Star.
London, England, 1812-06-04 00:00:00

COMBINATION.

In the case of the 85 journeymen Currier. 5, against
whom a bill of indictment was found for a combina-
tion, at the late Middlesex Sessions, Mr. JERVIS
applied for, and obtained a writ of Certiorari, to
remove the trial of the question from the Sessions into
the Court of King'. Bench. The Learned Counsel
said, he rnactr this application at the desire of both
parties, ousters and journeymen, who wished the ques-
tion to be decided by his Lordship and a Special Jury.

COURT OF PECULIAR 130CTORS COMMONS.
WESTFIELD, FALSELY CALLED MOULD, V. MOULD.
This wa/a proceeding at :hi• instance of Miss Mary
Faussett Westfield, t f Barham, in Kent, against Mr.
Joseph Mould, for the nullity of a marriage that had
t :ken place hem en them, on the grounds of mina-
sity, and a w int of a legal consent.
It appeared that t .e parties first became acquain-
ted whilst the young lady was ion a•.vtsit to her sister
at Dover ; a correspf nit nee ensued between them,
on her return home. woieh led to a proposal of ma-
trimony : this was discovered by her mother (who
was married again, and with whom the young lady
resided) ; but as the respectabil►ty of Mr. Mould's
situation in life (he being in the army) precluded
any objection to the maiih, it was finally resolved
on, and t, e parties accordingly came to town, anti
were married at the parish church of St. Martin in
the Fields, by vii me of a licence obtained for the
purpose by Mr. Mould.
In support of the suit, the mother of the minor, and

several other witnesses, were examined, to prove the
birth of the minor, on the 20th of July, 1789 ; and
her marriage, on the 9th of July, 1808, at which time
she was not quite 19 years of age ; the death of her
father, intestate; the remarriage of her mother; and
thernon-appointment of any guardian by the Court of
Chancery : and
.Sir JOHN NICHOLL observed, that
these circumstances were so fully proved, and were
so conclusive in themselves, that it would be quite
useless to trouble Counsel for any argument upon
.tlit m. It clearly appeared, that this was a marriage
contracted by the parties, under such circumstances,
as must, in the present state of the law, render it void;
and, however unwilling the Court might feel, upon
considerations of equity, to dissolve a contract of so
important a nature, and which seemed to have been
entered into with the concurrent consent of every one
who might naturally be expected to have the right of
consenting ; yet as that was got a consent recognised
by ihe law, the Court had no other alternative : there
S nothing in' the case from which the Court could
judge of the motives that ,dictated the present appli-
cation to it, -or whether there were any children to be
injured by its decree. The suit was brought by the
wife against the husband ; and if he should sustain
any injury from the result, he must attribute it to his%
own conduct, in asserting her majority upon oath to
obtain the license for the marriage.
The Court pronounced, therefore, for the nullity of
the marriage.

POLICE.

HATrox GARDEN.—Yesterday, several hard-work-
ing and industrious persons, who reside in small
houses in the neighbourhood of Clerkenwell, were
summoned before the Magistrates by the parish offi-
cers, for not paying the poor-rates. Most of them
pleaded their want of trade, their large families, and
the dearness of provisions. They were allowed a limi-
ted time to make good their deficiencies.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.—A person, calling him-
self an Officer in the Army, was committed yester-
day for re-examination on Saturday, on divers charges
of fraud.

BOW•STREET.—Yesterday came on to be heard, be-
fore Mr. READ and Mr. NAnes, two informations
against Mr. Stockdale, the bookseller in Pall Mall, at
the prcsecution of the Commissioners of the Stamp-
Office, charging him with publishing two pamphlets
without paying the duty, or registering them at the
Stawip Office, according to the directions of the Act
of Parliament. Mr. FRANCE, the Solicitor to the'
Stamp Office, attended to conduct the prosecution.
The first charge was for publishing a pamphlet on
tht• 4th of May last, entitled—" A Review of the
Conduct cf his Royal Highness the Prince Regent
and the Opposition ;" being larger than one sheet,
and not exceeding six, without having paid the duty
of 7s. and registered the same at the Stamp Office,
as the Act directs. The defendant pleaded Not
Guilty. John Deeks proved his purchasing the
pamphlet at the defendant's shop, in Pall Mall, on
the 4th of May last, and paid 2s. 6d. for it. Charles
Stalker, the Register of Pamphlets at the Stamp
Office, proved that the pamphlet was not registered
or paid the duty j 6 that it contained three sheets and
a half ; and that it was therefore within the meaning
of the Act of Parliament. The defendant questioned
him as to whether he did not send a number of
pamphlets to pay the duty, and to be registered, on
the 18th of May, to the Stamp Office ; and that
some of them were returned without registration or
the duty taken ; one of them was subject to the duty
he was certain. The Register replied, he recollected
receiving a number of pamphlets from the defendant,
on the day he stated ; and that he returned some of
those pamphlets ; but that was not an uncommon
! case, as booksellers frequently sent pamphlets that
were not necessary to be registered, nor to pay duty,
and he, of course, returned them without either.—
He-was positive the pamphlet in question was not one
of them. The defendant insisted that a pamphlet of
1-only two sheets had been returned on the above day
without being registered or duty taken. This circum-
stance he must attribute to mistake, or it must have
been for the worst of purposes. The defendant then
called his shopmah, to prove his taking a number of I
pamphlets tn the Stamp Office, on the 13th of May :4
and with a view to prove that it was his master's
direction to take that pamphlet in question, and it he
did not, it was his mistake. However, in this he failed.
—Mr. Stockdale then addressed the Magistrate, and
said he came to the Office without the assistance of
an Attorney or a Counsellor—therefore he was not
prepared to take advantage of any legal quibble that
might be in his favour, and he had only a plain tale
to tell. He was afraid the letter of the Act of Par-
liament was against him, yet he contended that fre-
quently Acts of Parliament were, put nn one side tor
convenience sake, and the custom with booksellers
and the Stamp Office was quite at variance with the
Act, as they did not send every single pamphlet within
six days of the publication, but delayed it till they had
several, and the duty amounted to A*2 or £3, and this
was satisfactory at the Stamp Office. In this case it
could not possibly be supposed he-wished to defraud
the revenue of 7s. as the publicity of the title of the
pamphlet rendered that impossible, it having been re.
peatedly advertised in '25 different newspapers. On
the 28th of May he sent the pamphlet in question to
the Stamp Office to be registered, and to pay the du-
ties, but which was refused, and he received for an-
swer, that an information had been laid for it, al-
though he was not served with any process till late
on Monday night. Ile considered this a malicious
prosecution.
Mr. FRANCE, the Solicitor, in reply, admitted that
the defendant had sent the pamphlet to be registered
aid 'to pay the duty; but at that time he must have
known that the information was laid, as the process
was served on Mr. Stockdale, sen. the day previous,
by mistake. He denied that this was a malicious
prosecutioe, and was about to enter into an explana-
tion; but the Magistrate declined hearing it. The
defendant was convicted in the penalty of £2fl, but
mitigated to £5 and £2 costs. The other informa.
tionwas of a similar description, for a pamphlet enti-
tled " An Account of the Island of Java, from An.
gene in the Streights of Sunda to Batavia." The
defendant said his defence to this was exactly the same
as the other; and therefore he would not give the
Magistrates any trouble. He was convicted on this
charge in £6 anti costs.