The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-02-17 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL COUNTY COURT.

DISMISSAL OF MR. RAMSHAY,

At the Court of Queen's Bench, Westminster, on
Tuesday last, Lord Campbell delivered judgment in the
case, '' The Queen v. Pollock." This his lordship stated
was a motion for a rule to show cause why an information
in the nature of a quo warranto should not be filed against
Joseph Pollock, Esq., calling upon him to show by what
authority he exercises the office of judge of the County
Court for Lancashire, held at Liverpool. The ground of
the application is, when he was appointed to the office, it
was not vacant, William Rareshay, Esq., who before
filled it, not having been lawfully removed from it. The
question to be considered was, whether the Chancellor of
the Duchy of Lancaster, under the act 9th and 10th
Victoria, c. 95, sec. 18, which gave him power to dismiss
any judge of a county court in the county palatine for
inability or misbehaviour, had duly exercised his jurisdic-
tion. The instrument for the dismissal of Mr. Ramshay
had been drawn up in the words of the act of parliament,
and the court must presume that there were good grounds
for it, until the contrary should be proved. It would
have been open to Mr. Ramshay to show that he was
removed without notice of any charges against him, or
without an opportunity of being heard in his defence, or
that no evidence was adduced to support the charges, or
that the complaints against him were not for inability or
misbehaviour in his office, and were of such a nature that,
if proved or admitted, they would not disqualify him for
his office, or amount to " inability" or " misbehaviour,"
within the meaning of the act of parliament. Upon such
affidavits he thought the judges would have been bound
to grant a rule to show cause for a quo warranto, with a
view to his being afterwards restored to his office, from
which he had been illegally removed. But looking to the
affidavits on which the motion before them had been
made, they appeared insufficient to rebut the presumption
that the removal was regular and rightful. The affidavits
strongly asserted Mr. Ramshay's uniform good con-
duct as a judge, as well as his ability, and they par-
ticularly sought to justify his conduct on some occasions
when he was supposed to have acted improperly, as in
fining the editor of a newspaper for contempt of court.
But Mr. Ramshay did not say that grave charges of mis-
behaviour as a judge were not brought against him, or that
he had no notice of those charges, or that lie had not a
fair opportunity of being heard upon there, or that evi-
dence was not adduced to support them. Consistently
with these affidavits the proceedings might have been
regularly conducted, and there might have been evidence
before Lord Carlisle sufficient to support the charges, and
to warrant the judgment. In that case the Chancellor
of the Duchy might, without appeal, remove for inability
or misbehaviour, and having heard evidence it was for
him (Lord Carlisle) to determine whether inability or
misbehaviour had been made out. His judgment, there-
fore, as no appeal was given, must be final. It was not
alleged by Mr. Ramshay that he was not fully heard on
all the charges brought against him ; and with regard to
the time which elapsed between the inquiry and the
sentence of removal, the fair inference was that the
Chancellor of the Duchy only took time deliberately to
consider the evidence, and to consider of the judgment.
A private letter of Lord Carlisle to Mr. Ramshay had
been assumed to have restricted the judgment; but that
was evidently written with the view of softening as much
as possible the pain inflicted in the discharge of a public
duty; and the sentiments therein expressed were not
inconsistent with the sentence of removal ; for it was
possible that a man might have many valuable qualities,
and be amiable in private life, and yet be justly removed
for inability and misbehaviour as a judge. The court,
therefore, considered that a rule nisi in the case ought
not to be granted.—Rule refused.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, FEB. 14

(Before SIR R. T. KINDERSLEY.)

STANDISH V. MAYOR AND CORPORATION OF LIVERPOOL

Mr. Malins said he was prevared, pursuant to notice,
to move for a special injunction in this case, in which the
plaintiff's land had been invaded without his sanction
for the purpose of making certain waterworks, and 15
waggons placed upon it. The common order had been
obtained for security for costs, and the plaintiff's soli-
citors in his absence were now ready to pay £lOO into
court in lieu of that order.

Mr. Follett appeared for the defendants, and, contend-
ing that there was no pressure, opposed that course.
After some discussion, it was agreed that £l2O should
be paid into court, and

The Vice-Chancellor, considering that the parties were
not in a situation to move, made the order that tho £l2O
should be paid in as security for costs.

LIVERPOOL POLICE COURT.

