The New York herald., 1879-11-30
IMPORTANT JUDICIAL DECISION.
The Master Of the Rolls Delivers
His Judgment.
LEGAL LORE FOR LONDON CLUBS
Technical Irregularities in the Commit
tees Proceedings
[BY CABLE TO THE HERALD ]


LONDON, Nov. 20, 1879.
Mr.. Labouchere's war with the Beefsteak
Club seems likely to be added to the list of
English causes cfleJres. His appeal to the Mas
ter Of the Rolls has been successful. The
grounds of it were that club members could take
no official cognizance of newspaper articles 4;
that two-thirds of those actually present must
have voted against him, and that fourteen days
notice-not thirtcen-should have been given.
Sir George Jessel, the Master of the Rolls, in
delivering Judgment in the case, expressed his
astonishment that with such plain rules as they
had before them persons of such social position
md knowledge as the committee of the club
could imagine that they were pursuing the
direction given in the rules. The objections by
the plaintiff, he said, are very numerous. In
all the eases before him he did not remember one
in which there were SO many as in this, and he
had come to the conclusion that every one was
well founded. The Master of the Rolls said
that he would first take the main objection,
which was very serious one, indeed. 1t was
rule of the club, expressed in these terms:-
In case the conduct Of any member, either in
or out OF the club shall, in the opinion of the
committee, after inquiry, be considered in
furious to the welfare and interest of the club,
the committee shall call upon him to resign If
refused something else had to be done.
THE QUESTION OF REsIGNING.
But, said the Master Of the Rolls, he would
stop here. 1t was very serious thing for q
member of a club to be called upon to resign
Therefore this rule was guarded by this-that
the committee were not to form an opinion
without inquiry. What did that meant What
kind of inquiry was there to be9 1t was not
meant, he supposed, that they were to take
up newspaper in order to sec if Mr.. A.
or Mr.. B. had written letter OF had been taken
before q police court for drunkenness. If it
did it might happen that the wrong man was
charged, because it was well known that men
had given the name of a friend or an enemy in
stead of their own. That was not, therefore, the
should be fair inquiry into the truth of the
facts, and he was only astonished that any col
lection of English gentlemen, who, he ethought, if
distinguished for one thing more than another,
was for common sense, should have thought
that any other inquiry was meant. That being SO,
what ought they to dot When the conduct Of q
member was impugned they ought to inquire into
the facts and see what his conduct has been,
and what excuse or reason could be given by
the member for that conduct-that is, they
ought to give notice to the member, if they
could. that his conduct was about to be inquired
into, and give him an opportunity of stating his
case. He would be sorry were it to be supposed
that the trainers of the rule intended by these
words to express any other meaning. He was
satisfied they did not and the construction he
put upon it was not merely that which the
words conveyed but that which was intended
by the trainers should be conveyed
THE ACTION OF THE COMMITTEE.
What had the committee done in this case 2
According to the affdavits, all they did was
this-They had brought before them the letter,
written by the plaintiff, complaining of the
conduct of another member toward him AS
being injurious to the club, and they also had
brought before them a newspaper, of which the
plaintiff was proprietor, containing letter. As
to the terms of this letter it was not for him to
express an opinion, but ho was by no
means disposed to say that those terms
might not have been properly condemned,
properly ccnsured by the committee, as,
il appeared, had been done. Nothing that
he said must be taken as impugnng the
soundness of their judgment in that respect.
But they did not tell Mr. Labouchere that his
conduct was to be brought before them for con.
sidcraton, and though they adjourned the
meeting to a future day and wrote him n letter
in the meantime, they did not say "Your con-
duct will be investigated at the next meeting,
and we shall then consider whether or not you
ought to be turned out of the club" which was
what they had to consider. Nothing Of
the sort They wrote him letter ac-
knowledgins his letter of accusation of the 4th
inst, and stating that committee meeting
would be held to consider the matter of the let
ter, and that in the meantime he must under
take not to make any attack on any member of
tho club In any publication. This was perfectly
intelligible and, If he might say so, quite right,
because Mr. Labouchere, while awaiting the law
Of the committee, was not to take the law into
his own hands.
THE MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE.
On the 18th of October the committee held
tic meeting Mt which was passed the resolution