The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-06 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
ROW 1E _OE LORDS, March 5.
The House sad today to hear Scotch appeals for the first
time during the , present session. The Peers present were the
Lord Chancelk or, L',rd Brougham, and Lord Campbell.

DRIZADIOND V. WOOD AND OTHERS.
This cast, came before their Lordships upon appeal from
the decili, in or the Court of Session. The appellants, as
partners. 'in the Second Fife Bank, brought an action of relief
against, `themselves, and the respondents as having been part-
ners i.n the first Fife Bank, asserting that in the former of
these, capacities they had become creditors of themselves, and
the respondolts in the latter capacity to the extent of
14:14000/. On the action for relief being brought before the
.Lord Ordinary it was dismissed, and that decision being
,sustained in. the Court of Session, the appellants appealed
to this House against that decision.
Mr. Stuart and Mr. Moir appeared as counsel for the
appellants, and Mr. Kelly, Mr. B. Andrews, and.llr. Anderson,
were for the respondents. -
The arguments appear likely to occupy their Lordships
several days.

VIC72-CHANCELLOR' S COURT, March 5.
The V,ice-Chancellor of England did not sit to-day.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
ROME ClRCUlT.—Chelmsford, March 5.

Both Courts this morning proceeded to business, the
Lord Chief JUstice presiding in the Crown Court and
Mr. Baron Alderson presiding at Nisi Prius. Although
there were a number of causes entered on the civil side,
yet, from some of them being referred, and others
breaking down, the list was gone through by one o'clock,
and Mr.. Barrm Alderson then proceeded to try prisoners
in relief of tt/.le business of the Crown side.

(F,efore Lord Chief Justice DENMAN.)
Michael Challis, 19, a groom, was indicted for felo-
niously q2.tting fire to an out-house, the property of
Samuel V 'orter Matthews.
Mr. M arsh conducted the prosecution.
It appeared from the evidence, that the prosecutor
lives at, Hounslow, and the prisoner was in his service.
A sho' rt time before the 18th of December, the prisoner
hadrepresented that he had seen strange persons about
the -premises, and expressed his opinion that there would
be a " a flare up" before long. In consequence of this,
a policeman was sent for to watch the premises, and it
was while he was so engaged, that the fire happened.
Upon the alarm being given, the prisoner was heard to
call out, and he was seen running in a direction from the
fire. The circumstances which led to the suspicion
against the, prisoner, were the contradictory stories that
be told, ar.d also the fact that a piece of linen which the
prisoner made use of to cover his harness, was found to
have.n portion torn from it, and this piece, partly burnt,
awd wrapped round some dry combustible material, was
Ticked up near the out-house that-was burnt. Mr. An-
.derson4the:keeper at Ilford goal, alsoproved that while he
was c•'Jnveying the prisoner for examination before the
magistrates, he told him that he had always borne a good
character, but he was afraid the piece of rag would do for
him. Other circumstances were also adduced, which left
very little doubt of the prisoner's guilt.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE went carefully through the
whole of the evidence, and
The jury, after a very short deliberation, returned a
verdict of Guilty.
The prisoner was sentenced to be transported for
fifteen years, and he left the dock declaring that he
was innocent.

, • (Before Mr. Baron ALDERSON.)
James Boreham, 34, labourer, David Kempton, 28,
labourer, James Kempton, 35, labourer, and Christopher
Wright, 23, alio a labourer, were charged with being
feloniously in a certain close of land, armed with guns,
for the purpose of taking game, and also assaulting the
keepers.
311:-Ryland, with Mr. Rodwell, conducted the prose-
cut;,on, and Mr. Charnock defended the three last men-
tioned prisoners. Boreham pleaded guilty to the charge.
It appeared from the statement of the Learned Coun-
sel, and the evidence that was adduced, that the trans-
action in question.took place upon a piece ~pf land in the
manor of Heron-gate, near Brentwood, and which is in
the ucCupation of Mr.' James, the trustee, who has the
right of shooting, and who employs persons to preserve
the game upon it. On the 4th of January, a man named
Benjamin Kent, who is employed by the prosecutor
to preserve the game, was on the look out, accompanied
by three -other persons, when he heard the report of a
gun. and on their going to the spot, they met the pri-
soners,two-of whom had guns, and upon their endea-
vouring to take them into custody, a violent struggle
took place between the poachers and the keepers, during
which the latter were repeatedly knocked down with
the barrels of the poachers' guns, and were severely
beaten. At length the prisoner Boreham was struck to
the ground by one. of the keepers, and while they were
securing him the others made their escape. They were,
huwever, afterwards taken into custody, and were posi-
tively identified as the parties who were present at the
time the attack was made upon the keepers.
The jury, found all the prisoners Guilty. Sentence
was deferred.

• Ilertford,'March 2.
CIVIL 'SIDE.
(Before Lord Chief Justice DENMAN and a Special Jury.)

ARDEN V. WEEDON.
This cause was commenced on Friday, and did not conclude
until a very late hour on Saturday night. It was an action
brought, by the plaintiff, nominally, to recover damages for
an alleged trespass upon his property, but the real object in
view was to establish a right to prevent the public from pass-
ing. over his property.
Mr. Thesiger, Mr. Sergeant Channell, Mr. Ogle, and Mr.
-Peacock, were for the plaintiff; and Mr. Platt, Mr. Montagu
Chambers, Mr. Willes, and Mr. R. A. Price, were for the de
fendant.

