The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-11 00:00:00

LENT ASSIZES.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—YORK, APRIL 7.
DODSWORTH, &C. 27. INGHAM.
Sir JAs. SCARLETT (who was specially retained
on the part of the plaintiff) stated the case. Tile
question which the Jury would have to determine
was, whether there existed a custom within the soke
or manor of Wakefield, which bound all persons re-
sident within that manor to have their corn ground
at the soke-mill. The right claimed by the plaintiff
was of very ancient origin, and depended on the
same law as regulated the right to other descriptions
of property. It had been erected by the lord of the
manor, who in granting lands had stipulated that
the tenant should- do suit and service to the mill as
past of the condition of the grant—just as a brewer
of the present day was in the habit of inserting
clause in the lease of a public-house, by which he
hound the tenant to purchase beer only from Ins
landlord's brewery. The questions raised on the
present issue were two, both embracing the general
question of the right,but one raising a question whether
the defendants lived within the district of the soke.
Both these questions had been tried at the spring As-
sizes for 1826, and a verdict found for the plaintiffs;
but in the course of that inquiry a question, not con-
templated by eitherparty, had arisen on the part of the
Learned Judge,viz. whether one of the four mills with-
in the soke, viz. the mill called Sandal Mill, had been
originally a soke mill, or whether it had been erect-
ed by the lord of the manor, in modern times, as an
auxiliary mill to the others. - The consequence had
been, that a new trial had been directed, and two

issues sent down for their decision. As he had al-
ready adverted to it, he would take the second issue
first. That issue was to determine whether the
mill at Sandal Magna was an ancient mill. The
other issue was to determine whether, although it
was admitted that the inhabitants of the soke were
bound to grind all corn used and consumed within
their houses at the lord's mill, they might not pur-
chase for domestic use flour that 11;4 not been
ground at the lord's mill. That was an important
question, for the very existence of the mills de-
pended upon it. The plaintiffs contended, that
though the persons resident within the soke might
if they pleased, prefer buying flour to buying corn,
still they were bound to buy flour that had been
ground at the lord's mill. The evidence which he
(Sir J. Scarlett) should offer would show, that
whenever an infraction of the right had been disco-
vered, proceedings had invariably been taken against
the offenders, and they had always submitted and
paid a fine. Another description of evidence would
be the manner in which evasions of the right had
been carried on. He should show, that whenever
corn had been ground out of the soke, it had been
furtively, without the knowledge of the proprietors
of the
A great deal of documentary evidence was then
read. It consisted of the records of suits instituted
in the Court of the. Duchy of Lancaster, against
persons who had violated the right of soke, and de-
crees in favour of the custom. _ _ _

A large body of witnesses was also called, who
deposed to the invariable custom within their memory,
of the inhabitants of the manor of Wakefield using
the mills within the soke. They also spoke to in-
stances
of the violation of that custom, but described
those instances to have been effected privately, and
by stealth.
The examination of the witnesses lasted nearly
the whole of the day.
Mr. BROUGHAM addressed the Jury for the de-
fendants.—The right'that day claimed by the plain-
tiffs was one which was to have the effect of restrain-
log and tying up the hands of every man within the
soke, whether wealthy or poor, from purchasing the
very first necessary of life any where except at the
shop or mills of Sir W. Pilkington, and where he
sold his flour at any price he chose to value it
at, and that without any restriction whatever. If
such a custom was to be allowed, no inhabitant of
the soke could purchase one ounce of flour for
his consumption, unless ground at the soke-mills;
nay, he could not purchase even a loaf of bread,
a cake, or a glass of beer, unless the flour and
malt were ground at these mills. Surely this was
what his Learned Friend reluctantly called a mono-
poly—a common monopoly, he would say, of the
very worst description, and which the plaintiffs now
sought to perpetuate. His Learned Friend said that
in times of scarcity, the inhabitants of the seke would
reap the benefit of the sokesmills, that they would
be always sure of a supply of corn, as the custom
would then bend to the necessity, and foreign flour
would be permitted to be introduced into the soke,
and that they would be supplied on reasonable terms.
But he ( Mr. Brougham) would contend that a period
of scarcity was the moment when the miller of this
soke-monopoly would raise the price of flour to the
very highest, and that was the moment when the
poorer inhabitants of the soke would be at the mercy
of the monopolists. He submitted that never before
was there heard of such a custom as was now sought
to be put upon the inhabitants of the soke, set up.
It was not in human nature that a man would give
up his chief right, and fight and stipulate for the
lesser. He had heard of a birthright being sold for
a mess of porrage, but the plaintiffs would have
them here believe that the defendants had given up
their birthright, and did not even stipulate for a
single spoonful of porrage. He contended, that
under all the circumstances it would be a gross
absurdity to suppose that any set of men could have •
ever agreed to subject themselves to such a custom,
—one which imposed so much hardship upon them,
and entailed so much injury upon the poorer part of
their community. The Learned Counsel, in con-
clusion, addressed himself to the documentary evi-
dence, and contended that the plaintiffs had altoge-
ther failed in showing this to be an immemorial
right, but much less to be a right at all.
The Learned Counsel having concluded his
speech at a quarter to ten o'clock, the Court then
adjourned until this morning at eight o'clock.
Mr. Justice BAILEY took his seat on the bench at

