Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-03-30
PUZZLERS IN COURT.
POINTS THAT HAVE KEPT THE LAW
YERs GUESSING.


YERs GUESSING.
CRaous Questions Raised In Coures of Isv.
All Countries Confributs . sAars u |
W.Ae Wo1ld Mako an Insersseine Vol.
un&sovssal Examples.
An interesting volume might be writ.
ten on the curious points Of law that
are constantly arising in the courts.
The most expert lawyers and judges are
frequently puzzled BY the novel situa.
lions in which they are placed.
One Of the most curious points Of law
On record arose recently in . court ut
Jersey. in America. The question was
whether eggs. after reaching q certain
stage Of incubation, were TO be regarded
as eggs or chickens. After quarreline
about the matter for some time, counsel
offered to break one Of the eggs to sat-
isfy the law that it contained q chicken.
in which case. Of course, the eggs would
have been considerably enhanced in
value, but there was q general demur
to this suggestion, and the justice re-
served his decision till he had consulted i
his colleagues. The result had not come
TO hand at the time Of writing.
A remarkable case in France excited
great deal Of attention some time ago.
A gentleman dining on the terrace Of q
Narbonne restaurant let = bank note
fall into his soup. He laid it down on
the table to dry and gust Of wind
blew it away. A passing dog swallowed
the note, and the gentleman detained
the animal, whose collar happened to
bear its masters name. Indignant at
his loss, the owner of the note sued the
dogs master for 100 francs, the value
Of the note. There was much legal hair
splitting, but at length the court ordered
the owner Of the dog to pay the money.
Another French case was that against
. Paris hairdresser, who was sued BY q
lady for eco, being the price Of her
damaged locks The fair claimant had
used the hairdresser's wash, which was
said to restore fallen locks, but the result
| in this case was to burn the hair OF COM
pletely. The point was the liability Of
the hairdresser, and the court awarded
the lady IS.
Applications for injunctions often
raise curious points. Not long ago an
injunction was granted to restrain an
officer in the life guards from keeping
horses in q London drawing room, the
| ground Of objection being the noise
which the animals made, which annoyed
| the neighbors. The offending officer is
now in lunatio asylum.
There was Q fight not long ego in one
Of the London courts between q barrel
organ and piano. an injunction being
claimed to restrain o gentleman from
keeping an organ. It seemed that the
offender was annoyed by his next door
neighbours piano, and to avenge himself
he obtained q barrel organ, which he
played at all times Of the day. The
question Of the '.liberty Of thesubject, %
Of course, came up, but the court de.
cided that, If an Englishman's house ia
his castle, it is not q At place for q bar
rel organ that never stops, and the organ
received stnict instructions to remain
silent, on the ground that the owner evil
IDENTIFY intended to create . nuisance.
The market value Of cough was the
question submitted to the birmingham
county court. A barrister sued q rail.
way company for ESQ for discomfort
suffered by smoking being allowed in q
waiting room ut q station and in non.
smoking carriages The smoking aegra.
waited the barrister's cough, and he wa
awarded e10.
| A queer point arose in the revision
court at Nottingham. While the court
was sitting a young collier named All.
cock killed his wife in the most deiib.
crate manner and afterward confessed
bis crime. An application was made
that Allcock's name should be struck
of the register. "Whyf" queried the
barrister, receiving the answer. BE
cause he is q murderer. % ''That re-
mains to be proved. said the barrister.
and the name remained on the roll.
The finding Of lost property has often
given rise to curious points of law. A
workman who found O valuable ring In
London theater claimed the return Of
the ring from the proprietors, who had
taken possession Of it. The court, how.
ever. rejected his claim, as the ring had
been picked up while the man was full
filling his duties as o servant. At first
sight this decision appears to be incon.
l 616teuC Will tOat urEIScu NJ 9Ou10 Year,
ago in a case in which q chimney SWEEP
sued o jeweler for precious stone The
sweep had found q brooch on his rounds
which he took to the jeweler, who ex
tracted precious stone and substituted
q worthless imitation. On this beins
discovered. the jeweler replied to tn,
sweeps demand for the return Of hi
stone that the stone did not belong {,
the sweep, ~ he had found it, the infer
: ence being that ne could, therefore
steal it with impunity. The court, how
, ever. held otherwise, and the sweep 70
> covered his jewel.
Eastern superstitition gave rise TO
3 singular argument in q Chinese cour
! not long ago. A Chinaman had beef
. sent 10 prison, and, according to Gus
tom, the authorities proceeded to cut Of
: his pigtail. whereupon the prisoner ap
piled for On injunction ON the groun'
that without his pigtail he could not en-
| ter the kiuQdOm of heaven After muc