The Sun.
London, England, 1810-08-10 00:00:00

IRISH CHANCERY, JULY 24.

W. KEATING, JOHN LALOR, AND JAMES HARVEY,
ESQ)IS. AGAINST RICHARD SPARROW, OF CLONMEL,

ONk: OF THE FRIENDS, &C.

The decision in this cause has excited, much
servation amongst the Irish Bar, and must produce
serious consequences to'the 'landed r,:sident interest
of Ireland.

Mr. Keating., the principal plaintiff, has long pos-
sessed the valuable estate of Derryluskm, in the coun-
ty Tipptitrary, under the title of lives renewable for
ever, at a low rent, and the small renewable fine Of
i 51. u; o 9 the fall of each life.

Mr. Sparrow, the defendant, has 'acquired the•
.
right to the head rents and several fines, and, upon
the fall of one of the three lives, he demanded• the
fine from Mr. licking. The latter, .not feeling
that so small a sum was any object, and not
.sus-
pecting that his.Jandlord speculated upon a for-
feiture, neglected to pay the tine.. Mr. Sparrofv,
brought his Attorney, Mr. I. Labarte, to witness a
demand made,and to Make a written minute of
it—he then filed a bill, in Chancery, to. perpetuate.
the evidence of this dernaml. The tenant, Mr.
Keating, being at "length awakened to his danger,
and desirous to retrieve his inattention. tendered the
line with the usual ' interest, to Mr. Sparrow.—
The latter nitAv refused to receive it—alleging that
the life in question bad fallen.three years ago---that
nine months had elapsed since the demand was made,
that the tender is now too late—that he (Mr. Spar-
row) has acquired advantage over his tenant, in point
of from, by the carelessness of the latter--and that
he insists upon his strict right to have his 'tenant's
interest henceforth cousideted as only a lease of
two lives, instead of d perpetuity as heretofore it
had been.

Keating filed this 'bill against Mr. Sparrow,
praying that Mr. Sparrow should accept the fine,
and usual interest, insert a hew life, and permit
his estate to be.preserved to hint. The estate had
been settled several years ago, upon the occasion
of Mr. Keoting's tuariiiige, whereby he was made
tenant for life, with retwinder to the issue, re-
, tuainder to himself absolutely ; but Charged with a
eerta;n jointure fur Mrs. Keating,' his wife, who
is still living. For this reason, therefore, the trus-
tees of the. marriage settlement,. Messrs. Lalor and

y,were necessarily- ina.!e ilainsiiri with :Vir

KeaIIJ

It was argued for the plaintiffs„that Mr. Spar-
row was bound in equity and honour to renew thi3
lease—that'nofraud could.be imputed to thetenaiit
—nothing Eityand mere inattention and carelessness.
It is the province" of Courts of Equity to relit;ve
against .-lapse of ti'me,‘ and eSp;:cially in cases of
forfeiture--:hat here the amount at the fine was
too insignificant to atford a piesumption against the
tenant—nor can the landlord.complain of the v;ith-
holding the sum of 151. for a few 4.ionths as a se-
rious injury, or -as warranting so rionous a pro-
ceeding. Estates of this deseription:haie always
been highly' favoured and prote:led in Ireland.
Great- properties are held by similarlenures, under ,
the Duke of Ormond, and other great proprietors.
There, had existed. in the Irish Courts an; immerno,-•
vial local equity in favour, of 'such tenants, and
for their•protettion against harshness: 'This equity
has certainly discountenanced all captious and erat=
ty objections to granting renewals' upon, etiuitablO
terms, and treateyt the patties, as having originally
contracted in substance fora perpeti,al' interest, al
bound in conscience to
,act upon that principle, as
foregoing all idea. of re-assumption, and as, having
no subject of adjustment thereatier remaining,
save the mere quantum of Occasional fines and
interest. Even Lord LitTord, an English Chan-
cellor, was so impressed wish :" this hical equity,
its solid foUndation, and the sound public_ policy
of sustaining the tenant's right in a couniry crcum-
Stanced as Ireland is, that he uniformly recognized
and aced upon it to the fulle4 extent, as in Mtn—.
ray v. Bateman, and'many o(het cases. That this
attempt by Mr. SILT ow, if snccesstul, will throw-
much landed property'in - Ireland into -serious un-
'ceriainty and hazard, and
.c,insequently depreciate,
tbe 'value ot. estates of this uatute, perbaps by tniit
or two years rate orpurehase. • • '
:

. ,
One ii;e only has dropped. \ ,Two stiirremain, awl
yet the detenoant contends for 'as abiolute a tigtes-
tore by the unal:t,. anti as severe an indiction, as in
the most traudalent, and wanton case that c.an be.
devised.

To prevent this injustice; the present suit was
deemed necessary, on the pait of Mr. Keating, as
*ell as of his wife and
-The defendant, Mr. Span-ow,. by his Conn:el,
iii answer,. insisted upon the leiter of his coveliant,
and stood upon his strict right. He admitted it to
be a new case, and that no direct decision has hither-
to carried the doCtrine against. the Irish tenantry 50:
far, as
.was sought in tln instaPce.—Howeker, tt
'was.tneved to the attempt from what felt front
Lord Redesdale, in deciding the cause of Jai:l.:son
V. Saunders, in 18. 4. In that case, his Lindship
was
.pleased to say, that if a case, circumstanced
like the i,r.sent case, were to come before him, he
would decide upon it against the tenant. Mr. Spar-
row therefore relied upon the authoritj, of hi;
Lordship, ,as final and 'conclusive in the present
,case.

Lord MANNERS recapitulated the several fa6l4
alreidy , stated, adopted aft the arguments. ea
Mr. Sparrow's- behalf, coincided to Lord Redes-
dale's notions upon tbe subject, and considerea
the old Irish equity as entitleu to no eight in the
case.

He treated these covenants as subjees of rigid
construaion ; and, however harsh the nature or
grounds of the landlord's condo& might be, yrt
he would give him the full benefit of ffis tqiranl
negl,4l or innattvntion, ‘yhetner or acct'
dental.—He therefore -dismissed the bill in tot°,
bath as to Mr. Keating and the trustees of to
marriage settlement kb), which the intended provi-
sion for hi, wife. and children is defeated) ; b., t,
this is the first case reaching to so serious an 0:-
rent, he declared that he would nut give-costs apiost
Mr. Keating.,

• -
Thus it valuable estate unexpeaedly. lalls into
the hantls of Mi. Sparrow, ex, wait( upoit the
fall -of the two. surviving lives, faCil zdvniued
in years.

An appeal • was immediately lodged againt
decree, The result will be looked tor with uu
common anxiety.

.
A boy, now serving on board. the Centaur, ha` an
exact likeness of his Majesty on the side of hisrue:R•
It is said to have bt:en caused by his mother,
pregnant, repeatedly looking at an old pidure
Majesty, which hung'in the room.
Wednesday night, about ten o'cloCk, as a gentle
man of Seven 'Oaks, Kenu; was pasiing through
Red Lion-street, Vhitechapel, he was hustled and .
knocked down by three pickpockets, who robbed
him of his jewelled watch, gold chain, and seals.