The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-08-09
SLIPS OF NOVELISTS
LEGAL MISTAKES THAT HAVE BEEN
MADE BY GREAT AUTHORS.

Dickens and the Famous Case Of
BardelI Versus Pickwick-The Trial
Scene In Reade's "Hard Cash."
Trollope's Dip Into the Law.
legal fctions," says one of Gilbert's
gondoliers, "are solemn things" Yet
It is curious how seldom a novelist
ventures into a law court without driv-
ing his quill through acts of parliament
and rules Of law alike.
That Dickens knowledge Of law, like
Mr.. Weller's Of London, was "exten,
sive and peculiar" is amply demon
strated by the famous case of Bardell
versus Pickwick. Students Of that re-
port may have been struck by the fact
that neither plaintiff nor defendant ap-
peared in the witness box. The ex-
PLANTATION is that at that time parties
"11pon the record" were not competent
witnesses, their interest in the case be-
ing regarded as too strong a tempta-
ton to, shall we say, inaccuracy. But
had Dickens been a lawyer Mr.. Wrinkle
and his friends might also have been
spared the ordeal Of cross examination
and their friends and admirers de-
prived of many merry moments.
In his anxiety to satirize the abuses
Of cross examination Dickens over
looked the legal rule that the counsel
who calls a witness is not permitted to
cross examine him at all, but, on the
contrary, is bound by his answers;
therefore had Serjeant Buzfuz permit
ted the Pickwickians to be called as
witnesses for the plaintiff (Which ne
would have known better than to do)
their version Of the words heard
through the door ION the jar must
have been accepted, and at the first at
tempt to badger either of them 1t would
have been the learned counsel for the
plaintiff who received his lordship's IN
function ''to be careful"
But all lovers Of Dickens will rejoice
at his ignorance Of the rule when
forces counsel never to call hostile
witness. Who could bear to be depr1y-
ed Of the evidence Of Mr.. Samuel Wei
ler?
Exactly the same mistake is made by
Anthony Trollope in his we'll known
novel. The Three Clerks" There the
hero, Alaric Tudor, is placed upon his
trial for misappropriating trust money
and defended by that famous leader,
Mr.. Chaffanbrass of the Old Bailey
Tudor's Mephistopheles, the Hon. Un'
decimus Scott, is called, much against
his will, as a witness for the defense
cross examined by the celebrated Cha1'
fanbrass, forced to confess his mis-
deeds and dismissed covered with
ignominy, to be subsequently expelled
from his club-poetic justice wnlcn
would have been defeated even by q
chairman Of quarter sessions.
The great theoretical and practical
knowledge Of law possessed by Charles
Reade saved him from this error, as
from many others. Yet the famous
trial scene in lizard Cash. would have
been ruthlessly deprived Of its most
dramatic moment by any judge OF the
high court When the hapless Alfred
Hardy, who has been wrongfully i'm
prisened in an asylum by his wicked
father. comes at last to establish his
sanity before jury, his case is closed
by the reading Of a letter from his
dead sister. Writing at the point OF
death, she solemnly denies his insanity
and begs him to show her words to bis
accusers when she is no more. Read
aloud by the Judge himself, her letter
reduces a crowded court to tears ano
goes far to secure her brother trium'
phant verdict, with heavy damages.
lizard Cash" is termed "a matter OF
fact romance" but, as matter Of fact
and law, no such letter could have been
received in evidence. Knowing that,
under ordinary circumstances, such
testimony would be inadmisslble
Reade is careful to establish that the
writer knew herself to be dying; but
he was unaware that dying declara'
ton" is only admissible in evidence
upon a charge of murder or man
slaughter Of the person who has made
it, and cannot be laid before the jury
in any other case whatever.
Numerous and entertaining are the
trial scenes which adorn the works of
Mrs. Henry Wood, but they hardly pro-
fess to be strictly accurate. Let me
point, rather to an interesting slip on
the part of that most careful Of nov
elists, David Christie Murray, who
shares to some extent the popular con-
fusion on the subject of the law of
libel and slander. His powerful story,
"A Capful O. Nails" has for it's hero
a working mailer, who becomes an
agitator on behalf Of his much op-
pressed class. In consequence of a
speech denouncing an unscrupulous
employer he is prosecuted on a charge
Of criminal libel; but, thanks to faith
full friend and a smart lawyer, he
emerges triumphantly.
No fault can be found in this case
with the way in which the villain is
cross examined to pieces. The diff
Guilty is that no such prosecution could
have been instituted at all. You may
SANDER man by defamatory speech,
l. ~ ,.y,k