The Sun.
London, England, 1817-11-28 00:00:00

11. INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CE-lASCERY. Nov. 27.

J ÜbGNI EN r—LEGITINItitY.

GORDON V. GORDON.

ItoaDCitaNcELLoa gave indkinent. In this
t
lei* pending entise. It was en appeal from the
-deeCre of The Master-of the Rolls, and the point,
at isitot, was, whether a son could he competent
to examine his mother as to his legitiMacy or. il-
legitTmacy, ,and also as to whether he was
Competent to eamine her as to . a marriage
as:thiCh had antecedently taken place to the pro-
dnction of a 'certificate of what be the stir might ,
call a second marriage. His Lordship went at great
length, and' with consummate ability, into the
whole of.th-4'facts of the case, and expatiated upon,
the A arions diffieulties, that arose with, respect to it.
The rule of law, his Lordship said, sva,:, that it a
'person had been guilty of negligence, by should
Dot be entitled to the benefit of evidence taken
'de bene esse, as 'prayed for in the present instance.
Thei question here, therefore, was, had the deferi-
dmit been guilty of !lost negligence ? After going
over.the Various parts of the evidence adduced, and
adve'rtingtO•the proceedings that had taken place
in the Courts of Scotland, his Lordship conclUded
bratiirniing the Decree of the Master of the Rolls,
declaring, that there was not the least reason to
be dissatisfied with it.

Mr. Wtt.LlAms Called the attention of his Lord-
trbip to the state of the witness before her decease,
as confirmed by the affidavit of one of her neigh-
bours.

The Lot if) CHANCBLLOR-.—" I halte read the.
papers with the greatest attention, anti the Decree
is quite satisfactory."

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.

114 CK DWARF-SPECIAL JURIES.

THE KING:V.'THOMAS JONATHAN WOOLER.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL appeared at the Sit-

• of the, Court_ this Morning, to sbew cause
against the rule obtained lam week by Mr.,WooleC,
for sheaving cause why the list of persons named
by his Majesty's Coroner and Attoruey. to .form
the Jnry on the trial of the defendant, fora libel
published in The Black Dwarf, should.not be can--
celled,' on the
,ground of such persons hating been
improperly, illegally; and partially selected by the
said, Coroner and Attorney, and why the Sheriffs
of the City of London should.not again attend

the said Coroner and Attorney, with the hook
'or list of Persons qualified to serve on Juries
within the said City, for the purpose 4).f 'forty-
eight persons being named, out of wlrorb a Jury
might be formed for the trial of the said "Informa-
tion. The Learned Attorney observed, that this rule
having been obtained upon the affidavits of the
defendant, his Solicitor', and theklerk of the latter,
it had-become irecessary—on the 'part of the pro-
secution to cause affidavits • ttrbe made in answer
to the, circumstances therein stated • and it would
be for the Court to say, whether they %void(' di-
rect the affidavits otrboth 'sides to be read by *the

Officer of the Court, or whether he gh(iultlhim-

bat. bring tinder the notice of their Lordships the
- *material. citeurnsrances on both sides, offering,
ii,r;gutnrnts as he went along, as should
Tear-to him sufficient to discharge the Role which
bad he;•ti granted.

Lord ELLP.NR6iIOUGU, after conferrilit with ltis
'Brerbren,; said it [night be (Dore convenient if till
On? ffidavit s were read seriatim by the Officer, be-
fore the Aft6iit4-General offered argumenti upon
their effect.
•Aecordingly Mr.l[3l%,kr..T.RY, jun. assistant to his
'father in the Office of Clerk rif the Rules .of the
Crown Side Of the Court, proceeded to read the
affidavit's of Me'.-'l,rooler, Mr. Pearson, and Mr.

