The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1852-04-13

| 'EANSS" W 49, tiiS i uCIC
upon, the Speaker Of the House
with Committee, went in person tt
summons him. 10 this Captain Of
the Commons, the Chief Justice
replied from his seat that he would
not obey him if he had the whole
House Of Commons in his belly, and
to get out Of court pretty quick, or
he would have him arrested and
lodged in Newgatc.
| He was pronounced in contempt
Of the House Of Commons, and ap,
pcalcd to the House Of Lords, who
purgcd the contempt AID reversed
the decision below. But his Lord.
ship said that he was bound to admit
that his wife was sole Judge Of her
own privileges, and that when size
PRONOUNCED him i'll contempt he was
entirely without remedy. and there
was no appeal to any higher tribunal.
Chief Justice Saunders is well
known to all lawyers, for his admira-
bic Reports. lie was disgusting,
shapclcss lump Of obesity, and in
hot weather the bar were careful to
keep at q respectful distance from
the Chief Justice. lie said no one
could say lie had 80 issue of lis
body, for lie never had less than
nine i'll his back.
Saunders WAS a oooh naturcd.
liberal, jolly fellow, aud although in
possession Of an immense practice,
lie continued to live with very
humble tailor inDntchcr's Row. lie
never married, but had Il rcnchant
Tor the tai!ors wife. When appoint-
cd Chief Justice, his only objection
to accepting the dignity and high
office was. that he Was afraid he
would have to give up his lodgings i'll
Butchers Row, md live more de-
Gently IS Chief Justice.
,,, lle was tc".ar.hoy whcI,
1iSE: htE lihFsst hs s.ss st,Mas Vas.
said, originally Iouii'H.!H""5. IGc
had no ambition, no ayarcc, no
envy, and "as honest az the driven
suow was white lie sought no
pllicc, aud cared nothing about mo-
ncy. In count, and everywhere, he
was a great iiayolitc with the boys.
lie was true to his friends, and they
to him, to the last hour of his life.
lie WAS full Of tricks i'll his practice,
but they were for fun and not for
fraud. He was rather forced Ev the
attorneys to become bar,istcr and
practice those shrewd suggestions
which others could not well com
preheul.
Chirf Justice pcmbclton had a
most chc1ucrcd life. lie spent his
fortune very early in life, and was
thrown in prison for debt, where he
stayed five years. During this time
he quit all his bad habits, lived OIL
bread and water, and made himself il
lawyer. lie dill more than that,
for he paid all Of his debts while in
Jail, by his industry in copying pa
ptrs and giving advice as COUNSEL.
lor. anl arranging the debts and ac-
counts Of his fellow prisoners! lie
borrowed books Of II friend, and
studied hard, and rcncdicd the de-
iec,s Of his education.
lis rise at the bar was rapid
one. He was made Chief Justice
and disgraced, without any cause on
his part. Thrice was he removed by
the hand Of arbitrary power from the
bench, and each time he returned to
the practice CT the law. After trying
Lord Russell, he was counsel for
seven Bishops, whose trial produced
the revolution IN England, and the
elevation Of William and Mary to
the tAro,:c.
Chief Justices Scraegs, next to
Jclfroys, is considered the most in.
famous Judge who ever sat OH the
English Bench. Nor was he much
behind that monster, i'll his judicial
atrocities. Lord Campbell says,
"Scraggs had excellent natural aJili.
ties, but was proiligatc i'll his habits,
brutal i'll his manners, with only
one rule to guide him, & regard to
what he considered his own interest.
without a touch ofhumanity- wholly
impcnetrable to rcmorsc" 1t was
said that he was the son Of butcher
and being accustomed to kill calves
AMI lambs when a boy, it gave him a
taste for blood whilst on the Bench.
Sir William Dugdalc states that
"Sir William Scraggs was the son o
a one eyed butcher, and his mother
was a biz fat woman with a red nose
! like an ale wife But Cambpcl
says this solution Of Scrasys' taste
for blood is q pure fiction, "for he
was born and bred q gcn,Icman!'
This he may hayc been, Ike thou
sands Of others. born aud bred q
gentleman, without ever having bee.