The Statesman.
London, England, 1813-08-20 00:00:00

LAW INDELL►
COURT OF CIWCF

EN-PIRTE (:ARittriusus, tic T 1
Mr. HART stated this to be ,
parto6f
It:7 Petitioner, to be alio
or ii 7
against; the bankrupt
and Co. The Petitioner was
dmotig others, hail,been in ,'
discounts of bills for a gent
Bromer, now deceased: This
own money, for be had it• not, but by discounting
them with others.. • Mr. Bromer delivered to the Pe-
titioner to get discoanted for him, two bills, amounting
,alto..ether to 17641. drawn by the, house of Paton,
Gill, and Co. upon, and accepted by, Messrs. Sharp
and Sons. The Petitioner, as Bromer's agent, did get
the bills discouhted by the Bank of England, and,
after deducting the sum paid for the discount, and
31. 2s. Sd. ,as a commission of one-eighth per cent.
for the Petitioner's trouble, he paid over the amount
to Mr. Bromer. Sharp and Sons, and Gill and.Co*.•
both became bankrupt before the bills fell'due; and;'
in consequence of the Petitioner's having indorsed
them, they were returned upon him,. and he swam
obliged to pay them. Ile, in consequatieso fame
and offered to prove thope bills upon the eitatt or
the present bankrupt; hut his proof was objected to,
and was rejected by the Commissioters. It was al-
leged as, the ground of this rejection, that the Petr 2
tioner, in
.discounting the bills, had charged this
one-eighth per cent.. more than the legal interests—
The Petioner's answer was, that he did not discount
the bills himself—he was merely employed as an agent
'to get them discounted, and he received the 1-eighth.
per cent. as a commission for his agency. It. Ms
I said, however, that the Petitioner was not a benkel,
not having been sworn as such by the Lord Mayor ;.
and besides, that the Batik -of England made it a
rule not to discount bills for brokers. What signi-
fied that, however, if the Bank had, in the presets;
instance,--discounted these bills for the Petitioner,
who was a broker. • In acting as n broker.without
having been registered as such, the Petitioner might-
have exposed himself to penalties ; but that would.,
not make nut that he had entered into a contract for-
more than legal interest.
Mr. Leacit and Mr. Coos follosejed on the same.,
side. 1J
:4:ir SAMUEL RoMTLI.Y said, this was II very short
question. Ilad the Petitioner acted as an . agent
'merely, or had he assumed that character as a con-,
ttivance through which to get more than the legal ).ii-
terest ?—The Bank took from the Petitioner but
five per cent. and the Petitioner took from Bromer
51 per cent. On the question whether he acted as a
broker or not, much, or rather nil, depended ; and
this was. il fact which could best be collected from
the prominent circumstances which here presented
themselves. These circumstances were) first, that
I the Petitioner was no broker, not . being registered
or sworn as such by the Lord Mayor ; and, se-
; condly, that the Bai:k never discounts for brokers,
and yet they discounted these bills for the Peti-
t tioner.
Mt. hfcerrAou, on the same side, observed, that'
! there was a wholesome statute'against usury—a word
which they used sometimes to he of in mercantile '
transactions, though ' now the word commission had
unaccountably, and on .41 occasions, usurped its
place. The Petitioner here stated, that the bill was
1 - not discounted with his own money—for he had
none. That, too, was now a fashionable pretext
with usurers. in imitation of a money-lender in a
celebrated Comedy—they had no money, but muse
borrow it of a friend. That friend iu the play was
ian unconscionable dog, and must have .25 per cent.
, and so, he had no doubt, would these Modem usurers,
if they could accomplish it.
Mr. HART, in rly, contended that it Was not'
disputed the Petitioner had not money himself to
discount. the bill i and, though he had, by indors-
! iiig.it, incurred a' liability to pay it, and had actually
paid it, that could not alter the character in which he
I acted;
1 The Loan CHANCELLOR thought this a question
•of fact for a Jury. He confessed, indeeds that his '
i own
_opinion was formed; but, thinking that it was
a case for a Jury, he should not declare that o*. '
nion. '
I Mr. HART asked, that the issue might be tried in
i the Common Pleas ? He also submitted, as Mr...
Bromer was dead, that Mr. Carruthers, who was the
only other peron acquainted with the original con.
Itract, might be examined as a witness ?
The Lunn CHANCELLOR directed that the issue
should be tried in the Common Pleas ; but, could
not give any order for examining Mr. Carruthers.
Mr. HART observed, that if the Petitioner failed
in making out his case, it would be a decision going
to affect very fair and bona fide transactions iu the
city of Logician,. to the extept of little short of a mil-
lion of money, -".7 ' ' ' -

