The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1866-05-31
EneIish Iniustiee to Ireland.

l. In enabling the English officers to
pack juries so as always to convict
ID. On the subject Of marriages. Says
the Freeman's journal:
cone of the proposed reforms, recent
" canvassed in Parliament, was a bill
to amend the law relating TO marriages
by Roman Catholic clersymen in Ire
land; prepared and brought in by Mr..
Sergeant Armstrong and Mr.. Bryan,
which we published in last weeks pa
per. AS the law exists, and has been
enforced for the last hundred years
and more, every marriage celebrated
between Papist and any person who
had been or had protested him or her
self to be a Protestant at any time
within twelve months before such cele-
bration of marriage, or between two
Potestants, if celebrated by Popish
priest, should be and was thereby de
clared absolutely null and void, to all
intents and purposes, without any pros
cess, Judgment, or sentence of law
whatsoever. The necessity for a re.
formation OF this enactment has been,
we think, most apily demonstrated in
the case recently decided by the Irish
Court OF Error. The following synop-
sis of the decision is from the Cork
Examiner of the iOth inst.
"A decision of very important char
acter has Just been made by the judges
sitting in the Irish Court Of Error. A
fellow named Fannin, indicted for a
bigsmy and sentenced by Judge Keogh
to FIVE years penal servitude, appealed
against the conviction The ground of
his appeal was that the marriage with
his second wife was illegal, he being q
Protestant al the time, while the wo-
man with whom he knelt before the
altar was a Catholic. IL was true that
he represented himself 10 the priest by
whom they were married, IS a Catholic,
and neither the clergyman nor the Wo-
man he affected to be his wife, had any
reason to doubt the truth Of his state
ment Evidence was, however, given,
that in this represents ton he lied, and
the Jury found that he had been a Pro-
testant though they also found that he
had pretended 10 be a Catholic. twas
upon this finding sentence was passed
upon him, but his counsel argued that
the fraud should save him-that the
fact of his being actually a Protestant,
no matter what representation he made.
invalidated the second marriage. Five
OF the judges were OF opinion that the
intention of the prisoner legalizad the
marriage sufficiently for a criminal con.
viction, while six of their lordships
held that the marrige was not valid in
law, and should, therefore, be treated
as void altogether.
" The fellow escapes, therefore, with
out the punishment Of his guilt Which
side was in the right in its version of
the law we do not pretend to say.
There are authorities for both views
which are Of considerable weight Nor
is il of much consequence, so Ear as the
individual case is concerned, however
indignant one may be, at such rascsli-
ty Escaping scott free But it is ofyery
serious consequence hist such scan
dial should be suffered to exist ss the
statute which is supposed to give sane
ton to this fraud. Now, that in the
abolition Of the Catholic Oath, a general
sweeping Of the cobwebs OF bigotry was
We do not see why a stats
ute should be suffered to exist which
marks out Catholics for a peculiar de-
gradation, and lays a trap to convert q
Catholic priest into a felon. Many of
the Judges, while they felt themselves
coerced 70 obey their Interpretation of
the statute, denounced the scandalous
nature Of its provisions. A bill has
been introduced by private member
into Parliament for its abolition. but
The wrong Is one worthy the special st
tention Of the Government, and ought
not TO be suffered to subsist beyond the
present session.