The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-01-16 00:00:00

LONDON LAW REPORT.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH.—Tunsnii.
IMPORTANCE OF A VOTE.

Mr. Maule moved for a writ of habeas carpus on behalf of a
person now in custody, who, it appeared, had a vote for the
county of Radnor. 'I he learned gentleman said that the public
was interested in the :present application, inasmuch as that a
proper persdn to he elected as a knight of the 'shire to serve in
parliament-was of the highest importance to 'it. was nd-
cessary in order to sustain civil or criminal ca.ses,to produce'
witnesses, and in the 'present case .4 was equally so that a per-,
son to whom the law had entrusted the high privilege of the;
franchise should have an opportunity of using it for the good of
his country, by giving it to a deserving candidate.
Mr. Justice Williams said that, perhaps when the person for'
whom the application. had been made had got to :the place of
election the candidate for his sufferage might not be the right'
one.
Mr. Malik said he would not undertake to say•to which side'
of the question he would devote himself.
The Lord Chief Justice saw no foundation for the'applica-.
tion. A short time ago a similar one had been made to him,,
but upon inquiry he found that it was not worthy of being en-
, tertained.

Mr. Justice Littledale asked how the sheriff would like the'
court to interfere in the matter ? An escape ralklit be effected.
—Motion refused.

BAIL 'COURT-.
SEDUCTION—COLDBAM V. SIB ROBERT GILL, KNIGHT.
This was an action brought by the father of a Teniale, aged;
seventeen, named Ann Coldharu, to recover damages for the
lois which the-plaintiff allegedhe had sustained by; being de-
prived of her services. The case was stated by ,Mr: Platt, and,
the evidence, as given bv the daughter; an interesting girl, was
as follows :—That she -had been on the., 26th of May tO' St.
James's Church to be confirmed, when, ou her. return, she met;
the defendant in St. James's-street, who walked with her'into
Grosvenor-square and at parting wished her to Aneet.him again,
but she refused. In about a fOrtnight she accidentally met him
again as she was returning froni the Bank. They then walked
together, when, in the course .of conversation, which was chiefly
about marriage, the defendant persuaded her to Meet him again.
It then appeared 'that she went several times out with him in
his cab, driving , round the Regent's-park :arid Hydepark..
During these rides he .talked of the inutility- of naarria_ge as being'
merely a civil ceremony, for that' he had searched the' scrip-
tures, and could not find it named; that'it was an unnecessary
form. Witness replied, "It is a form of the world artd we
should abide by it; " but he said most of the nobility and gentry
:were married solely for the sake of properti which might pass
from one to the other, and that those who lived together true, as
if married,. were more' truly man and wife in the.eyes of God
than if they actually conformed to the idle rules of the world.
They had several meetings and rides, generally stpiping out
two hoOrs. At length he prevailed on her to quit her parents'
roof, under the pretext that'she was going to visit a,Cboolfelloiv,
but she told her mother she was going as companion to a young
lady of the name of Smith at Itamsgate, who had. a house at
.Worthing. The defendant took her down to Shenley Lodge,
..where she remained ten days;. the only servant there then was
the gardener's wife; from thence he took her to York Cham-
bers, St. James's-street, and introduced her to MiSs 'Jane Cdoper
as a milliner going t-'.aris to learn the fashions, and they all
proceeded there tog Mer. While in Paris she- was yery un-
,happy, and he told her thathe did not like to see. her' sO very
uncomfortable; that she was a pest to him;' that she might rid
herself of all her troubles by drowning herself. They afterwards
,carne to Loudon, and frwis thence went. to Shenley' Lodge;
where he then had a groom and three female servants. One of
them, the housemaid,_Sophia Dickenson, he said. he had seduced
at the age of fourteen; She was then' sixteeti:' Her Mother at
length found out her retreat, and on the 17th of October Wok
'her away.
- A letter written, after her quitting Shelny; by the defendant
was read ; it, was of somelen.gt4, full of moral reflections as to
the duty Of a repentant' child being acceptable in the eyes of
God, and counselling her to stay with her parents, for that she
was a most honourable, amiable, worthy. and virtuous
The Attorney-general addressed the ury for the
jdefendant,
admitting that a rennet' irilist go against him; but he hoped,
under the circumstances, the jury, would' give small damages.
The letter in question (upon which the plaintiff hadcommeuted
.in stion,g terms as.to its hypocrisy) the learned counsel consi-
dered affordeda very strong• proof of the moral' and religious
feelings of the defendant in his calmer moments, not that he
meant to defend the conduct of hiS client. Even that great
moralist, Dr.. Johnson, had said upon a similar occasion, when
amorals of loose oriAs was twitted for his hypocrisy, "Why,
sir, I think that was a redeeming point in his, favour; he weuld
not,corrupt her mind, though he had dishonoured her person."
Mr. Justice Patteson said the plaintiff was entitled .to a, ver-
dict. As to the letter it could not impose upon any one, nor
his declaration about marriage being an "idle ceremony," ex-
cept up(prthe mind of so,young a.girl.
The jury retired to consider the amount of damages, and
after being out some time returned with a verdict fOr the plain-
.tiff.—Damages, £3OO. . .
The damages were laid at £5OO. The trial occupied nearly
! the whole of the day.