Star.
London, England, 1822-04-05 00:00:00

LAW INTELLTGENCL

COURT OF CHANCERY, LINCOLN'S-INN-KALI.,
APRIL 4.
After his Lordship had disposed of one or two 'on.
interesting cases this morning, Mr. WRTHERELL
asked when it would suit his Lordship's convenience
to hear the case of Lord Somers?
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, that Tuesday week
would be the neat Seal ; and if the parties were pre
pared at both sides, he would come down to Court
on the preceding Monday, for the purpose of hearing
it. His, Lordship also stated, for the information of
the Bar, that as the House of Lords had adjourned
for a fortnight, he should be able to attend every day
in the week after next.—The Court then went into

lunatic petitions.
£2C-PARTS ROSMAN IN THE MATTER OF ROSMAN, A

LUNATIC.
This was a petition presented by Isabella Rosoman,
the mother, and Stephenson, the sister of the lu-
natic, complaining of the neglect and ill-treatment
which the lunatic experienced at the hands of the
committee of his estate, and praying that he might
be entrusted to the custody and care of some other
person or persons. The petition was supported by
the affidavits of Mrs. Stephenson, one of the pett-
tioners, of a person of the name of Cam, who had
been the lunatic's keeper for three years, and a ser-
vant-maid, who had lived in the house of the com-
niittee during part of the period in which the alleged
ill-treatment took place. These affidavits charged
Mr. and Mrt Malcolm, of whom the latter was sister
to the lunatic, with constant neglect of the lunatic
ever since the year 1816, denying him those com-
forts which his unhappy situation required, not al-
lowing him to dine at the same table with the family,
but sending him the remains of the joint on which
they themselves had dined, to his room, when they
were nearly cold, and sometimes not allowing him
sufficient. food, always keeping him scantily and
meanly clothed, and having but one servant to wait
upon the whole family, although the master in his
scheme allowed for a servant woman and a servant
boy to attend exclusively upon the lunatic. The af-
fidavits further alleged, that Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm
in other respects treated the lunatic ill ; and upon one
occasion Mr. Malcolm took him out to a stable•loft,
' where he horsewhipped him with such violence as to
loccasion himself (Mr. Malcolm) to fall into fits. The
lapartments appropriated to the lunatics use were,
the affidavits charged, in every respect unsuitable;
( and, in short, owing to the distressed circumstances
of the committee, among other causes, the mainte-
nance and establishment provided for the lunatic did
not amount to £2OO a-year, although the sum 1
al-
lowed for his establishment was £9OO per annum.—
These and the numerous miner facts detailed in the
affidavits were stated and commented upon by the
ATTORNEY-GENERAL, as Counsel for the petitioners,
He then read the affidavit of Miss Rosoman, another
of the lunatic's sisters, in reply, which, he contended,
left the prominent facts stated in the charging affida-
vits uncontradicted.
Mr. SHADWELL followed on the same side.
Mr. HEALD, on behalf of the committee, stated,
that by his advice Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm had not yet
answered the petitioners' affidavits. He expected that
he should be able to shew to the Court that this was
as gross a conspiracy as ever came before a Court of
Justice. He would prove that the habits of one of
the petitioners—namely, the mother, were so profli-
gate as to shut her out from all credit; that she was
cohabiting with the brother of the man to whom her
daughter, the other petitioner, was married, and had
a family by him. He thought he was justified in
saying that much credit was not due to her, when
he reminded his Lordship that this woman, who in
her petition, in 1816, described herself as Isabella
Stephenson, the wife of John Stephenson, and late
widow of Rosoman, deceased, now called her-
self Isabella Rosoman, widow, having got back to
her old title once more. Neither was much faith to
be put in the statement of Cam, the discarded keeper,
who, according to his own account, witnessed all this
misconduct on the part of Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm for
three years, and yet never made the slightest com-
plaint or remonstrance upon the subject until the
present occasion; and who swore that Mr. Malcolm
inflicted the most violent chastisement upon the lu-
natic in a stable-loft, without making it appear that'
he suffered the least injury from it, or that it pro-
duced any effect, except upon Mr. Malcolm himself,
whom it threw into fits. Mr. Heald then contended,
that Miss Rosoman's affidavit bad not left the promi-
nent charges in the other affidavits unanswered ; and
stated that Mr. Malcolm had come to town for the
purpose of seeking and procuring the testimony of
the several servants who had lived with him, and at-
tended the lunatic during the last six years, whereby
he should be able to prove that every circumstance
stated in those affidavits was false, and shew that this
was an infamous conspiracy to get the custody and
income of the lunatic transferred to the petitioners.
As a proof that Mr. Malcolm had not been idle since
he came, he had already succeeded in tracing two of
those servants, who had made affidavits, which he
would now read. The Learned Counsel then pro-
ceeded to read these affidavits, circumstantially de-
nying the facts set forth on the other side.
The LORD CHANCELLOR thought that, as far as
these affidavits went, they did not apply to what he
(the Lord Chancellor) considered the principal feature
in the case. When he looked to the scheme upon
which the Master, with a view to affording the luna-
tic those comforts which, in his unfortunate situation,
he was capable of enjoying, founded his order for
the sum to be allowed for his establishment, he must
say, no matter what might be the conduct or charac-
ter of the petitioners, if the committee could not
shew him that that sort of establishment which the
Master contemplated had been kept up, that he could
allow the lunatic to remain where lw was no longer.
Let the case, therefore, stand over until the first day
after the next seal; and, in the meantime, let the affi-
davits of Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm be sworn and sent
to him (the Lord Chancellor) before the end of next
week. By them alone could the case be satisfactorily
explained. He had no doubt but this Gentleman
would let him know how the £9OO a-year had been
disposed of ; and to whom he had paid the £7O al-
lowed for cam servants to wait upon the lunatic.
llis Lordship rose at half-past four o'clock, and
will not sit again until Monday week (the 15th).

