Star.
London, England, 1827-08-21 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MAIDSTONE. Arta. la.
Men. 11108.-.--ADA Us O. DAIIENLY, E`Q• 14• P.
Tnis was an action of trespass, for cat:sing down .nit
carryFng awry the plaintiff's trees. Pica, ant guilts.
The plaintiff's case was conducted by Nlr. MANatv4r.
Mr. PoLtocit, and ifr. PLATT ; and the defendant's I,y
Mr. Gunnel( and Mr. BOLLA ND. The c i.e, as pr.. e I
MI the part of the plaintiff, waii.k.is ;—The plaintiff
All accountant, generally rtsiding in London, but / •
a small estate at Beckenham, in this count.. "I I.e
defendant was a Gentleman of la.ge in tune, a Memlr r
of Parliament, and possessed of very extensive est •1
contiguous to that of the plaintiff, where he 114.1 g• v. t
quantities of game, which he preserve) m rst rigis!.y
The plaintiff had granted a lease of his estate to a NI. .
Wildman, rest ring to himself all tirinber of every •
scriplion ; and the teservatiou expre,sly named, armor g
other trees, alders, of wit:eh there were several clump •
upon the land of particularly fine growth, and lii)Ny
valuable and ornamental. Mrs. W.l.lman underlet tr e
e,ta e to the defendant, and her rent becoming in atm.'',
and applications having been in van made to b
parties for payment, the plaintiff distrained upon the
defendant for the amount. This ;reduced some angry
'erlings between the parties, and a correspondence took
place, in 'rich the defendant was made acquainted
with the re,ervatinti in Mrs. Wildoian's lease of the
alder trees. The defendant then gave the plaintiff no•
tice that he should quit at the next Michaelmas ; an
four days before Michaelmari Day he sent between 53
and 60 men upon the estate, who, under his direction,
cut down miry one of the plaintiff's favourite alder
trees, cut them up into bavins, and removed them in
his waggons t r his own adjuining land, cutting gaps in
the plaintiff's hedges, for the purpose of taking the
waggons through, though they might have gone round
by the road without having recourse in that expediro.
When the meal first began to cut down the trees, the
plaintiff sent to the delendant,and watned him to de-
sist, but the warning was not attaroled to. The trees,
which were of SO years growth, and of considerable
size, varying from three to twelve inches di .meter, were
valued at 451 to sell; but as anairnament to the estate,
they were described as being invaluable. After t e
mischief was done, the plaintiff proposed to the defend-
ant to have the affair settled by arbitra ion ; but that
course being rejected by the delendant, the present
action was brought.
It was contended on the part of the defendant 'hit he
had acted under an honest, though, perhaps, an errone•
ous notion, that the trees were the property o! the ten-
ant, and not of the landlord, and that hi, conduct kad
been wholly uninfluenced by any feeling of malice
against the plaintiff; and, therefore, that there was no
pretence for awarding any damages against him in that
respect ; and with respect to the trees, •everal witnesses
were called, who swore that the clumps at alders well
not in the least ornamental; Oar they were of much
younger growth and much smaller size than they had
been represented ; that.tbey were 6t for nothing but to
use as firewood; and that•their extreme value was Irons
61.105. to 71.

Mr. Justice PARK summed up the eae to the Jury.
Our immortal Bard had st.ted, that " the better pa't
of valour was discretion," and he had hoped that the
Learned Counsel for the defendant, as he was unques-
tionablivaliant, would also have proved litm:elf
c.eet on thi.oceasion,and:would have valued the Poet's
assertion, by ahandoriin4 any attempt at defence to
Ste action, e;peciallyso bad a .delence AS he had been
stiadik advised ya adopt. -The-case had certainly been
greatly aggravated by the defence which It id been
set up, and he
.suis only astoni.hed how so te•pect-
able a Gintleasan as the defendant could have come

Or the resolution of bringing seek wicase imo oCotft t.
hid..in-his opinion. been kuiltyOf A wilful, malicinti
and mdst unkind and unnewhhoisrly tr. sp fSS. and the
Jury, would be perNetly justiked in visiting his conduct
.is There was, certainly, 'etintradictory evidence
With respect to the value of the trees, but the idly
would hardly doubt th it such trees were ornaisrentalto
11 the estate upon which they. grew ; and they would 'do
no mote than was fair in t.king tl eir value in that re-
spect into the account, when they es:Malted the damages
which they were to give. ' •
The Jury, after a than deliberation, found a verdict
for the' plaintiff— Da m ages, 801. •
WARWICK, Almon. 17.
LIBEL.—ADAMS, ESQ. V. MEKRIDEPIr.
Mr. CLARICE, who was assisted by the COSIMON Sen.
GIANT and Mr. HILL. stated that ti•e pl.iintiff in this
case, who was a most re,pectable Magistrate of the
county of Warwick, had be n grossly .ibelled by the
defendant, who had thought proper to circula:e hand-
bills to the number of 2,000, casting the gr:•ssest aver-
ions on his char •cter as a Magi,ti ate, and imputing
conduct to him of the most con upt a d dishonourable
nature. Every person mu,t rect liter tire circumstances
attending the last election for Coventr►. The tumults
and riots which took place on that occasion were so
serious, and the local Magistrates wete either so unable
or so unwilling to suppess them, or i.reerve any thing

like order, that a number of the inhabitants pre-
rented a Petition to Parliament, praying that the
Magistrates of the County might receive a con-
cur,ent jurisdiction with the Aidirmen in the city
of C..ventry, wherehy order and quiet would be more
likely to he preserved in future. The prayer of this
petiti..to having b en acceded to by the House of Com-
mons, a BM was introduced for that purpose, and it
was wt,ilr it was under discussion that the libel i.ow
complai ,ed of was published. It first appeared in the
Coventry Heald newspaper; and lest it might not be
sufficiently circulates! through that chant e', it was re-
published neat day in a handbill, enp:es of u !rich were
industriously spread thioUgh all parts of the ‘oonty.
It was in the shape of a letter signed by a " A Cnurch-
man,' and addressed "To the petitioners for opening
the jurisdiction of the City to the County Magistrates."
After describing these Gzinlemen as being mostly
Clergythen, who could not find time, cowls( tidy with
a due discharge of their spit itual duties towards their
I ,
micas, particularly as some of them held several livings,
to attend to the quarrels or differences of the people of
Coventry, the handbill went on to say (and this was the
part set out in the pleadings as the libel upon the plain-
tiff)—" The other two Magistrates having jurisd,ction
within our county are H. C. Adams, Esq. and the Rev
Mr. Gregory; the latter of whom is upon the Contineut.
With respect to Mr. Adams, he is Chairman to the
Finance Committee of the County 'of Warwick, and has
audited accounts contait.ing items of 12,0001. for the
nominal purpose of furnishing lodgings, plate, &c. for
the Judges, but which expenditure, in reality, was to
find accommodation for the Magistrates,•as the Sheriff
Assays found the Judges suitable 1 dgings, without
„.utting the County to ally expente." The Writer than

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