the
inference that it was intended to include her. If the tes-
tator after excepting Thomas, had gone on to make the
gift to his six other children, there would have been a suffi-
cient designatio personce ; but he had not done so, and
therefore it must be held that she did not take any share
under the will.

ACTION POR PALS IxtrnisoNmENT.—At the Nisi Prius
Sittings of the Court of Common Pleas an action
was brought against Mr. Eccles, a superintendent of
police of the X division, for false imprisonment. Mr.
Anderson, the plaintiff, was a medical student, and it
seemed that one night in November somebody knocked at
the plaintiff's door, and he ran after the supposed author
of the disturbance, but returned home, and had
no sooner done so than he was seized by the defend-
ant, and was accused of knocking at his door and taken
into custody, as was his brother, who subsequently made
his appearance, enveloped in his nightgown. The defence
was that the district of Paddington had been for a long
time disturbed by knockings at the doors at untimely
hours. On the night in question the defendant was
undressing, when he heard a loud knocking at his door,
and saw the plaintiff running across the street very fast
and entering his own house. He followed him and asked
him why he knocked at his (defendant's) door. He denied
that he had done so. The plaintiff's brother then came up
and used some opprobrious epithet, and told the plaintiff
to " pitch into him," which they both did. The jury found
for the plaintiff ; damages, £lO.

CAN A CLERGYMAN BE EXAMINED ON HIB OWN
BEHALF ?—ln the cause of the Bishop of Norwich v. the
Rev. R. W. Pearse, who was charged before the Dean of
Arches with immoral conduct, the above-named question
was settled. After hearing the argu►nents of Dr. Deane
against such a mode of procedure, his lordship said that
tx officio, an ordinary, under the old law, could put
a clergyman on his oath, and on an admission pro-
ceed against him, but in the Act of Charles 11. the
ex officio oath was abolished, and it was thought that an
accused clerk was not a competent witness. In the case
of " Border v. O'Neill," Dr. Lnshington had held that a
clergyman charged with an offence of a criminal character
could not be examined ; and in the case of " The Bishop of
Norwich v. Berney," the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council had in their judgment said the question was one
which could be reconsidered. Now, his own conviction
vas that a clerk could be called, and he would act upon it,
and allow the defendant in this case to be examined. As
the question was certainly most important, he would when
he gave judgment enter fully into the matter.

THE FEES OF THE CITY COURT.—In the Court of
Queen's Bench the case of Regina v. the Chamberlain of
London, exparte Malcolm Kerr has been heard. Mr.
Coleridge, Q.C., made an application to compel the cor-
poration of London to pay to Mr. Malcolm Kerr, judge
of the Sheriffs' Court, the Small Debts Court of the
City, a large portion, about half, of the fees received in
that court under the new jurisdiction conferred by the
Act of 1867. He was appointed in 1859, at a salary
of £1,200 a year. In 1865 £3OO a year was added under
the Act of that year, imposing new duties by reason of a
new jurisdiction, and his present application was for a cor-
responding increas. , on the same ground, under the Act
of 1867, the point of his application being, in a word,
" more work more pay." The application was rested, in
a legal sense, upon a provision in the Act of 1867 that the
fees should be applied as those under the Act of 1852,
under which about half were to go to the judge, unless
there was a salary in substitution. The form of the appli-
cation was a motion for a mandamus to the Chamberlain,
as treasurer of the corporation, directing him to pay Mr.
Kerr that portion of the fees. The bench said that suffi-
cient had been advanced to slim that it was highly
desirable that the case should be argued, and therefore
granted the decree nisi.

ASSAULTING A WITNESS.—At the Middlesex Sessions,
Henry King was indicted for inflicting grievous bodily
harm on Thomas Welch. the prosecutor was witness
against a friend of the prisoner's, who was sentenced to a
long term of penal servitude, and the accused way-
laid the prosecutor and violently assaulted him. The court
passed a sentence of five years' penal servitude, as the
assistant-judge remarked, "to mark the feeling of the
court on offences of this kind."
THE MARQUIS TOWNSIIEND'S PHILANTHRopy.—At
the Thames Police-court the Marquis Townshend
brought a boy before the magistrate who hat been turned
out of the workhouse dressed in a canvas suit, with the
words " Jack from the country," " a skulk," &c., painted
on the trousers. It was stated that the labour master at
(lc tcliff Union had been the cause of this being done. He
e.-as called before the magistrate and severely reprimanded,
and the Marquis said that he should lay the case before
the Poor-law Board. After leaving the court, his 10rd-
.314 very kindly purchased the poor lad a suit of clothes.

A builder, named Mr. Hughes, has committed
suicide in the most shocking and deliberate manner, by
laying himself down upon the rails in front of an ap-
proaching train. The affair occurred close to the Per.ry
Bar Station, Liverpool, and the man was seen by the
engine-driver to stoop down and put himself across the
m:ls, hut the trAin could not be stepped in time. The
body was found cut in two and otherwise fearfully muti-
lated.

" Miles " sends the fellowinig extract from a
private letter from Melbourne to the Times You
know how excitable a people we are here, and will there-
fore not be surprised to hear it is estimated that over
0320,000 was spent by the Government, public bodies,
:end private persons on the different festivities and
entertainments. The whole crew of the Galatea (about
300) were supplied With fresh meat, poultry, milk, fruit,
and vegetables for the six weeks she was here, and a ton
of ice was sent on board every morning for their use."

A short time since two farm labourers were
,:harged before a bench of Wiltshire magistrates with
improperly leaving their work, they having started for
home on one occasion at four in the afternoon instead of at
six. Their master claimed 4d. damages from each wretched
defendant, and as he was a humane man, and did not wish
to be hard upon them, they were let off with the forfeit of
)ne day's wages and the payment of costs, with the
alternative of ten days' imprisonment in default. This
was done under the Master and Servants Act.

FOXES IN CHURCII.--In a secluded valley in the
Yorkshire welds stands the ancient church of Wharram
Percy, quite apart from all human habitation. Only on
Sundays is the church frequented, and the congregation
have been somewhat surprised to find a breed of foxes in
possession. An air drain for ventilation from the outside
has been used as an "earth," and by this means accesshas
been gained to the pulpit, beneath which an old fox and
her litter of fine cubs are, except when unearthed during
divine service, comfortably domiciled. The novelty has
been communicated to Morgan, Lord Middleton's hunts.
man, who declares that during his forty years' experience
he never before heard of such a circumstance, and ppm
x. 44w 44w tinal c 4 foxce.