Milford chronicle., 1885-01-16

The Judge who said so was quite
right-the court is very draughty, and
when after losing myself for about half
an hour in the wandering passages, ]
found myself in the court. and was
nearly fined for being late. was very
glad to turn up the collar of my coat as
sat there sworn to do my duty, and
listening to the case.
Bless my soul, I could have settled it
all in a quarter of an hour, without
barEiistsesE ia ii wig WITH another barrister
HI another wig, who, was CSS9sissSS was Ills
junior. on the one side, and again an
other harristar with his inninr m the
other side. Then there were lawyers
with blue badges and papers enough to
friehten the Judge, as he sat there, look
ing very cool and comfortable in his wig
and gown, but not frightened bit.
Here was the case in a nutshell.
Joseph Roe wanted to go into partner
shin with John Does son, and John
Does sons brother wrote to him-to his
brother, you know-and says to him:
''Don't you go into partnership with
Joseph Roe, because he's a regular
blackguard. He was in partnership in
the fried fish trade with another man
once, and he spent the money, and neg
Iected the business, and kicked over the
whole concern. SO DON'T you have nothing
to say to him"
Then John Does son goes to Joseph
Roe, and he says, says he "You are
either blackguard or an honest man.
What you've got to do is to prove that
what this letter says is false"-and he
showed him the letter-''or else we
don't go into partnership"
''All right" says Joseph Roe, "I'u
soon do that, " and so he brings an action
for libel against Joe Does sons brother.
And that was the libel case we good
men and true had to try.
You see I've given you that case in
just few words, clear enough, l think;
] Lbut-xnu- should have heard what the
lawyers madssof it. There were the
opening speeches, ans objections
made by the other side, and the s%a.RGi- s.Gi,
nation of witnesses, and then the cross
examination, when a witness would be
asked all kinds of questions about his
private life, and what he had been doing
ever since he could remember, and all
for the opposition side to prove him to
be an utter scoundrel, unworthy Of
notice, or else so ignorant and stupid
that the jury must not believe a word
he said.
Some of the witnesses grew cross, and
the more cross they grew, the easier the
opposing counsel managed them, and
got them to say almost exactly what he
liked.
some OF us Jurymen grew cross, too,
and compared notes, and thought 1t
rater hard for man to be doubted, and
made such a fool of for nothing.
It was as if some of the poor fellows
had been set up there for the amuse-
ment of the public, and every now and
then even the Judge smiled at things
that made me feel very hot.
l felt several times over as if l should
have given Mr.. Barrister something for
himself in the shape of a nasty answer
if I had been the witness, and, one way
and another, I was not in the best OF
tempers for returning a verdict when
the case came to an end.
I need not have troubled myself,
though. The case was not coming to
an end that day, nor yet the next, and
instead of us good men and true being
allowed to go home we were kept in GUS
tody Just as if we had been getting in
trouble, and watched and taken off to a
hotel, and there fed and slept, and then
brought up again the next morning to
sit in that dreary court.
Now, I dare say if I had had twenty
or thirty guineas a day for my attend
ance, and for making a speech and ex-
amining a witness, [ could have made
myself tolerably comfortable; but when
a man has to leave his business day af-
ter day to take care of itself and sit there
in court listening to spun-out arguments
and bubbles and legal lodgings and OBJ
iections it is only natural that one should
get bit sharp and sour.
It sets a mans wits on edge, and
makes him notice everything, and how
the big counsel who are addressing the
gentlemen Of the jury, and are asking
you for a verdict on one side or the 9TH
er, are all the time treating the gentle
men of the jury as if they were what
they have been made-a set of dummies
set up to makea show. They are address
ing "gentlemen of the jury" of course,
but one eye is all the time directed at
the Judge and whenever his lordship
vawns, or is spoken to by some one, or
takes up his pen to make a note the
counsel stops to turn over his brief, or
do something till my lord the judge is
listening again.
I tell you what it is, the longer 1 sat
in that court the palmer it seemed to me
that we we're a set of nonentities, and OF
no consequence at all.
Well, I'm only plain man. I've got
on in the world in my business and I un-
derstand that business: but I don't prt-
tend to know anything about law OF
about giving Judgment over case. /
know how it stands in being right when
I've heard the whole trial, but of course
not so well as a man whose profession it
is to study law and the ins and outs OF
such matters. And yet, all the same, I'm
fetched from my business. stuck in
box with lot of others, to blink like so
many owls taken out of barn, and
made into regular butts, and nothing
more.
Strong language this from man who
was boasting about trial by jury being
the guardian of British liberty? Per-
laps it is; but hadn't been on jury
then.
Well, the trial went on, and, as it
seemed to me, John Does sons brother
only behaved like a brother.
''Here, says he, sis my brother going
into partnership with a man whom I
don't Ike. and don't like him because
I've heard that he played old goose
berry with the fried fish business and
ruined his last partner. think ought
to stop my brother, if can, and I will,
or else be'n be just as badly off as the
other man"
So what does he do but, as I've told
yO1 before, write to his brother.
Well. as a iurvman. don't see that
he did any harm. Perhaps he wrote q
bit too strongly. Perhaps what he said
mightnt have been true. though he be
lieved It was. and of course it was rough