The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-11 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DEC. 10.
BLEADON AND ANOTHER v. HANCOCK.

This was an action of trover brought by the assig-
nees of a bookseller, named Bumpus, against the
defendant, a printer, to whom Bumpus had, before
his bankruptcy, intrusted some stereotype plates for
the.purpose of printing from them a certain number
of copies of the works for which they had been pre-
pared, to recover the value of those plates, they
having been sold by order of the defendant, in dis-
charge of a debt due to him from the bankrupt, for
tvhich he claimed a lien upon them. The case was
tried once before in this court, when the Lord Chief
Justice Best presided, and under his Lordship's di-
rection a verdict was found for the defendant. That
verdict having been set aside, the cause now came
down for trial a second time. There were three
grounds of defence-Ist. That all the plates in
question not having been included in the demand,
this action could not be supported as to those omit-
ted, because there was no proof of a conversion.
Second, that inasmuch as the sale took place with
the assent of the plaintiffs, it did not amount to a
conversion; and thirdly, that by the custom of the
trade a printer had a lien upon any stereotype plates
in his possession for all the debts which the pub•
lisher, who was the owner of them, might owe him
for printing.
The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs.

PALACE COURT, DEC. 4.
LIABILITY OF HUSBANDS.-WARD V. PAGE.

Mr. FLANNAGAN, for the plaintiff, said, this was
the case of a husband refusing to pay for the neces-
sary maintenance of a wife whom he had abandoned.
The plaintiff was a female, keeping a small chand-
ler's shop in Great Chesterfield-street, Marylebone ;
and the defendant was a man of good property, har-
ing a house of business in Park-street, Grosvenor-
square, and a country house in Church-row, Pan-
cras. Whatever were the original causes of dif-
ference between the defendant, Mr. Page, and his
wife, it was not necessary now to enquire ; however
it did so happen that, after a variety of attacks, she
was at length compelled to quit his roof. She at
first took shelter with a person named Grinfield, but
on account of some objection made by her husband,
she removed from thence, and went to reside with
the plaintiff, Mrs. Ward, where she resided in
December and January last. After that she re-
turned home again; but in July she was again com-
pelled to seek protection of the plaintiff, in conse-
quence of the defendant coming home late one night
to Church-row, and taking every article of furniture
away from the house, leaving her totally destitute,
and not even a bed to lie upon. The amount of
the plaintiff's demand for supporting Mrs. Page was
241. 1 Is., which she now sought to recover at the
hands of the Jury. The Learned Counsel then
quoted several cases, to prove that if the wife found
herself obliged, by cruelty or ill-treatment, to fly
from her husband, he was, nevertheless, bound to
defray the necessary expences of maintaining her.
Mrs. Hodgkinson was the mother of Mrs. Page,
who had been married to the defendant about 14
years; he was a perfumer in Park-street, and also
owned the house adjoining; he had formerly a house
also in Church-row, Pancras; he was in a very good
business; Mr. and Mrs. Page were hardly a twelve-
month together without her being obliged to fly
from home; she had repeatedly came to witness; in
December, 1828, Mrs. Page left home and went to
reside with Mrs. Ward, in Great Chesterfield-street
where she staid a month or two; they had two
children, girls, one thirteen and the other seven years
old; witness had frequently observed Mr. Page ill-
use his wife; he used to strike her, and once kicked
her down stairs, which produced a miscarriage.
When she left her husband last, witness saw cara-
vans taking all the furniture from the house in
Church-row, and Mrs. Page, who was left with
nothing but what she stood in, was admitted into au
empty house next door to pass the night.
Cross-examined by Mr. EARLE—Witness did not
drink gin frequently, but occasionally; would not
swear it was not every day; she never drank gin enough
to make her tipsy ; she certainly never fell down
in the street when she came out ; Mrs. Page was
taller than Mr. Page, but she could not tell which
was the stronger ; Mr. Page was mere savage?' ;