The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-26 00:00:00

i

LAW INTELLIGENCE--;(THIS DAY.)

COURT OF CHANCERY.
SINGULAR APPLICATION FOR THE COMMITTAL OF Mg.
RAINSFORD, ONE OF THE REGISTRARS OF TO

COURT OF CHANCERY, FOR CONTEMPT.

Mr. Duncan Campbell appeared this morning
at the sitting of the Court, to support the petition
which was presented to the Lord Chancellor on hie
behalf, by Mr. Bligh, praying for the committal of
Mr. Rainsford, for a contempt in drawing up en
order, which the petitioner alleges had never been
made by the Court.
The petition is of a most singular nature, the fol.
lowing of which is a copy :
To the Right Honourable John Singleton Baron Lyn,'"
burst, of Lyndhurst, in the County of Southampton,
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain,
The humble Petition of Duncan Campbell
Sheweth—That your Petitioner bath been confined is
his Majesty's Prison of the Fleet ever since the 12th day
of May, 1827, by virtue of an alleged order purporting
to have been made by your Lordship on that day, in the
words and figures, or to the effect following, and which
was drawn, passed, and entered, by or with tI4 privity,
consent, or approbation of Thomas Raynsford, Esq., one
of the Deputy Registrars of this Honourable Court :--
" Lord Chancellor.—Saturday, the twelfth day of May,
in the Bth year of the reign of his Majesty King
George the Fourth, 1827. Between Thomas Pope
Smith, since deceased, and Mary his wife, Plaintiff.
Duncan Campbell Defendant.
" The defendant being this day brought to the Bar °I
this Court by virtue of a Writ of Habeus Corpus cull'
causis, directed to the Sheriff of Middlesex, in order to
be turned over to the Fleet Prison, and Mr. Treslove, of
Counsel for defendant, now moving this Court that the
defendant might be turned over to the Prison of the Fleet,
it is thereupon ordered that the defendant be turned over
to the Prison of the Fleet, and to remain there until be
shall fully answer the plaintiff's bill, clear his contenaPt,
and this Court make further order to the contrary.
" (L. S.) Entd. I. R. " I. A. R."
That your Petitioner humbly submits to your LordshiP
he shall be able to show that such alleged order was never
pronounced by your Lordship or his Honour, the Via-
, Chancellor.

That your Lordship, on the 11th day of December,
1828, on the motion of Mr. Bligh, of Counsel for your
Petitioner, made an order that your Petitioner might be sS
liberty to draw up, pass, and enter nunc pro tune an Order
made on the said 12th day of May, 1827, by his Honour
the late Vice-Chancellor, Sir Anthony Hart, that your
Petitioner might be transferred from the custody of the
Sheriff of Middlesex to the custody of the Officer of the
Court of Chancery, meaning to remain charged with the
matters and things with which he stood charged in the
custody of the Sheriff of Middlesex; but by no means W
confess himself guilty.
That your Lordship, on the sth day of the said month
of December, made an Order, directing that an Order en-
tered in the Minute-book, to the following effeet Lord
Chancellor, 12th May, 1827, Campbell—Tresloye, for
defendant, moves for habeas corpus. CUR. Let the writ
issue as prayed"—should be entered up nunc pro tunc.
That in making this application to your Lordship, your
Petitioner has no view of being liberated from the cus-
tody of the Warden of the Fleet, further than from being
held in custody by virtue of the said alleged Order, pur-
porting to have been made by your Lordship ; and humbly
represents to your Lordship, as he has frequently informed
the said Warden, that he came into his custody by virtue
of the Order pronounced by the said Vice-Chancellor, Sit
Anthony Hart, as above stated.
That whenever such order of the 'Vice-Chancellor shall
be drawn up, and your Petitioner shall be considered held
by the Warden of the Fleet, by virtue of such order, your
Petitioner will avail himself of the order made by your
Lordship on the 12th day of May, 1827, for a Habeas
under the Statute, when your Lordship was pleased to say
that your Petitioner was entitled to the same, not as a mat-
ter of favour, but as a matter of right.
That your Petitioner trusts he shall be able to sheW
your Lordship that the Sheriff of Middlesex had made a
false return, inasmuch as he represented your Petitioner W
have been taken and detained by him for an adjudged con-
tempt, whereas your Petitioner firmly believes that the
said Sheriff was directed, or ought to have been directed►
only to take your Petitioner for an alleged contempt, and
which it might have been competent for your Petitioner to
call upon his accuser to prove, or for your Petitioner to
chew that he was not guilty.
'f hat your Petitioner humbly submits to your Lordship
the great principle of British law, that every person shall
be considered innocent antille shall have been found guilty.
That the said Thomas Raynsford refused to draw up
the said two Orders so made and pronounced by your
Lordship, in the month of December last.

