Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-11
THE LAW OF HANDSHAKING.
The Ofense of Shaking a Hand Against
the Owners VIII.

tho ONHcrs WILL
The following paragraph from an Eng
lish paper points moral which has long
been neglected: "At the Thames Police
Court on Monday Edward Lowcock was
charged with disorderly conduct A police
Sergeant stated that on Tuesday. as the
Prince of Wales was on his return journey
from the Peoples Palace at the East End,
the prisoner rushed through the police
rank, caught hold of the royal carriage,
and tried to shake hands with the Prince.
Witness caught him, but not before the
carriage had knocked him down. The
prisoner said he was carried away with en-
thusiasm, He was ordered to keep the
peace"
Careful observers of human nature have
long foreseen that the mad love OF shaking.
hands which characterizes the Anglo-Saxon
race would, sooner or later, result in some
such catastrophe as this. But the English
Judiciary has risen to the emergency, and
as the result q new bulwark is erected in
defense of individual rights. Jurists on
both sides of the water have hailed the de-
cision in the case of Lowcock as establish
ing this hitherto undeclared principle that
to shake hands with man against his will
is breach OF the peace, and may be pun
ished accordingly. 1t makes no difference,
of course, that in this particular case the
heir to the throne was the person assaulted.
In such matters the common law of Eng
land recognizes 10 distinction between the
King and his meanest subject To break
into a royal palace and steal the crown
from under the Kings pillow would be
nothing more than burglary, and crime
no greater than that of making similar
entry into peasants hut. In the same
way il will, since the decision in re. Low
cock, be held breach OF the peace to shake
hands with any unwilling subject of the
British Empire.
1t is no wonder that this case is said to
have created fiutter in London clubs.
Several notorious bores have already been
threatened with police prosecution, and a
complaint of assault and battery was lodged
last week by Tory barrister against Lib
eral candidate for Parliament, who, under
q mistake as to the barrister's political
views, had solicited his vote and wrung his
hand with hypocritical fervor. The fact
is that this new decision will hit politicians
harder than it will any other class; and
if the precedent in Lowcock's case should
be followed in this country, it would occa-
sion something very like a revolution in
political methods Who is not familiar
with the public mans shake of the hand?
Who has not fiinched under the pressure
not seen him tumbling over intervening
chairs in his eagerness to grasp the hand
of some newly introduced constituent?
What will become of him if it is in the
power of any cynic or Mugwump or disap
pointed worker" to have him up in Court
and bound over to keep the peace for all
unlawful attempt TO shake hands? Let
civil service reformer5 consider the adj
visibility of embodying the law of Low
cocks case in the statutes of the United
States.
Collateral principles, also, ofnearly equal
importance would seem to flow from this
decision. If it be assault and battery to
shake a mans hand against his will, it
must be q crime of some sort to buttonhole
and detain him by main force. Nor will
there be anything unusual in his develop
ment of legal principle. Students of his
tory are familiar with the manner in which
the common law of England is made re-
sponsive to the changing conditions of So
ciety. Whenever the new application of a
law becomes necessary, some Judge, more
acute or more bold than his fellows, is sure
to find something which, if not a precedent,
can be made to wear an appearance of being
SUCH so as to satisfy the conservative in
stincts of the bench. This has been the
course in Loweock's case. 1t was always
illegal TO rush up to n man without per-
mission, expressed or implied), and rudely
twist or squeeze his leg hereafter it will
equally be crime to infict the same vic
lence upon his hand, and, before long, we
may expect q judicial decision to the effect
that buttonholing also is an offense against
the peace and order of society, and punish
able by fine or imprisonment.-BoSt i'd
rertiSer..
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