The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-11 00:00:00

GREAT PROP ERTY CASE.

Our readers will remember, that the cause Malone v. O'Con-
nor, in which property to the amount of £15,000 to £20,000
per annum is Invol,, eCI, has been before the Irish equity and
law courts for several years. Mr. Richard Malone Raymond,
one of the lessees of the Liver Theatre, in Liverpool, is the
eldest brother of the plaintiff, and is, of course, deeply in
terested in the final issue of the suite, all the issues hitherto
having been in favour of the plaintiff. The only other pro-
cess is an appeal t, the House of Lords, but it is not likely
that the trustees will proceed to this the last resort of litigants.
The following report of the latest proceedings will, under
e circurnstaßcts,be istikrtstip.: to our locAl readers.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, DEC. 4.
SITTINGS AT NISI PRIUS AFTER TERM.
(Before Mr. Justice Crampton.)
Malone v. O'Connor.
His Lordship entered the court at half-past ten o'clock,
when, the names of the jurors being called over, this case
was proceeded with.
The handwriting of the Rev. Patrick Smith, who performed
the ceremony of Marriage in 'Townsend-street Chapel, was
identified by his brother as were also the registry books by
the clerks who filled that office at different periods. The entry
of the baptism of the plaintiff, at Wexford. was also proved
by a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Barry, now Catholic curate of
the town of Wexford.
The different documents were then entered as read, subse-
quent to the decision of the Lord Chancellor; after which
the plaintiff's case closed, and, there being no defence gone
into,
His Lordship addressed the jury. Gentlemen (he ob-
served,) I have little on the present occasion to observe to you,
in consequence, as you have been told, of no appearance
being entered into by the defendant. The only question for
you to try is, whether the proposition contained in the issue
sent from the Court of Chancery has been maintained by the
evidence you have heard, or, in other words, whether John
Malone, of Coburg-place, in the city of Dublin, is the heir of
Richard Malone, who was son of another Richard, the brother
of the Right Hon. Anthony Malone, to whom the property
belonged. It appears by the evidence, that the plaintiff m
this issue is the son of Captain Malone, by a Miss Moore,
between whom a marriage took place, performed by a degraded
Roman catholic clergyman, if you believe the evidence which
she gave on that table. It appeared also, that, from that pe-
riod up to his death, he regarded her in the character of a
wife; but you must observe, that the ceremony performed by
this clergyman was null and void, inasmuch as it was one be-
tween a Protestant and a Roman Catholic, by a Catholic
priest, which is the act of the 19th of Geo. 11., chap. 13, unless
either of the parties shall have conformed twelve months prior
to the ceremony. You have learned from the evidence given,
that, after the marriage at the Tyrell's Pass, they resided in
Dublin, whence three children were born to them. That, cab-
sequently, they went to Preston, in the year 1801, where ano-
ther child was born, and afterwards repaired to the town of
Wexford, where they had two others, one of whom, a female,
was born, and the present plaintiff, in 1805. Gentlemen of
the jury, there are three propositions in this case which you
are bound to try : first, whether there was a marriage in point
of fact celebrated after the birth of the plaintiff's two eldest
brothers and before his own ; and, thirdly, was it valid, ac-
cording to the statute law of the land. With respect to all
these questions you have had abundance of evidence, which,
if you believe, undoubtedly you will find a verdict for the
plaintiff. Bridget Malone tells you, that one of the conditions
upon which she consented to marry him was, that he should
become a Roman Catholic in one fortnight, and that he did
so in the Roman Catholic chapel, in Liffey-street, wherewith
he had received the Holy Communion, according to the rites
of the Roman Catholic church. She then states his going
afterwards, at least forty times; of his habit of frequenting the
Roman Catholic chapel of Preston; and, finally, of his being
attended in his last moments by a Roman Catholic clergyman,
from whom he received the last rites of religion. The learned
Judge then called the attention of the jury to the portion of
the evidence as applicable to the issue, and concluded.
The jury retired to the jury-room, and, in half an hour,
came into court with a verdict, to the effect, that John Ma-
lone, the plaintiff, was heir-at-law to Richard, son of Richard,
the brother of the Right Hon. Anthony Malone.
Thus was the second issue terminated.

ROLLS' COURT.-WEDNESDAY.