EXTENSIVE EMBEZZLEMENT.—On Friday evening, a
young German, named Theodore Mundell, was appre-
hended by Murphy, one of the detective officers, on a
charge of embezzling upwards of £6OO, the property of
his employers, Messrs. Dadelssaw and Keitman, of
Harrington-street. Mundell was the cashkeeper of the
firm, and charged with the payment of the petty cash.
On some occasions, at the end of the month, the petty
cash payments of the firm were about £BO or £9O. and
Mundell, instead of the proper amount, charged £lBO or
£l9O, thus pocketing £lOO. The accounts of the firm
have been recently under the inspection of an accountant,
and he discovered that frauds amounting to upwards of
£6OO had been perpetrated in this way. When appre-
hended, Mundell admitted his defalcations. He was
brought up before the magistrates on Saturday. and
remanded for seven days.
EXTENSIVE ROBBERY BY A CONFIDENTIAL SERVANT.
—An extensive system of plunder from the establishment.
of Mr. Hutchin, the lithographer, at the corner of North
John-street and Lord-street, has been brought to light.
About nine days ago a pawnbroker gave information to
Mr. Clough, the chief in-door superintendent of police,
that a quantity of paper had been pledged at his shop,
and, from circumstances which had transpired, he had
reason to suppose that it had been stolen. Detective
Inspector Bates immediately took steps to trace the thief;
and in this, after nine days' great exertion, he succeeded.
On Wednesday morning he went to the shop of Mr.
Hutchin, and said that he had reason to believe that
Samuel Ford, his manager, bad been plundering him.
Ford was called, and charged with the robbery ; at first
he denied the truth of the allegation, but afterwards, on
being told that part of the property, pledged by his mo-
ther, had been found, he admitted it, and expressed deep
sorrow. Bates left Sullivan, another officer, in charge of
the prisoner, whilst he (Bates) proceeded to the house of
the prisoner's mother, 56, Byrom-terrace, where a large
quantity of stationery, identified by Mr. Hutchin, was
found ; and at a pawnbroker's shop, other articles belong-
ing to Mr. Hutchin, which had been pledged by the female
prisoner, were also found. The officers then proceeded to
the lodgings of Mr. Robt. Hill, a miniature artist of some
celebrity, No. 15, Upper Newington, and here they found
an immense quantity of stationery, worth upwards of
£lOO, all of which was identified by Mr. llutchin as his
property. Hill was taken into custody on the charge of
receiving the goods knowing them to have been stolen.
A quantity of tickets for paper, &c., pledged by the female
prisoner (Ann Price), was found in Hill's possession. The
case was brought before the court on Thursday, when the
magistrates, after hearing the facts, placed the prisoners
under a general remand.
ROBBERY AT THE PUBLIC-OFFICES.—A young man,
named Parkinson, was charged at the Police-court, on
Wednesday, with stealing samples of cloth from the
Public-offices, in Cornwallis-street. Mr. Garnett, secre-
tary to the Watch Committee, deposed that, in December,
numerous samples of cloth had been sent into the Public-
offices for the inspection of the Watch Committee. Some
of these samples had been missed, and it was ultimately
discovered that they had been stolen and pawned by the
prisoner, who was employed as an extra clerk in the offices
of the Health Committee. The prisoner was committed
for trial.

BURGLARY IN EVERTON.—On Wednesday, Patrick
Rowan, a rough-looking young man, was committed for
trial on a charge of burglariowly entering the house of
Mr. E. Bates, in Seaeombe-street, Everton, on Sunday
morning last. The prisoner was arrested in a cellar in
Edison-street, where some property stolen from the pro-
secutor's house was discovered.

A RUFFIAN. —On Wednesday, Robert Brige was
charged with stabbing Bridget Bewlock and assaulting
Alfred Stafford. On Tuesday evening the prosecutrix
went into the cellar of a house in Denison-street, for the
purpose of getting some apparel which she had previously
left in charge of the occupier, when she met the prisoner,
who was sharpening a knife, with which he said he was
going to stab Stafford. She remonstrated with him, when
he knocked her down, fastened the cellar door, struck her
again, and stabbed her in the face with a knife. The
woman's screams attracted a crowd of persons, who burst
open the door, and doubtless saved the life of the poor
woman. The prisoner was secured.—Mr. Mansfield said
that the prisoner was one of the most atrocious ruffians
that he had the misfortune to deal with since he came to
sit in the court. For the dastardly outrage on the woman
he must pay a fine of £5, or suffer two months' imprison-
ment ; and for the assault on the man he must find bail,
himself in £2O, and two sureties in £l5 each, for twelve
months, or, in default, to suffer a further imprisonment
of six months.
COMMITTAL OF A " MANCATCHER."—On Tuesday
Patrick Cullen was fully committed for trial by Mr.
Mansfield, who declared his determination to punish to
the utmost those guilty of the frauds now practised against
poor emigrants. Cullen had extorted the sum of 15s.
from an emigrant for articles which he said would be re-
quired on the voyage to America. The sum originally re-
quired was 275., but, finding his victim had no more than
155., he, apparently with reluctance, " made him up" a
parcel of useful things, the whole of which, it is useless to
say, were absolutely worthless. Among other things was
some stuff described as soap, which would wash either in
salt water or fresh, but which was composed solely of some
earthy matter end common salt.

LAUNCH OF A LARGE STEAM-SHIP AT BRISTOL—.The
fine steam-ship America was launched from Mr.
Patterson's yard at Bristol, on Tuesday last, for the use
of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company. The
America has been visited during her construction by many
eminent engineers, shipbuilders, and other scientific
characters and seamen, by whom she has uniformly been
awarded the palm for beauty of model and for a rare com-
bination of great strength and comparative lightness.
Her engines are on the oscillating principle, and she has
feathering paddle-wheels, known as " Morgan's."