Star.
London, England, 1807-11-07 00:00:00

couRT OF CHANCERY.

The LAD CH eu c taxa took his feat on the Bench,
accompanied by the MASTER of Till R 0.1.6.39 and
MASTIIILS IN CHANCERY, in their drefs-robes. After
going through the ulnal formalities, the Mailer. of
the Rolls, and Mailers in Chancery retired, and Ms
Lordthip proceeded to bufmefs.

SARAH HOL,L4ND V. JAMES [IMO.
This was a motion for plaintiff to give fecnrity for
payment of colts, before defendant filed his anfwer,
on the ground that plaintiff was in low ciramllantes;
was a maid fervant ; mid not be found ; that every
inquiry had been made to that purpofe, but without
effe&; that her folicitor, her father, and her mother
had declared tkey did not know where the was, but
believed the was in lervice fomewhere in this town
that it was a bill brought againfi a law and cultorn
of a manor ; that the quellion bad been decided, in
three different caufes, in favour of the defendant, and
the laff caufe was diimiffed with cogs; that on this
prefent caufe coming to due, it would meet with the
fame fate•
Lord ELDOW thought the motion improper, and
difmiffed it.

CONTEMPT OF COURT.
WHITELOCC V. SYD&NHAM, EiCC•

Mr. HART moved, that the Printer and Publifher
of a Monday Weekly Newfpaper, entitled, The
Legal Regitter," &c. fhould Rand committed to the
Fleet for a Contempt of Court, in mifreprefenting
the proceedings in this cafe. The Learned Connie' ,
went into a hittory of the proceedings from the time
when the bill was originally flied. It had been
brought into Court feveral years fence, and the plain.
tiff had been allowed to amend his bill. He claimed,
as the reprefeniative of au ancient family, a number
of valuable Oates in the ooffdlion of Mr. Sydenham,
Mr. Linnet, Sir Philip Haile,, &c. and the bill, as
amended, prayed f"r a difcovery and inlpedion of
the defendant's titles to their Ames. At the requeft
of the plaintiff himfelf, a cum:ninon had been
granted to two gentlemen in the country, to take the
depelitions of perfons in the neighbourhood where
the plaintiff, his father, and relatives had lived, as
to his real name, and his relationfitip to the family of
which be alledged himfelf to be the reprefentative.—
Evidence was acc.ndingly taken under this cnmmif-
fion, and was reported to his Lordihip. In March
tall, an application was made for having the evi-
dence taken under this commiffion fuppreired, on the
ground of its having been corruptly influenced ; and
that the very witneffes whole depolitions were there
given, had fence made voluntary depofitions, cot-
reding• what they had f ,rmerly Paid amifs. This
application, as might reafonably have been expeded, ,
his Lordftrip refuted to entertain. The motion was
difpufed of, as already mentioned, in the month of
March ; and at fo great a dittanee of time as the 26tb
of Odober, the repot t of it, to which he fhould have
occafion to call his Lordfhip's attention, appeared in
a Weekly Newlpaper, called The Legal Regifter."
Lord Hardwicke laid down Contempt of Court to be
threefold.—Firtt, Scandalifing the. Court itfelf.—
Second, Abufing the parties.—Third, Prejudicing
mankind againit perfons before their caufe came to
be heard. The Learned Counfel was of opinion the
prefent cafe partook of each and every one of thefe
diftind fpecies of contempt. The Court had been
fcandalifed; the defendants bad been grofsly Aided;
and, while the caufe was (till in dependence, a grofs
mifreprefentation of the fads of the cafe, by which
mankind, at leaft all who perufed the Paper in quel
tion, mutt have been prejudiced, were here exhibited
all in one. After a mono, the allufion of which to
the cafe in queßion the Learned. Counfel could not
ditecoVer, the Paper in queftion went on, in the very
fir ft coitirraf of it, to detail the particulars of the mo-
tion, Rating it to be one which had lately come be-
fore the Court. Having . (tared the °bled of the '
motion, which Was In obtain a new commitlion, and
to have the commiflioneis fubjeded in the coils of the
former one, the report toes on in thefe terms:
" 'There never allied in this country a more grange execution'
of a commiffion than that which formed the fubjedt matter of this
motion, and, of courfe, the motion was as peculiar and uncommon
is the cafe was wonderful and ertraorarnary There commit.
Goners have returned to the Court of Chancery the depofitions of
twenty-one witneffes, by twenty nf which, it appeared, that the
Plaintiff's mine was W illiam Widlake, by general reputation, and
not William Whitlock (which he was to bare proved hinskif to
De, in order to the'attainment of the immenfe castes which he
claims to be heir to in the counties of Somerfet and Devon and
affo in London, Surrey and Wales, as heir in tail Male, and heft in
general to Chariton Whitlock, Efq. formerly of the Middle Tem-
pk, &Ceded, and of ail chemists, branches and trefeendants oft*,
great and opulent family).
" How there Comm:Mona, could have fent up to the Coot of
Chancery fuels evidence, again& the univerfaL knowledge and
concurrent tefilmony of thoufands of the inhabitants of the watt
tracks of land juftly claimed by the Plaintiff Mr. Whitlock, is not
eahly to be reconciled to human kale se• common reafim."
This; the Learned Counfel contended, it was im.
poffibfe- net to conftrne into a dire& a:rack upon the
CoMmiffiunere who bad aged under the authority of
the Court. Left a poffibility- of doubt, however,
Ihnuld exift. on this head, that doubt was eoluitiletely
put an end to by the futceeding paragraph in the
repent in queftion
" 1 he magnitude, however, of the objet, together with the
'great wealth, power, and Witte:Sec of the precast occupants of thee
great efiattll fIA quitters, ass Oppaed to the Plaintdr, who Cues is
foists famteris:
The Learned Counfel conceived this to be not
only a confitmation of the improper Motive attri-
buted to the Commiffieners, if any fuch could be re-
war ed, but even to amount to a dired charge againft
the defendants, as if they; by their inperior wealth,
hactattempted to ii,fluence the tortilla of the Cum-
manners. In fucceedit, parts of the report,' liAlapg
every part of the Plain.i cafe as proved, or rather
putting a cafe for him, the Plaintiff's father is Rated
to have been &awn of one of the many churches on.
his parental elates ; the depofitions of the witneffes,
under the commiffion are laid to be depofitions im
pored to them : and it. is in conclufion Rated, as ar
reflection againit the Court, that, from the novelty n(
the motion, and the .want of the neceffary deed, no:
legal remedy could be applied. All thefe things,!
however, were Rated in the report to be matters of
record ; and it could not excite any degree of won-.
der, that the names and defcriptions of all the par
ties being added, Ithoup the paper was; its itfelf un-
known, this individual rzgott mad made a confider)