The Lunn CHANCELLOR could not help that. lie
believed many things which amounted to usury were
esteemed fair.
EX-PARTE OLIVER, IN THE MATTER OF OLIVER.
The bankrupt in this case, who had been com-
mitted by the Commissioners to the gaol of New-
gate, for giving an account in his examination as to
an item in his accounts, to the amount of 4061.
Which the Commissioners did not believe, and who
had been ordered to be brought up by Habeas Cor.
pus, for the judgment of the Lord Chancellor, on the
propriety of the commitment, was brought intoTourt
last night at six o'clock, in the custody of 'Mr. New-
lean, Keeper of Newgate. The warrant of com-
mitment being read—
Sir .S.RostiLty and Mr. CuitiN were heard in
support of the writ of Habeas Corpus, contending,
that besides acting prematurely, in not going into
.the full examination of the bankrupt on the general
state of his' affairs, of which the item in question
"mined so very trifling a part, the answers given by
Abe bankrupt to tne questions put to him, we're not
*cif as ought to have led to the conclosiott which
ellie Commissioners had drawn from them, namely,
that they must necessarily harelleen false.
I.xXott and Mr. MoterAcivr, 'on the part of
the Atsignees, entered largely 'lnto the A:Wiliess
and duties of the Commissioner., whose previnco
it was to act on" their .own judgment delibeittely
and dispassioinately formed on the evidence" ' tire
them, On tit hith ; ney •lieve called to ,:coninift a
bankrupt, if the account given by him as ton

triWtatl,loll in relation 'l4 which ‘,
which tho,liankrept had been committed, Many Mr-
cumatinqes.svhich weat to prove (be fals4ad 'of the
whore story. &Wide' the imprqbability, of. the story
itself, there was in it this extroordinql feature,. that
the sum Mid to be the' stipulated
,prick of 'this un:
known person's silence, had bees paid- at different
periods of time the last payload on the very eve ofi
bankruptcy, or after dos commission of bankrupt had
issued • and what was also extraordinary, this. peer;
whom nobody knew, the bankrupt admitted he
had seen twice since the period of the last payment
to him. Their Learned Friendli on the other side.
laboured under a great misteke, in supposing that'
Abe. Commissioners bad not at all proceeded to en.
quire into the general state of the bankrupt's atridest
They had done so and, if it were not that in os
doing they might be prejudicing. the bankrupt lu a
may which might seem irrelevant to the decision of the'
question upon the'writ bf habeas Coypus, they could'
show, that the whole had been a scene of
.plandoeo
'throughout, thite being claims to the amount Of.
10001. with not mere than 15001. epplidahle to a,
dividend ;that, 'en the very eve of bankruptcy, the
bankrupt had made large purchases of wine, on
credit, and immediately sold the same again for
ready money, of which there was a great defalcation:
..-rOne item in the accounts runs thus--r' Loss ott
wide, 10001."
Sir S%MuxL ROMILLT having. replied,
• The LORD Cniscai.Lion declared himself to be .dst,
cidedly of opinion; that the Cemmissioneis had
steppedfar short of that enquiry which they were re.
quired to make, and ought to have made. They
were to put all proper questions, and there were
many questions which, in the circumstances of
the case, it seemed proper they should have put, and
which they had not put. The bankrupt on such a
subject as this, needed not have crimivated himself.
Ile might have refused to answer the question, and
then the Commissioners would have committed hint
for refusing to answer. He had, however, chosen
to criminate.hinwelf as far as he could be criminate('
in the transaction; and having done so, the Com-
missioners ought to have gone on with 'all proper
.questions calculated to satisfy and confirm, or to re-
Move their disbelief, if they then disbelieved the story
told by the bankrupt. They ought, to have asked
'him, for instance, if he had enquired at the Land-
lord, or any of the persons belonging to the
Plough, in Smithfield, where he went to meet the
man, if they knew any thing about him. They
ought even, he thought, to have gone on to a
very delicate enquiry, namely, as to the name of
the woman with whom the connection alluded to
as alleged to have taken place, that no means of
coming to the truth of the story, which it %vas
possible to resort to, might have been neg:ected.—
ht these respects, he tholight the Commissioners
had been defective in their examination, and there-
fore that-they must proceed in the farther exami-
nation of the bankrupt. As to the question, whether
the bankrupt should be liberated in the mean time,
anxious as he was that no infringement on the liberty
of the subject even
.for an hour should unnecessarily
be occasioned through his means, he must beg the
'short interval between this and twelve o'clock to-
Morrow forenoon to make up his mind upon that
subject. He had no hesitation in saying, the
question as to the satisfactory and unsatisfactory na-
lure of the answers given by the bankrupt being now
removed from the tribunal of the Commissioners to
that of his Lordship, that upon him new must de-
volve the task of saying whether the examination
was or was not satisfactory to his ;mind. There
were very suspicious circumstances about the case,
but his Lordship should take care that his mind
should not be swayed by a single circumstance arising
out of the four corners of the warrant of commit-
ment. As to the bankrupt's not being able to find
Lout the Cloy, there was nothing in that ; the boy was
not a messenger employed by him ; and as to his not
.being able to produce the notes which he had re-
ceived from the, man, demanding the second pay
.mentt instead of thinking that a suspicious circum-
stance, his Lordship should rather have expected
such a document to have been carefully destroyed
than preserved. Having thus far relieved tho -ques-
tion, he must take till-tomorrow to decide as to the
,question of the liberation of the bankrupt in the
mean time; and accordingly ordered that he bo re-
Inaiided andabroight up again to-morrow morning at
12 o'clock.