PRAYER : —Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays
your Lordship that the said Order made by the Vice-Chan-
cellor on the 12th day of May, 1827, may be entered in
the minute book if it has not been already entered.
And that the said Order made by your Lordship as
above-stated, on the 11th day of December last, directing
the Order so made by his Honour to be drawn up nurse
pro tune, be forthwith drawn up, passed, and entered.
And that the said alleged Order purporting to have
been made by your Lordship on the 12th day of May►
1827, as above recited, be expunged from the Records of
the Court.

And that the said Deputy Registrar, Thomas Rapt"
ford, may be committed to his Majesty's Prison of the
Fleet, for his contempt in drawing up the said alleged
Order, purporting to have been made by your Lordship,
when, in truth, the only Order relating to your Petitioner
made by your Lordship on the said 12th day of Mayo
1827, was that a Habeas Corpus should issue for your
Petitioner at his own personal request.
And also, for his further contempt in refusing to draw
up the said two Orders of the sth and 11th days of De-
cember, 1828, whereby your Lordship ordered the afore•
said two Orders of the 12th day of May, 1827, to be drawn
np nunc pro tune.
And that the Order made by your Lordship, on the sth
day of December last, directing the Order made by your
Lordship on the 12th day of May, 1827, to be entered
nunc pru Mac, be forthwith drawn up, passed, and entered.
And that your Lordship will be pleased to order that
the Warden of the Fleet do tttend with the body of your
Petitioner in Court on the day your Lordship may sPe"
daily appoint for hearing this his petition, and that the
said Deputy Registrar do at the same time attend with his
minute-books of the 12th day of May, 1827, and the sth
and 11th days of December, 1828.
And your Petitioner further humbly prays that your
Lordship, in consideration of his peculiar situation, will
he pleased specially to appoint Friday next, the 26th dal
of June, for the hearing of this petition ;
_ .

And your Petitioner shall ever pray.
The LORD CHANCELLOR observed, that Mr•
Campbell had been brought into this Court by hi
ow•n desire.

Mr. D. Campbell admitted that he had so for
the purpose of disputing the order, and contending
that he had been kept in prison for two years under
a wrong proceeding.
The LORD CHANCELLOR Said, that Mr. Campbell
had been in Whitecross-street; while there he ar
plied to be brought up before the Court, for the pur•
pose of being turned over to the Fleet.
Mr. Campbell had certainly applied to IA
brought up before the Court, but not fur the put'
pose of being turned over to the Fleet. He did not
attempt to impute any bad motives to the Regis'
trar, but there had certainly been great negligence.
The Sheriff had made a false return, inasmuch ag
he had stated, that he (Mr. Campbell) had been take"
under an adjudication. He submitted, that before
adjudication of contempt he was entitled to be
heard. If the Court would say it had made the
order drawn up by the Registrar, he could have
nothing further to say.
Mr. TEED, who appeared for one of the parties,
observed that whatever order had been obtained,
was applied for by Mr. Duncan Campbell himself,
and drawn up by his own agents, it was therefore,
too much after a lapse of two years, to come a"'
complain of the usual order. If any complaint S"
necessary, it should have been made long ago.

Mr. Campbell observed that it was.
The LORD CHANCELLOR wished to know why
petition had not been presented to him ?
Mr. Duncan Campbell had presented a petition;
which his Lordship's Secretary refused to give 111

Lordship, and tore before him.
The LORD CHANCELLOR asked if Mr. Campbell
had an affidavit of that fact,
Mr. Campbell said he bad ; but, upon looki4
among his papers, he begged the pardon of the
Court, observing that he had not. He was sorry

to have mis-stated such a fact to the Court.
t~je
The LORD CHANCELLOR thought •that, by
same rule, the whole of Mr. Campbell's case fwg'il
corHist of mis statements, When a charge of sic