• • . .
able noire in that plit'Of the couptii,i irtiNclLit ia,'
More peculiarly addreffed. The lkiAter of tho.AIPW
had fo far esculpatedhimcelf as to lite that he, him-
fill was not the wtiters3f the report.tuit.willicetief-
farily obliged to employ others in 'this line., After
.having been the means, of diffeminating the article hi
quellion, however, and after receiving the pr.)fits nf
the publication, this excufe could not be futtained.
bUt the Learned Cuunfel fubmitted that like Muter
and Publither mull be committed._ _

Mr. Harr appeared for Sir Philip Hailer, one of
the Defendants, alone.
Mr. NEWBOLD and Mr. Heap, for the C .mmif
Sorters, enlarged on the hardfhip of their flotation,
and futimitted that the Court was called on, if they
had properly difcharged the truft delegated to them,
to prote±t them agaiuli afperfions Saruax to tliatuow
complained of.
The LORD Comma:Au alked if there was ME-
ckat evidence as to whu was the' printer arid pub.
Miter of the paper in quefiion ? He had never yet
heard his name mentioned.

Mr. Haar faid, a notice had been given in
Vaughan Griffiths as the Printer and Publilher, and
an Affidavit had been filed by a perfon who had
purchafed the publication in quellion at his hook.
He believed Mr. Griffiths would appear by his
Counfet. _

Mr. RICHARDS faid he had been applied 16 only
within thefe few minutes.
The LORD CHANCSLLJR faid, the motion in Inef-
tiun had been made a long time fince. He mull look
into the Bill, Anfwers, and Affidavits, before lie
could order any commitment. He remembered that
au extraordinary motion, of the nature defcribed, had
once been made, but the eircumllances (attending it
were not in his recollettion. He was, however, fa-
ri..fied of this, that nothing but ignorance could have
caufed the perfon making the•report, to affign to the
judgment of the Court the reafun he had done. The
paws affigning fuch a reafon mutt haat been cun-
cumulately ignorant.
Mr. RICHARDS was about to rife, when

The Loan CHANCILLOIL (aid he could not allow
Mr. Richards to appear for this perfon who had em.
ployed him, fuppoling him to be the Printer and
Puhli(her of the paper in queftion, till he had exa-
mined the Affidavits, and feen whether, independent
of his appearance, the Complainants had fufficient
evidence of that faet. For this purpofe, and that his
Lordffiip might have time to look into the proceed-
ings, be ordered the matter to lie over till Monday.