The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-20 00:00:00

THE BENCH AND THE BAR

The late Lord Stowell, in speaking of the law against
marrying a deceased wife's sister, stated that the best rea-
son for the prohibition (irrespective of the Divine com-
mand) was "the prevention of illicit affections and prospec-
tive engagements, and sisterly jealousies and estrangements
after marriage, to the great peril and destruction of family
confidences and union."

A JUDGE'S LODGINGS.—The following extraordinary
complaint was made by Mr. Justice Mettle, at Gloucester,
on Tuesday se'nnight. At the rising of the Nisi Prius
Court, in the afternoon on the above day, Mr. Justice
'Maule intimated, that whilst, he was anxious to expedite
the business of the Assizes, the Court would not open for
business before half-past nine each morning, that extra
half-hour being requisite for him to travel from Chelten-
ham, where he was obliged to go each evening, finding it
impossible to sleep in the unventilated, undrained, foetid
dog-hole which the liberality of the magistrates of Glou-
cester had provided for lodgings for her Majesty's Judges
of Assize. People of robust health might struggle through
these inconveniences without risk to their lives, but he
was obliged to seek in an inn at Cheltenham that accom-
modation which was denied him in, that city.
BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD RAILWAY.—MOZLiri 0.
ALsToN.—This case was resumed on Tuesday, in the Vice
Chancellor's Court. His Honour gave judgment. It
was (he said,) quite clear that there ought to have been
such a proceeding in February last, as would have pro-
duced a ballot for four directors, and the consequence has
been that the twelve directors who refused the ballot are
filling a place in which. they ought not to be. His Honour
then referred to the proceedings at the meetings which
were held in February and March last, when a general
meeting attempted to exercise those powers, the existence
of which had been so often referred to, but in vain. And
is it not a mockery, said his Honour, to hold general
meetings over and over again, when the efficiency of one
has been tried and found unavailing ? After that failure
nothing was left but an application to the courts of jus-
tice. His Honour apprehended that every single share-
holder had a personal interest that the affairs of the com-
pany should be carried on in accordance with the provi-
sions of the act, and that no persons should arrogate to
themselves a mode of dealing with the company which
should virtually set them above the act of parliament.
His Honour was also of opinion that the bill would not
have been sustainable if the company in its incorporate
capacity had not been made a party to it. There was no
substantial difference between an act of mischievousness
and an injurious passiveness on the part of the company.
The conduct of the directors was the foundation of the
complaint, and the inertness of the company was a rea-
son for coming to the court for relief. *With reference to
what was urged that the proper relief might be had upon
a mandamus, his Honour said the court was not going to
determine what course should he taken for the purpose of
appointing proper directors. The bill only asked to re-
strain the present directors from acting ; and that was a
species of negative relief which it was competent for the
court to give, although it might not be able to carry out
the general provisions of the act. The demurrer must be
overruled.—On 'Wednesday, Mr. Bethell, on behalf of
the plaintiffs, moved for an injunction to restrain the
defendants (the twelve directors of the Birmingham and
Oxford Junction Railway) from acting as such directors
until the hearing of the cause. The facts were the same
as those stated on the demurrer. The motion was. likely
to occupy the court for some time.

FRACAS ARISING OUT OF AN ASSUR CASX.,--A singu-
lar correspondence, arising out of an indictment, tried at
tbe'Anglesey Assizes, at ileatunarist has been published

April tO, Ig4t.

in Carnarvon. A farm bailiff, in the service of Lord
Vivian, was tried for embezzling £3 12s. 6c1., the goods
and chattels of the said Baron Vivian. The prisoner was
defended by Mr. Temple, who, in the course of his ad-
dress to the jury, commented pretty freely on the evi-
dence of his lordship, and stigmatised the prosecution as
a vindictive proceeding. Stung by the remarks of the
learned counsel, Lord Vivian wrote to Mr. Townsend,
who conducted the prosecution, and that gentleman wrote
in reply, that he had communicated with Mr. Temple,
who declined professionally to take any notice of his
lordship's written remarks. After this, and on the day
after the trial, (upon which the prisoner was acquitted,/
Lord Vivian appeared on the bench, and forced his com-
plaint upon the presiding judge, Lord Coltman. The
High Sheriff, Lord Newborough, published a statement
of this interview, by which it appeared that the judge had
said that Mr. Temple's language had been impertinent, but
though unworthy of Lord Vivian's notice, still relevant
to the case, and that therefore he did not stop the case.
Still further importuned by Lord Vivian, the learned
judge wrote to him to the effect that the counsels remarks
were sarcastic and exaggerated, yet pertinent to the ques-
tion, and such as he could not be prevented from making,
but justifying his lordship in the steps he had taken.
Upon this Mr. Temple published a letter remarking upon
the novelty of the discussion in court on the day after
the trial ; the circumstance of the judge designating his
language as impertinent, yet though sarcastic, perti-
nent to the question, and he thus concludes :—" I
have the most sincere respect for every judge's authority
within its proper and legitimate sphere, and Mr. Justice
Coltman's kindness of disposition and rectitude of purpose
in this matter, 1 cannot for a moment doubt ; but, as a
member of the bar, I must deny and repudiate the right
of any judge, after a case is over, and in the absence of
counsel, to censure remarks made in the performance of
a professional duty. And for any judge to express extra-
judicially his opinion of a prosecution, after the acquittal
of a prisoner, cannot but tend to do an injustice, even if
it did nothing more than afford the opportunity of making
such an logf it, as has been resorted to in the present
instance. ch a departure from the ordinary course
can only ead to endless inconvenience ; instead of re-
straining, it is more likely to induce heat ; and if every de-
feated party is to discuss with the judge the propriety of
the remarks made upon him, and to assail that judge
on the bench, as in this instance, there is no great diffi-
culty in seeing how far the dignity and propriety of such
scenes will tend to assist the due administration of jus-
tice.