The Owosso times., 1922-08-04
.sEltJUDcIEM
! eN1-cENT PIECE
oslttsh Law .Lerds eivs oeass
Consideration 70 Appsal s"
..0 eootsman..
US 4 FlyulillE kns,ol
Nv Ovs vvaeAlen Company, whss'
ocnessssr RseussA to Aesspt ~
; SosSA Coin Otssesd N
j. psymsWt Sf VAsA ,p.

90. LsnAon-sJThe Ave lAw lords, csnsef
nsAG he house Of lesdA IN ssssson
- - sSpssDe court of appessa. nt
,essuad IN ~sUaenn sezhiSifele. Lord
nasdase at in the place ef lord shAe-
esilsr spoa the wooisch, With the
thssne itseh bshtnd him. Lord IN
Nv end Lord Gave ut upon hts sissss
kIsrd Dunsdin and Lord Wrsnosry
upso his lelt. In ne magnificent
chamber, Its red benches nearly empV
except for . group Of iswysss and
. SlDeSxys near ths 's6trxkse, ths Ave
Nv lords, tn grave tones bs0tti1G
their high function, read out thsAr
learned Judgments enc by one. Nota'
Able doeuHsots thesss - vbsch the nSe
csncurved In one decision, abounding
In such pOrtentous words as torta.
uslfeasancss, condescendencss and Che
, The.
Clearly a landmark this. In the his
tory Of the development Of the iaw
Of England. What grave matter WAS
thus engaging the earnest considera'
ton Of the noble and learned iortisf
Surely nothing less than: the. fate OF
sowe great township. or the destiny OF
some estate of millionsf
Ny noble and learned lords, In point
Of fact, were talking about . penny
q, twO-cent piece. 1t sounds better
translated into American currency.
Nv Lord Finlay seems to think some
thing the same himself for through
out his Judgment he referred.,to It n9t
o. q penny" but rs = penny piece,
or "a coin" Need II be said whose
penny II was; that had been carried
up all the various steps Of the law Into
the house Of lords? 1t was Scots
mans penny.
- censuctsr Refuses Penny. ..'.
Almost two years ago one John
/ Percy climbed upon q street car In the
city Of Glasgow. He rendered to the
conductor Of the car In payment OF his
fare a. penny which was slightly
marked and indented. 1t was, in fact
a penny which John Percy had him
se,f received, earlier In the day from
another conductor. and he determined
to- retsrn It IN the way by which II
had come to him. The conductor. how
ever, did not like the looks of the
penny, and demanded another In III
place. John Percy said M>was goot
enough and refused to give another
An Inspector was called to reinforc'
the conductor, and still John Percy rs
| fused. ''''''' -
Finally he was marched of to th'
police statioh on 4" charge OF refusini
to pay his fare. He was kept ther'
| only ten minutes, but this was lont
enough TO Are him with determination
TO see Justice done between himself
and the Glasgow corporation, which
| owns the street cars.
John Percy then commenced an &C
| t,op against the corporation for s25,
zoo damages on the ground that th'
| actions Of the conductor and inspector
| had been Injurious to his feelings ant
| his reputation. He lost the first r0unt
of his fight In Scotland when the cour
Of session dismissed his claim. on th'
ground that the corporation was no.
| responsibie for these actions OF III
| employees.
| '..i;.>ons ~,"DennIs" Fighter.
| But John Percy Is evidently what
they call In Scotland "bonnie fight
| er." and he carried his case up to TN
house Of lords. He did not pay hi
railroad fare to London for the pur
pose, nor is he being put to any ex
pense in the costly process Of suin,
before the highest court Of appeal. III
has taken advantage Of the legal pro
vision which permits a poor person
70 set the law in motion ut the state
charge II he sues in fOrp,a pauperls
and now the house Of lords has decid
ed in his favor.
whether John Percy's penny reall!
was good or no better than 1t shoul'
be Is still not decided. What the Law
lords have ruled Is that the corpora
ton can be sued upon mistake made
by the conductor and inspector. Tha
is enough for John Percy. 1t ma!
be added, as a matter of historical In
terest, that Of the five law lords wh'
upheld John Percy in his fight for hi
two cents three are Scotsmen.-
Warre Il. Wells in New York Tribune