DUEL PREVENTED.—Iti consequence of a mis-
understanding and wtrm altercation at the County
Court-house, on Wednesday, between Counsellors
O'CoNsti.t. anti NIAGRATII, the parties met early on
the following morning, at a field adjoining the Old
•Windmill. Mr. O'Gonst.tm, who attended Mr.
O'ComsELL, and Mr. BenNETT, who attended Mr.
MAGRATII, measured the ground, -aed the parties
were immediately placed on it. A. number of Gen-
tlemen here interfered, and, after much conversation,
Mr. O'GORMAN consented, that the business should
be adjusted, on Mr. MAunnu's declaring from his
ground, with a loaded pistol in his hand, that he la-
mented what passed,, and was sorry for it. Here
Mr. LEADER threiv in, requesting, that as M.
O:CONNELL,was well known to entertain no enmity
to Mr. MAGRATIF 'he should say, on coming to his'
ground, theibe.was about to fight a man against
whom he. entertained no enmity. This proposal
treated some pause; but Mr. O'GoltatAtti at length.,
on the earnest interference of mutunl friends, as.
sented. Lothr Gentlemen then came ou the ground,
with loaded pistols. in their hands, and having corn.
plied with the above terms, immediately advanced,
amidst the loudest acclamations of all .persons pre.
tint.. rn! shook bands. They. then stepped into the ,
iite. carriage, and returned to torn together.--Thus
ended an qtfair, which created .a deep iatoveat,4*
She'public mind, front tke estimitlost4444
.whie typt
Gentlemen sere

•
-
-•-
LiGENCE. • Pelt, .of Ma POPPet74 .was not 1410.1"91:thele ,„•-t!
minds. It was net. enough . tf,4:" •
CEItY; Ava.l9. _ itheseei kiiirqbestion pat to •
..t4 ilsswer .
TIIE MATTER III,PATON. given mesa bet loth es td 'Stove eatieisitsity:to the
,
Ile an applkadon on the s...ommteemetif ifter,they,flad compiled* egth
allowed to prove a debt, the, intAniic exidea4,l assi.alle with walaiwaic and * this e,
ipt estate of Paton; collatrAl„ciTcpmstances. they coninells wreeg. the Mayor
was a bill-broker, ;Ind.,. 'ooitcluirov;
.then did the remedy lie to hit lordship; .Atemdel, g
the habit• of procuring or, if ItnproTiernisstices could be traced to them, then. rower; tpo
itleman of the name of might their conductlie made the subject of judicial and retorp
his he did, not oat of his enquiry . lir an aitioti'at law: There were; In the The Plaint
nnt• hnt hv discounting I transaction In radials :1e which the ezeolestkie oh" Ilene@ of hi