. 11

ASSIZES. • •
•
KINGSTON, APRIL S.
THE KIXO. V EMT AND ANOTHER, •
This was an information filed by the Attorney-
General against the defendants, Kirby and Gerrard,
for combining to defraud the King of certain excise
duties payable on the manufacture of parchment.—
The defendant Kirby was a manufacturer ofiparch-
ment at Bermondsey, and Gerrard was a supervisor
of excise. The latter suffered judgment to go by de-
fault.-4t was proved that the defendant Kirby, in
toucert with the other defendam, had manufactured
and sold a considerable 'limiter of pirchment skins,
marked with the excise stamp, for which he bad, in
point of fact, paid no duty. The case was clearly
made out in evidence.
Mr. WALFORD, for the defendant, said, he must
submit to a verdict, reserving for the time of judg-
ment lush topics as should avail the defendant in
mitigation of punishment. Verdict—Guilty.
TIIE KIND Fe THE INHABITANTS OF CAMBERWELL.
This was a presentment against the defendants for
not repairing a certain road leading from Croydon
to Dulwich, and thence to the Gipsy-house on Dul-
wich•common.
The question in the case was, whether the road in
question was a public highway, and whe:her the de-
fendants were liable to repair it as such ? Several
witnesses were examined on both sides. It was proved
that the defendants had repaired a part of the road,
but had neglected to repair the part presented.
The case went to the Jury under the Learned
Judge's directions, and they found the defendants--
Guilty..—There was nothing of public interest to-
day on the Crown side.
SCASTPR.
CIVIL SIDE.--GRIM. CON.
The plaintiff was Mr. Cochrane, of Old Trafford,
in whose house the defendant, Mr. Jackson, had been
tutor to Mr. Cochrane's children. During his resi-
dence there, the defendant had alienated the affec-
tions of Mrs. Cochrane, who, previously, had lived in
the greatest harmony with her husband, but who
thenceforth totally changed her conduct, still refusing,
however, to leave her husband's house. They had
seven children. Damages were sought in order to en-
force a separation—Damages £lOO.
John Reddish, of Manchester, was indicted at the
prosecution of the " Bridge-street Association," for
having sold at his shop in that town, in May last, a
scandalous and seditious libel, entitled, A Political
Dictionary.
After the Jury had been sworn, Mr. Serjeant Hur.-
LocK, on the part of the prosecution, rose and said,
it would be unnecessary to trouble his Lordship and
the Jury, inasmuch as the defendant had agreed to
withdraw his plea of Not Guilty, and to plead Guilty.
The prosecutors, on their part, considering his ad-
vanced age, had agreed not to call him up for judg-
ment unless the recognizance should be broken.
Mr. BROUGHAM, for the defendant, acquiesced in
this statement, but complained that the prosecutors
had not thought proper to accept these terms at Man-
chester. He said his client was a wretched old man
of seventy.
Mr. Justice HOLROYD." I dare say the case is
very properly disposed of."
A verdict of Guilty was accordingly entered up,
the defer.dant undertaking to enter into his own re-
cognizance in £lOO to conic up if called on for judg-
ment, and to be of good behaviour; and the prosecu-
tors undertaking not to call upon the defendant un-
less the recognizance is broken.