The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-08-08
KISSING CASES.
Proceedings Brought About

sai Proceedings Brought About by
Some Oscillation.
Frhe grave and dignified members OF
thu legal profession appear to derive
mich amusement from the subject OF
kisses, which comes before them most
frequently in the form of superb bun
int supply of crosses in the letters of
vers, when these are being read--as
fYley never were intended to be-iu
|tsourt, in breach of promise cases. The
Hfearned gentleman who has at the mo-
etnent the business i'll hand of reading
|vnloud one of these wonderful produc-
Moons generally pauses when he comes
go the first stop in the gushing effusion,
Pyhere the enamored swain has found
e-c2rds too weak to express his senti-
e ats. supplying their place with a
s ing of symbolic oscillations. and
With well-f .igned look of innocence,
s,sls there is here a gap in the letter,
W lch the defendant has filled in
we'h lot of ks" regarding the mean
ing of which some brother, more
learned in these weighty matters, may
ptrhaps be able to enlighten him.
This some brother" never fails tG
10, saying that if he is rightly informed
i-he has, of course, no personal knowl.
edge of the matter-(winks all round
these mystic signs signify kisses in
tAea language of Cupid Thereupon
this mighty, time-honored joke is
greeted with the usual chorus OF
outlaws, and the interrupted reading
pyFreeds
BdJSkisses sometimes make their ap
pearance in law courts in other circum
stances, though they never fail to be
made the subject of numerous legal
witticisms. The judge may have been
in a testing humor yet, who
knows but he may have been laying
down, with all due solemnity, some
fundamental principle of justice and
equity-who once asked the plaintiff
who was suing his former sweetheart
for the return or the value of certain
articles of jewelry which he had pre-
sented to her in the happy days of
their courtship, whether he had ever
kissed the young lady?' Certainly"
was the reply, as was to be expected.
Whereupon the judge dismissed the
action, declaring that kisses and
caresses were full legal payment for
presents given in such circumstances.
In British law courts it has been fire.
quently brought home to offenders
that it is rather an expensive amuse-
ment to kiss lady against her will.
But in Holland it appears that a rather
different view prevails in judicial cir
Giles. A young man who had assaulted
young lady in tins way on the streets
Of a village near Utrecht was brought
before the burgomaster, who took the
matter up, demanding that the Of
fender should be fined one florin, or,
in default, be imprisoned for one day.
But the Utrecht court, and finally the
appeal court at Amsterdam, both dis
missed the case, the judge declaring:
That to kiss person cannot be an Of
Tense, as it is in the nature of a warm
mark of sympathy!' This is pref
ty much like the Yankee judge
who dismissed similar offender, re-
marking that the plaintiff was so
temptingly pretty that during the
trial he had to keep himself down in
his chair with both of his hands he felt
s0-mueh inclined to get up and kiss
her himself.
A certain Senior Talca, of Valparaiso,
however, had a very different expert
ence, and paid heavily for his mo-
mentary freak of kissing lady on the
plaza without her permission. She
prosecuted him, and the magistrate, as
indignant as the lady, sentenced him
to sixty days Imprisonment. This Sc
we're penalty Senior Talca considered
himself justified in appealing against,
but the higher court, SO far from be-
slowing sympathy on the offender,
sentenced him to an additional thirty
days Imprisonment, The amusing
part of the affair is that the higher
court took two hundred days to con-
slider the appeal, and during the whole
of that time the senior had to remain
in jail.-St. Louis Republic.