The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-13 00:00:00

THI' DAY'S NEWS.

HOUSE OF Loßos--(THIS DAY.)
The House sat to-day, for the first time this ses,ion, to
hear appeals. The • Peers present were, Lord Brougham,
Lord Canterbury, Lord Campbell, and Earl Nelson.
FOREST V. HARVEY.
The arguments in this appeal occupied their Lordships the
whole day.

CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)
The Lord Chancellor sat to-day in Lincoln's Inn Hall, at
ktalf-past ten o'clock.

OLDFIELD V. COBBETT.-JUDOMENT.

The LORD CLIANCELLOR gave judgment to-day in this
case, which was argued before his Lordship some time
since, upon a motion on behalf of the defendant, Mr.
Cobbett, to discharge an order of the 9th of
June for irregularity. His Lordship, on giving judgment,
.bserved, that although the case had occupied a considerable
period of time in arguing, the question depended upon con-
-ulerations that reeolve,l themselves into very narrow limits.
rhe short outline of the case was this :—.llr. Cobbett, the
defendant, not having put in his answer in time to the plain-
tiff's bill, an attachment issued against him. The Sheriff
was not able to arrest Mr. Cobbett, and returned
non est investus. Proclamation then issued, but
still it was found impossible to arrest Mr. Cob-
bett, and then a commission of rebellion issued
against him, and he was arrested on the 6th of June. One
of the Commissioners was a person named Henry Doncaster,
and the other Sloman, a sherif's• officer, who kept a lock up
house in Cursitor-street. Mr. Cobbett was kept in custody
it Sloman's till the Monday following. and then he was con-
veyed, by a person of the name of Haslem, who was a servant
of Sloman's, to White Cross-street prison, and delivered to
the keeper, or one of the turnkeys there. He was de-
livered, according to the indorsement upon the writ,
into the custody of the ke-per of the prison by
Haslem, on the part of Sloman. On the 9th an
application was made by Henry Doncaster to the keeper of
the prison to deliver Mr. Cobbett up to him, in order that he
night be brought before the Court of Exchequer : the keeper
1 of the prison declined to give Mr. Cobbett up, thinking that
he had no right to do so. In consequence of this refusal a
notice was served by the attorney of the plaintiff upon the
keeper of the prison, the Commissioners, and the sheriff.
['he keeper of the prison appeared to have consulted his law
advisers, and finding that he had no right to de-
tain the defendant, he delivered him up on the
11th day of June to Henry Doncaster, and he
%vas then brought before the Court of Exchequer, and
There committed to the Custody of the Warden of the Fleet
6.w contempt in not answering the plaintiff's bill. Now, Mr.
Cobbett made various objections to these proceedings ; and he
complained first of the manner in which he had been treated
during his confinement. Now, if Mr. Cobbett had any good
complaint on that subject, he should have complained to the
Court of the conduct of the Commi§sioners, and they
would have either been censured or punished for their
offence, but that would form no ground for setting
aside the order for irregularity. Mr. Cobbett then com-
plained that he had offered bail that was unexceptionable.
but that it was not accepted, In entiseqttetice of the fault of
the Commissioners, and that he was kept in custody. There
was no doubt that it was the duty of the Commissioners to
have discharged Mr. Cobbett, if sufficient bail had been
offered; and, if not, then they were bound to bring him
before the Court of Exchequer ; and, if they did
not do en, they were liable to punishment; but this
did not effect the regularity of the proceedings. Such being
the state of things, the next objection and the principal one
taken by Mr. Cobbett was, that he was kept in confinement
after the return to the writ ; that the writ was returnable
nn the 10th, and that he was not brought up till the 11th.
Hr. Cobbett seemed to think that there was an end of the
writ upon the return, and that no person after then had a
right to keep him in custody or do anything under the writ.
His Lordship considered that in that respect Mr. Cobbett
laboured under a mistake. It was true that
after the return of the writ the officer could
not arrest a party, but where the party was in custody
at the time of the return of the writ, the officer had no busi-
ness to discharge him without bringing him before the
Court. His Lordship thought that the course that had been
pursued by Mr. Cobbett upon that occasion clearly showed
that he was in doubt himself as to the validity of the objec-
tion, because he argued, and very forcibly, too, that the
effect of taking him to Whitecross-street prison was taking
him out of the custody of the Commissioners, and that there-
fore it must be considered as a retaking after the return
of the writ, and therefore net valid. This pilot had cer-
tainly been very cleverly put by Mr. Cobbett, but there was
no foundation for it ; the defendant having been brought to
-the bar of the Court, was properly committed. Such were the
arguments used by the defendant for the purpose of obtaining
the setting aside of the order of the 11th of June, for ir-
regularity, and on the whole, his Lordship thought there was
no ground made for discharging the order in that respect,
and therefore it must stand. Repeated applications had
been made to discharge the order, all of which were
refused, with costs. This was the state of things up to 1843,
when, the defendant having in the meantime put in his
answer, the plaintiff put in a replication to rejoin, and the
question then raised was, whether the plaintiff having done
so, it was not to be considered as a waiver of the contempt on
his part, and entitled the defendant to be discharged from
that contempt without the payment of costs. His Lord-
ship considering this a most important question, had
consulted several of the officers of the Court : and he
had received a certificate from the Six Clerks, who
stated it to be their opinion, that according to
the practice of the Court, the defendant was entitled to be
discharged upon that order without the payment of costs.
Under these circumstances, his Lordship felt himself bound
to say that the course pursued by the plaintiff was a waiver
of the contempt, and that Mr. Cobbett was entitled to be dis-
charged from the effects of the order of the 11th of June, with-
out the payment of costs. What effect this might have on
the other proceedings he would not say—he would leave it
to Mr. Cobbett to consider that the other order being in force
against him—
Mr. Cobbett was anxious to know whether the order now
pronounced would discharge him out of custody in one suit?
The LORD CIIANCHLLOR said it would not. There was an
end of the order of the 11th of June, and that was all. Several
applications had been made to discharge the order. which
this Court had refused with costs, and those orders were not
affected. The judgment of his Lordship dischared Mr. Cob-
bett from. the contempt, not in consequence of any fault in
the original order, but something that had occurred since.
Mr. Cobbett was liable to the costs of all the other orders.
Mr. WAKEFIELD—He is discharged from the contempt of
the order of the 11th of June.

