The sun., 1897-08-01
rorEs OF LEaA1 rrFrrs.

nal from the Judgment Of the British Court at
Yokohama. Tho application:was denied. Mrs.
Edith May Hallowell Carew was convicted In
February last Of tho murder Of her husband by
poison in October, 1895. Tho trial took place
before the Britlrh Judge at Yokohama and @
jury Of avo persons. Tho prisoner was SEN
fenced TO death, but the sentence was commuted
to imprisonment for life at hard labor, and Mrs
Carew is now In prison at Hong Kong. Sir
Frank Lockwood. who appeared in her behalf
before the Privy Council, argued that although
the Queen had power under tho treaties and acts
Of Parliament to establish courts for the trial
of British subjects in Japan, tho trial must pro-
coed according TO the British law, which re-
quircd twelve Jurors instead of Eve. The
Judges who sit in the Privy Council, however
and who constitute the Court of Appeal for tho
colonial and foreign tribunals maintained by
Great Britain. were Of tho opinion that tho
statutes gave the Queen sufficient authority to
provide for jury Of Eve to try criminal cases
against British subjects in Japan, II she saw fit
An example Of the laws celebrity in contrast
to the traditional laws delay, may be found in
tho salvage suit against the Cunard steam
ship Cephalonia, which was decided on the 18th
of July by Mr.. Justice Gorel Barnes in tho
Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division Of the
High Court OF Justice In England. On the 4th
of July the Ccphalonia. In disabl condi-
ton, was sighted about 423 miles from Queens
town by the steamship Floridian, which took
her in tow and towed her into port. This ser
vice occupied until July 8, and was found by
the Judge to have been absolutely necessary
under the circumstances. IIo fixed the sal
wage payable 10 the Floridan at f3.050 OF
this $500 goes to the Captain, $500 to the
crew, and the balance to the owners. 1t is
doubtful whether a salvage suit OF such i'm.
portance was ever before begun and ended in the
course OF q week.
The Supreme Court OF Illinois has recently
decided that agreement by tenant to pay
the water tax and onehalf Of all other taxes
levied on the leased property does not require
him to pay assessments laid upon tho prem
iscs for sidewalk and street improvements.
This is in accordance with previous decision
of the same tribunal to the efI ut that \ statute
oxempting property from taxation did not OK.
empt 1t from special assessments. Indeed
says Mr. Justice Craig ''the distinction be-
tween tax and special assessment is so well
understood that the law may be regarded as
well settled that the agreement on the part Of
lessee to pay tho taxes on the denised prop
erty would not include a special assessment"
A different view has been taken by the New
York courts: and II has been held in this State
that the term taxes may be used in legal
instruments as to render 1t debatab!e ques-
ton whether it includes local assessments or
not. Such wasthe ruling OF the Appellate Di
vision in the Second Department In the case Of
Sullivan va. Hamilton u3 Appellate Division
Reports, paee.l 4Ol. where the opinion was writ
ten by Mr. Justice Cullen.
In the case of Burney VS.. The Children's
Hospital in Bostoni,+7 Northeastern Reporter
page 40l, the Supreme Judicial Court Of
Massachusetts, was called upon TO determine
whether the father Of n child, WHO had in
trusted the child to hospital for treatment,
could maintain an action against the hospital
to recover damages for autopsy performed
on the dead body Of the child without the faith
er's consent. The court. through Mr.. Justice
Lathror, answers the question in the atfirma-
tive. He says that although the precise ques-
tion has not heretofore been passed upon in
Massachusetts, the decisions there recognize
a right to the possession OF tho dead body,
which belongs to the husband or tho wife or the
next Of kin. rather than 10 The executors: ard
he adopts the view expressed by the Appellate
Division Of tho Supreme Court in this city in
the Foley case, where Mr.. Justice Patterson
said that this right Of possession Is the right 20
what remains when the breath leaves the body,
AMI not merely to such hacked. hewed, and
mutilitcd corpse as some stranger may choose
to turn over to afflicted relative" Il APP
pellate Division Reports, page 555.I In this
State IL is Il misdcmeanor to dissect the body
OF human being, except by authority OF law
or pursuant TO permission given by the deceased.
In probate proccclng in England where tho
death Of party is presumed by reason OF the
lapse OF time, the practice Is to lay the evidence
to tho partys departure, the circumstances
and duration OF his absence, his age. health, and
family relations before one OF the Judges of the
Probate, Divorce aad Admiralty Division OF the
High Court, who theTcupon, II he finds tie
proof satisfactory, grants leave TO the applicant
to swear that the death occurred at a date
which he specifies in his order. Thus an applca-
ton OF this character was recently made to Sir
Francis Jcune. in order 20 establish the death
of Lieut.. Thomas Mathison formerly of the
British army who wcs born la years ago. His
personal representatives had been adjudged en-.
titled TO a fund in chancery, and grandson de-
sired to obtain the money. Lieut.. Mathison
left the service In 1882 and went TO Van
Diemen's Land. whence he corresponded with
his wife In England. but when she died In
1912, she had not heard from him in several
years. The.Court srantcd leave to swear to his
death us having occurred In ls42.
III ID IhDlllhr u tThQeSnan who
supplies a married woman with food, clothing
other articles which come within the cafe
CORY of necessaries may recover the value of
tho goods thus furnished in a suit against the
husband. This rule .pplies oven where the wife
is living apart from the husband. II the separ.-
tion Is due to his misconduct. In Indiana It
has recently been extended so as to include arti-
cles furnished for the funeral Of the wife to
wit: "A burial outht, consisting of a casket
robe, slippers. and hose" We quote from tie
opinion OF the Appellate Court Of Indiana, in
tho case OF Scott vs.. Carothers. decided last
month. The husband had ill-treated and driven
her and her child from his home and although
no was well to do, she died In comparative pow
erty A ncighbor ordered the caskot and
clothes for her funeral, which were suitable to
be used for the burial OF person In her station
In life, and the Court held that the husband
was bound to pay for them.
An important patent litigation. Involving tho
right Of tho British Government to manufac-
ture the explosive compound known as corditc,
has just been terminated by decision.of the