Star.
London, England, 1818-06-12 00:00:00

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LAW INTELLIGENCE.
- COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Sem 11.,
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I 2dADOX V. KIRBY.
. This was a paltry action to recover £S for one
• chaldron of coals alleged to have been supplied by
the plaintiff to the defendant. We only mention it
for the sake of an opinion expressed by the Lord
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Chief Justice—that it is not competent to a party to •
contradict a written document by parole evidence.
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The defence was, that the coals were supplied, by
a person of the name of Roberts, who was indebted
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to the defendant, in payment of his debt ; but on the • i
part of the plaintiff, the coal-meter's ticket was pro- 01
duced, on which it appeared that the plaintiff was the I -
seller, and the defendant the buyer. .
It was contended for the defendant that this was
not unusual in the coal•trade : the name of the whole- I t
sale dealer was inserted in the meter's ticket, when
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the coals were in fact retailed by another person ;
and evidence was offered to show that a conversation .
had taken place between the defendant and Roberts,
in which the latter admitted that he was the seller of
7 the coals, and never mentioned the name of Madox. -... ,
Lord ELLENBOROGGII refused the evidence. It
' might tend to the commission of the crime of per-
jury, if it were permitted to overturn the written evi-
dence of a contract by parole testimony. The meter's 111 t '
• ticket spoke unequivocally that the coals were sold ; -i' 1
31 by the plaintiff to the defendant, and his Lordship I
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i therefore held that the plaintiff was entitled to reco- ,
ver. Verdict for the plaintiff, £3.
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a • THE KING V. STANLEY, Itso. AND MORGAN. •
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An indictment against the two defendants, the one 4.
the son of Mrs. Stanley, widow of a Master in Chan-
cery, and the other her cc:tchman, for an assault
upon Samuel Darby, a livery stable-keeper. 44
Mr. GURNEY went shortly over the facts out of
which the prosecution arose, stating that the injury ;
' the party had received to be of a very serious nature. _ . i
r r He then called the following witnesses :
Samuel Darby deposed, that he was a lieety sea-
'. ble-keeper at North Portland-mews: the defendant
I' Morgan was coachman to Mrs. Stanley : the other ' 'll
I" defendant was her son. Mrs. Stanley jobbed horses I
`'with the witness, and on the 16th of December last
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d Morgan brought the horses home from the country,
having used them very ill ; he came at four in the
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' afternoon, and did not attend to the horses until '
I' at eleven at night ' • they were then harnessed, ar..l
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Y witness remonstrated, and said that he should r.-t
d use them so again; but Morgan said he was indepen- •
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n dent of the witness, and knocked him down. He
then went away, but returned with young Stanley: 1 fi
IS the witness insisted that the defendant should drive
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1- the horses no more : defendant said he would, and
'f struck the witness on the breast, and broke one of his
;.' ribs : at the same time young Stanley struck the wit-
L ' ncss on the mouth, and cut his lip : they then both
e, fell upon him, and beat him very much. Young -
" Stanley then took him round the body, and said,s
'. Out with him; d—n him we'll have him out, if we
murder him." The witness then cried murder. A
person named Bunkell then came to his assistance,
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and the two defendants went away with the carriage '
and horses. -The witness kept his bed for a week, and
,r was attended for a fortnight by a medical man. . I
!'rosy-examined--The witness was quite sober,
d and was not abusive, though he might speak rather •
L_ sharply to the coachman. The witness refused to let
it his horses go out at eleven o'clock at night. .They •
e had been starved in the country, and he had said that 1
Is the same coachman should never drive them again, • ,
d but that some other man might. !I
,_ Lord ELLENECROUGII, in this sLlge of the ca..se. t,
,_ put it to Mr. Reader, for the defendant, v.-lietliti tie
d could dispute the fact of the assault ?
Mr. READEP. answered, that the defendant had '
A taken case to put Mr. Sta•iley on the record, sc ii: to "
_ prevent him from giving evidence, cat he should Le
it able to contradict the witness upon collateraL tnat-
t_ ters. Mr. Stanley was a young man of most pea. e- -: /
..,t- able demeanour, and son of the late Master in ' 1
n Chancery.
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,_ Itir. W. Bnnlell had been called to the spot by the ; 1
to cry of murder. Morgan was then gone, but young
, Stanley held the prosecutor by force round the waist,
Li. but did not strike him. Morgan had got the horses oar.
a- Mr. Hayti;, an apothecary, had attended Darbv,
Cr who had considerable fever and a cough: a rib was ' ;
rs• fractured on the right side; he was also much bruised, "
and his head contused. The witness had visited him* 4
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1 : for more than a month. i' {
Id Mr. 11 r.antat addressed the Jury for the defen-
iy dams. Young Stanley was only between le •ai.d 19 I" I
D. years of age, but not at all of a disposition to corn-
ma an outrage of this nature. The horse* were
he jobbed by the year, the coachman was his mother's,
Ist and for the time, the horses were hers, and die had
a right to have them out at any time of the night,
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being answerable for misuse. The fact was, coat
dd Darby was quite drunk at the time of the assault,
ize
and young Stanley might legally exercise so much
3n. force upon the prosecutor as was necessary to gi.e
:de him the use of his mother's horses to carry him to i
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te• his brother's, the night being very wet. It was ver7
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she likely that a struggle took place, but it was entirely 1
owing to Darby s refusing to allow Mrs. Stanlefs
coachman to take out her horses. The Learned
les Counsel contended, that if he was able to contradict • ;
oat the prosecutor upon incidental particulars, they would
~ng not believe him as to the main fact of the assault.
',,,5, John Caldicot, serjeant, or constable of the night,
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''.' at Mary-la-bonne, swore that he had seen the pre.. *
ich secutor extremely intoxicated on the night in clues.
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~.,,ass tion; he was leanhig on the pole of a carriage, as if ;
°° he could not support himself whhout it. The wit- *.
ness had never heard a man use more gross and aba-
' sire language. This was soon after the assault,, and
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eat Morgan was present as well as young Stanley, whom
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nl: tpwa ewie
rt Darby had b
vastness did not known.
.flui and.te witre
hear..
tvasnct 4
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Weldon, a watchman, saw Darby very
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h: no
2eeSs i C o mmpaltat
Matthew
sin
drunk endeavouring to unbuckle the horses horn the
pole, violently abusing the coachman, and saying A ; •
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is. that young Stanley was no gentleman, but some ll 1
n .114
' scamp of the earth. •
Michael Queny, another watchman, confirmed the
last witness.
ad
od Thomas 011 y saw Darby after this assault very i
drunk, and very abusive to the defendant Morgan,
too after he returned with his horses to the stables. 1 .
On a question from the Ben.h, Mr. Iteanait ad-
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• mitted that he did not dispute that there had been • -
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