The plaintiff, Colonel Arden, is the owner and occupier of
Rickmersworth Park and the residence attached to it, and
it has been in his possession for some years. It would appear
that theta is a path which was near his house that has been
used for several years by the inhabitants of the neighbour-
hood, and others, to go to some mills in the vicinity ; and it
would seem that this created some annoyance to the plaintiff;
and, acting under advice that the path in question had not
been legally dedicated to the public, he resolved upon clos-
ing it, and preventing persons from making use of it as here-
tofore. The 'inhabitants, however, feeling that they had a
right to this, path as a public way, resolved, at a vestry
meeting, to, assert that right, and the defendant and some
others br °lce down the hedge and other impediments that
had beers placed for prevent the use of the path, and upon that
act the. present action was brought, to try the question of
right.

On the part of the plaintiff it was contended, of course,
that there was no public footpath, and although it was ad-
mitted that persons had for several years been in the habit
of making use of the path, it was only upon sufferance that
they did so, and that there was no legal right of way.
On behalf of the defendant it was urged, that the path had
been, by long usage, dedicated to the public, and that not-
withstanding whatever might have been the original cir-
acumatarices under which the path was used, that by reason
wt. the long period it had been made use of by the public,
their right to pass over it could not now be disputed. To
fpapppr,t this case, a great number of aged persons were called
at wl:cnesses, and they deposed to the fact of having made use
of the path in question for a great number of years without
s any interruption.
The jury, after the Learned Judge had addressed them, re-
turned a verdict for the defendant, thus establishing the
light of the public to the use of the footpath in question.
The commission for the county of Essex was opened to-
day at Chelmsford. As there was a winter gaol delivery in
this county there are very few prisoners for trial, but the
cause list is rather heavy.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
• MANSION-HO USE.
The following singular case was brought before the
Lord Mayor, who very closely investigated all the extra-
ordinary circumstances detailed. Sir John Pixie sat, in
Conjunction with his Lordship.
A-young man of respectable appearance and address
appeared in consequence of the issue of a summons,
calling upon him to answer the complaint of a widow
lady of the name of May.
Mr. Bozon briefly stated the heads of the complaint:
He said he appeared as solicitor on behalf of Mrs. May,
the widow of the late Captain James May, of the Diana,
in support of a charge against the defendant, who was
chief mate .of that vessel. In the month of March,
1843, the Diana was homeward bound, and within sight
of the island of Ascension, when suddenly; at a late
Period of the evening, the report of a pistol was heard
on deck from the captain's cabin. The second mate im-
raediately.proceeded thither to ascertain the cause of it,
and on the way met the defendant coming from his
cabin, which was next to that of' the captain. They
went together to the . captain's cabin, and found Captain
May lying dead, and a pistol by his head, the bullet
from which had evidently passed through his head,.
Next* day, by order of the defendant, the body of Capt.
May was buried in the sea, and the defendant then pro--
posed to the crew to take the Diana to St. Helena,
although she was actually within sight and within
twelve or fourteen hours' sail of the island of Ascension.
The crew did not relish the proposition, but the defend-
ant gave a peremptory order to that effect, and the
vessel was accordingly steered towards St. Helena,
where, upon her arrival, he disposed of all Captain
May's property. For that property, which was conside-
rable, the defendant had not accounted to the widow, whose
shock, upon hearing of the awful catastrophe, was extreme,
and left traces upon her mind and appearance which
marked her as an object of great commisseration. About
a fortnight after the ship had reached St. Helena a
further calamity occurred. An explosion took place in
the after-part of the ship, and the captain's cabin, and
sae greater portion of the after-part of the vessel was
destroyed. That explosion also destroyed the life of
the unfortunate steward, who was at the time in the part
which was blown up. The defendant had just previously
gone ashore. Here was a case which, in the opinion of
Mr. Bozon, was one of no light or fantastic suspicion. He
considered that the defendant ought to have proceeded
on the home bound voyage instead of goin,g back to
St. Helena ; and the intention in taking the vessel to
tha. place could not have been other than fraudulent,
particularly as she was within so short a distance
of the island of Ascension, to which it was the duty of
the defendant to convey the remains of the captain. He
therefore charged the defendant, that by taking the ship
to St. Helena,' in sight' of the island of Ascension, where
he ought to have deposited-the body of his captain, he
feloniously took possession of Captain May's property,
and by disposing of that property at St. Helena, and
afterwards producing to the widow false accounts, he
conunmitted a larceny on the high seas.
John Christy said—l was 'a seaman on board the
Diana, Captain May, in March last. We were
making our passage for England, off Ascension Island,
when, one evening about half-past nine o'clock, the
'second mate heard a noise in the cabin like the report of
a pistol. Ile asked the men who had the look out what
it was ? And he then went down, and he said he met the
defendant outside his own cabin, and he and the defend-
ant went into the captain's cabin, and observed smoke
there, and saw the captain lying; shot through the head.
I went down, and saw him lying, with a wound through
his temples. I saw- the pistol there; I afterwards looked ,
through the sky-light andsaW the defendant lying by the I
side of the body. The second mate begged the defen-
dant not to lie alongside of the body. Next day, about