• I
Nixon, the cre.rts'of the latter, in support of the
tarot inti ; but as We stated the substance and effect
of-these doentnentS in our Report of the original
*notion in last Saturday's SO:, it is unnecessary
now to repeat their contents, as they were reterred
to in the affidavits now offered on,the part of the
Crown. The Officer then proceeded. to read the
Crown affidavits.
The first was the affidavit' of trlintrd' Henry Lushington,
Esq. the liing's Coronet and Attorney, and Mailer of the
Crown Office, which stated that the deponent had attended at
the Crown Office on the 26th of June last, for the purpose of
,nominating 48 persons to form the pannel, from which a
Special Jury should be chosen to try the information filed
by the Attorney-General against the defendant„Thos. Jona-
Ciao Wieder. On that eceasion the Secondary of the Sheriff's
: ()thee of the City of London appeared before hint,", and pro-
duced a honk containing the names of persons. in the City of
London qualified to sit on Special ..furies, and from which
' such Juries had always been selected, as deponent was in-:
formed and beliel'ed, in addition to his own practice in his
said Office of Coroner. That the person by whom such book
was produced, also tendered certain •lists,. purporting to be.
the lists of persons resident in the different wards of the City
of London, qualified to serve on,Comumn and Special Juries
!geriralk, in the said City, and that the said persdn tendered
,these lists and book to deponent for the purpose of Maini-
,natiog the Special Jury in question, as he should think right
;and proper-for that ;ppose. The defendant and his attorney
beiog pr!sent on this occasion, some conversation arose re-
specting. the prd"Priety of naming. the Jury from the said hook
solely wiwo deponent suggested, I hat in order to avoid all
"objectinn;it wwile be Netter to reject the said book, and no-
-minate the Jury eschtsively from the said lists;. and under-
standina that there ..04 no opposition: to this course, he pro-
ceeded to nominate the said Jury acc6ording to his accustomed
'practice since he.had been in the office. That soon after de-
•pfimon's aliontinent to the office of Master of the Crown
,Office, in July, ts,7, he was informed that the usual mode
adopted by his pre,,:re.,sors, of nominating forty-eight per-
sons, as to serve on the trial of ii,ues
(Mid-
dlesex and the Cite of Lohdon, arils to take the names of
'Esquires or •Nfeleilants, as the case might Ile, from the le4sk
In books furnished Ify the Sheriffs for the comity or city re-
epeetively, containing the names of such, oceseos as were
'quatified.fil serve oh such .TurieS. That this deponent, since
„his apimintment, had uniformly adhered tO the same prac-
tice nominating Esquires Or -MerOants, according to
the velure in which the case was appointed for trial.
,That'deponent's mode -of filing upon the names of. persons
lo.be noolinated, was to place his pen within each leaf of the
book or lists subukiped to him.• and fix -epon the names- of
•such personS as were qualified either as :Merchants or-Es-
t-ail:es, as his pen should happen' indifferently to light upon,
tnd nominate such persons accordingly,: and that be had /old
the defendant ami•his-solicitor that such was his usual prac-
tice. That the defieolan:t and his sqlieitoennust have inistme

derstood 'the i.xpre'ssions nscd by' deponent relative to the
ananner in which lie had isern.accustOmed to noriiirate Spe-
cial Juries, inasmiich,,as .they 'oust heill heCri• fully await,
from what; he then stated to them and.fi;oni what actually
-occurred *under /heir own ofy;erva,q,ni,',that he toot: the
names incliffe-ret4lv of siictr,p,errsons tipiiit which his'pen
veiled to right. 'flint this wilt occordieglyttie7mode adopt-
qep;,..iiklit on :that occasion—d criulc which had never
ht:,eii O,T:A h% forin'or oar!tshin know-
t ci7(lo itlzhatt l'req ue aLoccasicia to lookthrougil
twiny pages of the: sts submitted to him, in order to fnui
initmoefirtatifia—rs—mefchiints to serve on such Jury, such
fixts h-it; the hl f persous yo:slificit to serve on Common
Mgt spre,,xl .1464.*•byTea'soif of cvirich'eiriMinstance he was
oblie•ed to pAil.ii-teer -widny not being 7a,/>le to (Ind any
person answering the description of merchants therein