The LORD CHANCELLOR—Yes, and nothing else.
Upon the application of Mr. Cobbett, he was permitted to
come up again on a future day to move for the discharge of
the other orders.

CLIFFORD V. FURRELL.

The Court then proceeded with the further arguments in
this case, which were not concluded when his Lordship rose,
shortly before two o'clock.

VICE-CHANCERY.-(THIS DAY.)
The Vice-Chancellor of England was occupied the whole
day with causes of no general public interest.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-Cr -t IS DAY.)
(Sittings after Term )
LN RE CHARLES CARUS WILSON-HABEAS CORPUS.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that, in obedience to the
writ of habeas corpus issued in this case,, they had brought
here the body of Mr. Charles Carus Wilson, together with the
return of the cause of commitment, and he prayed that the
return might be read.
The return was then handed in and read, which set forth
the contempt of, and sentence on, the prisoner. After the
return had been read,
The SOLICITOR GENERAL moved that the prisaner be re-
manded. .

Mr. ROEBUCK said that he had a request to make to the
Court under rather extraordinary circumstances. He could
not attach blame to any person, nor did he wish to do so.
He would merely state the facts to the Court. He appeared
there as counsel for Mr. C. Wilson, and the brief in the case
was only put into his hands late ye-tterday evening. Mr.
Kelly and Mr. Peacock, who were Mr. Wilson's counsel,
were engaged in another Court, and, in consequence, they
were unable to attend on the part of Mr. Wilson. He was
then requested to appear for him, and, of course, he could not
refuse to perform his duty. Placed under such circumstances,
and engaged in such an important matter, he prayed for
some time to consider the arguments which had been urged.
He was sure their Loret.hips would feel that he would be
unable to argue the case under such notice as he had received.
Furthermore, the return was now read for the first time. He
had no knowledge of what its contents might be till
the present moment. In another case. in which there had
been a return of a peculiar description—the case of the
Canadian prisoners—time had been given to counsel to con-
sider the return. Lie was even without a junior till the pre-
sent moment, when he understood that Mr. Pearson was in-
structed. He, therefore, hoped the Court would allow him
time, the prisoner having been unhappily left without the
assistance of his two Learned Counsel.

The SOLICITOR-GN:NIRAL said he believed the proper
course for him to take was to move, in the first instance, to
have the return filed.

Lord DENMAN—That cannot be—you are not in Court.
The writ Fas returnable on the 18th of January, and the pro-
ceedings have been delayed till after term. We are now
sitting as a single judge in chamber would, but in a matter
of this importance it was thought right that more than one
judge should sit.
Mr. ROEBUCK—Can an action then be brought till th• re-
turn is filed ?

Lord DRlMAN—Certainly. It is the object of the habeas
corpus that it be proceeded with immediately. The course
is to have the return filed after hearing. With regard to the
application made by the Learned Counsel (Mr. Roebuck), I
own I find it difficult to believe that the Learned Counsel
who were engaged in the early part. of this case would have
left the prisoner, and that they would have deserted him
now. And, with regard to the novelty of the statement,
papers, bearing the signature of the prisoner, and setting out
all the facts, were sent to me most improperly, out of Court,
months ago; and, in fact, there is no surpriss at all, except
with regard to the Learned Counsel now en .aged for the
prisoner.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL--Although Mr. Roebuck has
been but lately instructed, their Lordships were aware that
the return now read was but an echo of the affidavits which
were for maths before the Court.

Mr. ROEBUCK said he did not know anything about that.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAI,—We understand perfectly your
case.

Mr. ROEBUCK—I cannot undertake the case under such
short notice as I have received. That is the difficulty in
which I am placed, from the peculiar circumstances men-
tioned to your Lordships.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL--One of the objections to the
adoption of the course suggested by my Learned Friend is
the great inconvenience and delay that would attend it. Of
course, I have a great disinclination to press on the case,
under the peculiar circumstances mentioned by my Learned
Friend ; but I do hope that some arrangement will be made
which will relieve us from the obligation of keeping the
traverser any longer in prison. With a view to facilitate this
course I have no objection that Mr. Wilson should be ad-
mitted to bail upon his own recognizance, and to appear at
an early period next term.
Mr. Rognucx—My Lords, under the very peculiar circum-
stances of this case I have been instructed to say, that Mr.
Wilson cannot enter into any compromise whatever, and
that he would rather be remanded to the Queen's Bench.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL—But that would he attended with
considerable expense, fur Mr. Wilson has, up to this time,
been maintained in prison at the expense of the Royal Court.
Mr. Wilson here stated to- his counsel that he never was
maintained at the expense of the Royal Court; that he had
borne all the expense himself.

Mr. ROEBUCK—I am instructed, my Lords, that Mr. Wil-
son has borne the expense of maintaining himself all through.
The SOLICITOR. GENERAL--Mr. Wilson has had the prison
allowance; but he chose to indulge in other luxuries, for
which, of course, he had to pay.
➢ir. Wilson—l never received the gaol allowance but the
first day.

Mr. ROEBUCK—I am instructed, my Lords, that the state.
meat of my Learned Friend the Solicitor-General impr•
tact 14 t rekile4t. - •