The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-28


 al formula was something like this.
 'Gentlemen--You have heard the evil
 dence just as well as ha hear-r-d il
 myseP. l just leave the case to the
 cawman sense which juries are sup
 poosed to possess. Cawnseeder your
 Vardict."
 Or a variant upon which he would ring the changes was to the effect that if the jury believed the evidence for
 the plaintiff they would find verdict for the plaintiff; if they believed the evidence for the defendant they would find verdict for the plaintiff; if they believed the evidence for the defendant they would find a verdict for the de- fendant; but if, like himself, they be- lleved neither the evidence for the plaintiff nor that for the defendant, ! Providence alone could tell what their i verdict ought to be.
 He was a maker of phrases. That now famous maxim that Every dog Is enti- tied to his first bite.' was the commits sioner's way of setting forth that a l dog must have won q character for ! savaSeness before it could prejudice it's master In a ilousebrealxing charge be- fore him once the delinquent was an eleven-year-old boy who had broken and entered a shop by lifting a latch and descended two steps in order to se- cure a handful of sweets. The com missioner protested against the employ ment of the whole criminal machinery of the country-policemen magisterial hearing, and Old Bailey trial-to break so small a butterfly on the wheel. The proper course to adopt" he said, would have been to take the child into the backyard and to have inflicted pun ishment upon that part of his anatomy which a beneficent and farseelng Ma ture had provided for the specific pur- pose"
 He displayed his originality of thought a dozen times a day, When arguments addressed to him were loaded with pre- cedents and quoted cases, "I'll have my own Jaw in my own court" he would break in,
 He was the scourge of money lenders in the days of their unfettered exorbi- tance, and one Shylock who was enti- tied to the pound of flesh which the law gave him was served with Portia- like justice. The defendant had to pay. There was no getting away from the debt. Although he had paid the original loan some four times over, he still owed as interest and charges nearly twice as much as he had borrowed. You must pay this debt" said the commissioner sternly, but you will pay it at the rate of one penny a month" It will take that defendant exactly 3S5 years to re- pay the amount at the specified rate.
 He was once remonstra ting against 1 the triviality of claim for compensa- tion for dog bite But your lord | ship" pleaded the counsel for the | plaintiff, what would you do if a fe- rocious dog rushed into court and bit your lordship?'
 q should see that the policeman who looks after the door was promptly dis replied the judge.
 One unfortunate debtor swore he could not ray, and that he made not a pennylof profit out of his business.
 Then why in the world don't you sell 1t to somebody" quizzed the commits sloner." That Is what smart people do with a business that does not pay"
 A tobacconist with a bill for cigars, the purchase of which was denied, pro- iuced his books by way of proof
 ''Is that all your evidence?" asked the judge.
 Yes" said the plaintiff.
 Now attend to me-" said the con- missioner. Just go home and sit down md make an entry against me for z ,000 worth of cigars-I never smoke hem the nasty things!--then send me n your account. and I shall refuse to pay. Then try to prove your case by hat entry"
 The tobacconist closed his ledger and departed; and, if wise, learned from the udge a lesson worth the amount of the ,laim he lost--From the London Mail 1