The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-08 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL QUARTER SESSIONS

The genera,
borough of Liverpool commenced yesterua,,
House, before JAMES CLARKE, Esq., recorder.
The following gentlemen were sworn the grand jury :
JOSEPII KING, Esq., of Roscommon-street, share-broker

court 01

quarter sessions of the peace for the
in the Sessions

Foreman.
Thomas Bouch, Bcerton•valley, broker.
James Gibson Carter, Nethertield-road, distiller

1-lenry Cleaver Chapman, Sliaw-street, merchant,
Robert H orsfall , Nethertield-road, broker.
George Holt, India-buildings, cotton-broker.

Jaruei Elarvey, jun., Catherine-street,
Thos. Duckworth [ledlam, Exchange-st., insurance-broker
Richard Johnson, Catherine-place, coal-proprietor.
William Livesey, Roscommon-street, share-broker.
James Lister, Great Mersey-street, banker.

gentleman

Thomas M`Gill, Percy-street, merchant.
John Miller, Netherfield-road, merchant.
John Woolford Molyueux, Brougham-terrace
George Quayle, Shaw-street, merchant.

!, rectifier

Joseph Elias Mozley, Lord-street, banker.
William Laycock, Fazakerley-street, merchant
James Gilfillan, Oldhall-street, merchant.

Mr. James Duncan, of India-buildings; Mr. Chas. Lor-
rimer, of Everton ; Mr. William Oxley, of Rumford-place ;
Mr. James Holbrook Smith, of Rodney-street; and Mr.
James Foster, of Rodney-street, were summoned on the
grand jury, but they did not answer to their names.
The RECORDER, on being informed of the names of these
gentlemen, said that the administration of. the law mainly
depending upon the attendance of the grand jury, it was of
the utmost consequence that they should appear in court.
The gentlemen who had not appeared must be fined £5 each.
The CLERK of the PEACE then read the proclamation
against vice, profaneness, and immorality ; after which
The RECORDER delivered his charge to the Grand Jury.
On taking into consideration how lately it was that they had
assembled in that court for the administration of the laws, be
could not but consider that the present calendar was very
heavy and serious. It was scarcely eight weeks since they
had assembled in that place for the administration of the law.
Many of the cases were of a very serious nature, and would
require from the hands of the grand jury a good deal of care-
ful investigation. There were two cases which he was very
sorry to see in the calendar ; one was No. 58, 59, 60, and 61,
and the amount of property stolen appeared to him to have
been very large. The parties were charged with having
stolen three £5O, one £lO, two £lO, and five £5 Bank of
England notes, the property of William Douglas, from his
person. When he read the depositions in this case, he was
very sorry to see, that great as had been the loss to the party,
it had arisen altogether from his own improvidence. Going
as he had into a house of improper character with all this
amount of money upon him, the natural consequence was,
that when he left he might expect to find himself stripped of
it. Four persons, he observed, were included in the indict-
ment; and they would have an opportunity of collecting
from the prosecutor in what state he was in at the time the
robbery took place. He (the Recorder) was assured the
man was at that time under the influence of liquor, and
whether, under these circumstances they could be able safely
to bring the charge home against all the prisoners was a mat-
ter of some doubt, because, when a party went into such
places with his mind and intelligence almost gone, it fell upon
the jury carefully to investigate the circumstances, so that
persons were not included in the indictment who were not
connected with the charge. They would find the bill only
against those who were involved in the crime of robbing
this man. There was another case of the same descrip-
tion, Nos. 78 and 79 in the calendar. There the parties
were charged with stealing one £2O and three £5 Bank of
England notes and three sovereigns, the property of George
• Pennell. He believed that this person was not under the
influence of liquor, but very improperly went into a place of
the same description, and was there robbed in the same kind '
of way. Now, all these sort of robberies arose from the im-
providence of the parties themselves, but although they
suffered, no doubt severely, from the loss of their property,
yet, let the grand jury look how much the country suffered.
The encouragement thus given to crime by improvident per-
sons was almost illimitable; and it was in vain to talk about
improving the morals of the people when persons themselves
were so careless and improvident. Indeed, they encouraged
the very crime into which the grand jury were now called
upon to enquire whether it had been committed or not; they
themselves begot the crime, and not only that, but they fas-
tened the community with the very heavy charge of prose-
cuting parties when the crime had altogether arisen from
their own folly. He was happy to see that there were fewer
cases of burglary in the calendar than in any he had lately
known. He did not find a single case of robbery in a ware-
house, a circumstance which was a matter of high gratifica-
tion to him. And he might. as well tell the grand jury, be-
cause it struck him very forcibly, that if merchants wished
their property in warehouses to be untouched, they must
themselves exercise the greatest vigilance and care over it.
They must go in from time to time and examine their pro-
perty, with this particular object, and also they must be very
vigilant and careful about the character of the warehousemen
whom they employed, because warehousemen were setting
up—and he told the grand jury of it honestly, because the
fact had come within his own knowledge—a kind of system
and rule, that they might take any kind of goods out of the
warehouse, and dispose of them as they thought proper for
their own benefit. This had got to such a length that
the parties who received the goods from them were alleging,
by way of extenuation, that the merchants themselves allowed
their warehousemen to take the property, and that when it was
brought to them they thought they were at liberty to receive
it from them. It was high time that this practice should be
checked; and as far as these kind ofcas
powereseaine twithinoprevehnist
observation, he would do every thing in his
theta ; but at the same time, the merchants must exercise
care, vigilance, and caution, for no plan could be a substitute
for their want of diligence.
Tile police were very good, but
they could not supply that care and vigilance which were
of iironertv_ At th.

necessary on the part of the own,n ‘,•
last sessions he was under the painful necessity of transport-
ing a grocer for feloniously receiving goods, and he set up
this kind of plea, that the warehouseman was a highly re-
spectable man, and that he was the real bona fide owner of
the property. The learned recorder then recited the circum-
stances of this case, and urged the jury from them to con-
sider the necessity of caution and vigilance on the part of
warehouse-owners being constantly practised. After a few
remarks upon one or two other cases of slight importance
the recorder dismissed the grand jury to their labours.
The traverse jury was then impannelled, and the trials
commenced shortly afterwards ; but none that occurred
during the day were of the slightest general interest.

The calender contains the names of 121 persons charged
with felony, and 16 with misdemeanours and assaults,—
total, 137.