that hour, and summed up the case most minutely.
At 12 the jury retired, and after an absence of eight
hours and a half, they returned into Court, finding a
verdict for the defendants; they finding that there
was no custom within the soke to prevent the inha-
bitants from purchasing the flour they consumed
xvithin the soke wherever they pleased. The jury
also found that there was a custom to prevent the
inhabitants of the soke from selling any flour within
the soke except that ground at the soke mills.

On Monday last Admiral Sir WILLIAM
JOHNSTON E HOPE was re-elected Member of Parliament for
the county of Dumfries.

GRAND BALL AT THE ROTUNDA.—Last
night the Grand Ball, under the immediate patronage of
the Ladies PAGET, in aid of the funds for the Relief of
Sick and Indigent Room-keepers, took place at the Ro-
tunda. At nine o'clock the great room, fitted up with
great splendour, was graced by upwards of 808 of the
most distinguished for rank and fortune in the metropolis
and surrounding country. At ten o'clock his Excellency,
the Marquis of ANGLESEY arrived, we understood unex-
pectedly. The Ladies PAGET had arrived a short time
previously to their noble father. The dance was opened
by Lady GEOAGIANA PAGET, and the Honourable Captain
GRAvEs—Quadrilles were the order of the night. Two
excellent hands were in attendance. The Noble Marquis
retired at twelve o'clock. The Ladies PAGET remained
up to one, when they also retired.—Dublin Morning Post.

Saturday night, as Mr. Justice BURROUGH
was proceeding to town in his carriage from Kingston,
after finishing the home circuit, the portmanteau, which
was fixed behind, and which contained, besides several do-
cuments and papers of importance, his Lordship's gown
and wig, was cut from its fastenings by some of the " drags-
men" who lurk about the ro ids in the environs of London.
The robbery was not discovered until the arrival of the
Learned Judge's carriage in town. The following morn-
ing, the r‘ ad between the Baldfaced St ig and the Plough,
near Wandsworth, was strewed with the fragments of his
Lordship's gown, which the thieves cut up into small
pieces, and dropped at intervals on the road. The wig
shared a similar fate, some portion of which was stuck on
spikes by the road side. The empty portmanteau was dis-
covered in a field near the spot where the thieves are sup-
posed to have cut it from the carriage.

JUNCTION OF SOMERS AND CAMDEN
TowNs.—On Thursday a meeting was held at the Marquis
of Hastings, in Ossulston-street, Somers Town, of persons
interested in forming a straight line of road from Ossuls-
ton-street to Camden Town. Roads have already been
formed across the fields from Seymour:.street and Union-
street, and the ar:vantages to he expected from a similar
communication from Ossulston-street were set forth at
some length by Mi. PORTINGTON, the surveyor. The
expenct Of the undertaking was estimated at between 4001.
and 5001. It was stated that the consent of the Duke of
BEDICORD, proprietor of part of the land, had already been
obtained ; and a deputation was appointed to wait upon
the Brewer's Company, proprietors of other portions of the
land, to solicit their acquiescence. Resolutions in further-
ance of the object in view having been adopted, and a
Committee appointed to carry them into effect, the Meet-
ing adjourned.

MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE.—A short
time ago, as Mr. JACKSON, a respectable farmer of Wat-
terton, near Garthorpe, Lincolnshire, was riding home
from Doncaster, when about a quarter of a mile from his
farm, he was suddenly attacked by two men. One of the
villains struck him a severe blow on the head, with a heavy
bludgeon ; the effects of the weapon, however, were ren-
dered comparatively ineffective by the interposition of his
bat. Although stunned and confused, so much so as, on
his arrival at his own dwelling, scarcely to be sensible of
the danger be had avoided, Mr. J. escaped through the
spirit of his horse, which started off with him in alarm at
the scuffle, and carried him in safety to his own door. A
day or two after, in a ploughed field by the road side, be-
tween Garthorpe and Holdenby, immediately contiguous
to the spot where the attr ck had been made, a grave was
discovered, about six feet in length, closed up with thorns
and moulds !—Hall Packet.