The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-09 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ROLLS' COURT, Dtc. S.
ATToRNEY-GENERAL v. MAYOR OF BERWICK".

The MASTER. of the ROLLS gave judgment. This
was an information filed by the Attorney-General,
at the instance of certain inhabitants of the town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the defendants were the
Corporation of that place. The information prayed
that certain conveyances might be established, that
the revenues of the lands transferred by them be de-
clared by them applicable to charitable purposes, and,
if necessary, that a commission be appointed to
ascertain the particular boundaries of the lands in
question. Both indentures of conveyance were made
in 1653. the trust in one of them, which conveyed
Grange Barn Mill, was for the erection and uphold-
ing of a House of Correction, and for the rrainte-
trance of the poor, in consideration of a sum cf 501.
given for these purposes by Sir Robert Jackson, a
native of Berwick. The second conveyance was of
the same date as the first, and included the lands of
Grange Barn Mill, Claywalls, and Burrs, or Aller
Bush, which were set apart for the accomplishment
of the above purposes. This conveyance was made
in consideration of 330/. " driest° the poor." No
doubt this sum, like that given by Sir Robert Jack-
son, had been allotted by individuals for charitable
uses, and must be taken to belong also to the poor.
'fire conveyances were made to the churchwardens
and overseers of the poor and their successors for
ever. In ordinary cases these terms would rot cause
the parties to take a legal fee, because the church-
wardens and overseers were not a corporation. A
conveyance of lands to certain individuals " and
their successors for ever" did not create a le-
gal fee, without the introduction of the word
" heirs." But in the ease of a charity the
Court would not adhere strictly to the form, but
would assume the creation of a legal fee, and that
the lands were conveyed for charitable uses " for
ever." Thus, then, the revenues of the lands were
secured to the poor of the place, allowing the money
to remain in the coffers of the corporation. The
Court must therefore declare the trusts in the two
conveyances to be established as trusts for chari-
table purposes. The question arose to what cha-
ritable uses were these revenues to be appropriated
Generally speaking, gifts for the use of the poor
were not to be taken as in aid of the poor's rates,
for, as had been observed, that would be, in fact,
to turn the gift to the benefit of the rich. But the
town of Berwick-upon-Tweed riot having taken the
benefit of the Act of Elizabeth relative to poor's
rates at the date of these conveyances, nor indeed
subsequently till the year 1729, these gifts must be
taken to be in aid of the poor's rates. The corpo-
ration had continued to apply the revenues of
25 acres of land in aid of the poor's rates down to
the present time. Were these the whole 'of the
lands contemplated in the two conveyances ? It
appeared from the evidence that they were not—
that the 25 acres did not comprise the lands known
as " the Burrs." The Court must declare that
Grange Barn Mill, and 25 acres, together with the
lands called " the Burrs," now let to a person
named Lang, were conveyed by the indentures of
1653, for the erection of a house of correction, and
for the maintenance of the poor, and it must decide
that tire revenues were applicable in aid of the poor's-
rates, and were therefore to be paid by the de-
fendant to the churchwardens for that purpose. The
Court referred it to the Master to take an account
of the rents which had accrued, due -since 1823,
when the lands were claimed for the poor. The
Master would ascertain what part of. the property
let to Lang properly came under the denomination
of " the Burrs," and distinguish it from the neigh-
bouring " low lands." The rents between the two
could then be justly apportioned. The Court gave
the relators their taxed costs as between solicitor and
client against the defendants, the extra costs to be
paid out of the charity funds. The Court reserved
further directions and costs.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Drc. 8.
MARZETTI V. WILLIAMS AND OTHERS.
Mr. MESMER opened the pleadings. The de-
fendants pleaded the general issue.
Mr. BROUGHA3I stated that the plaintiff, Mr. Mar-
zetti, was a respectable wine-merchant, and also a
ship and insurance-broker, in the city of London.
The defendants were the members of the house of
Williams, Deacon, and Co., bankers, in Birchin-
lane. On the evening of the 17th of December in
the last year, there was a balance of his in their
hands to theamount of 691. 19s. 6d. At eleven

o'clock the next morning a sum of 40/. was paid in
to Mr. Marzetti's account, in a Bank of England
note. Thus, therefore, the balance was increased

on the morning of the 18th of December to 1091.
I9s. 6d. In the course of that day two cheques,
drawn by Mr. Marzetti in favour of different persons,
were presented at the defendant's house for pay-
ment. One of them for 201., was• honoured, and

there was then left a balance of 891. odd to Mr.