Law Report.
The Times, 1824-03-06T00:00:00

i'r. ii. LJAWES opened tue pleadlngs. This was an action brought bv the plaintiff against the defendant, to recover a compen. sation in damages for an assault and false imprisonment, which the plaintiff had suffered at the hands of the defendant. 'I'he defend- ant had placedl several pleas on the recorD. Tfie first was a plea of not guilty; the second was e-plea of justification, in consequence of a trespass committed by the plaintiff on the defendant's grounds- and theremaining pleas contained a .jnitification restingon an assault, alleged to have been committed bv the plaintiff, on a young lady of the name of Caroline Elizabeth i'readgold, residing in the defend- ant's hoase. The plaintiff's replication was son assault d6eesnes and upon this point issue was joined. - M1Ir. SCAnLETT stated, that the plaintiff in this' action wasa young gentleman of fortune, talent, and respectability, and that the efendant was an architect of considerable character, with whom the plaintiflT'had served au apprenticeship. After serving his apprentice. ahip, the plaintifrcarried on business for sotne timne on his own ac- count, and had every prospect of being eminently successful, when he sas desired by the defendant to return to his roof, and to enter into Partnership with him. To render this proposal as alluring as possible, the defendant, who had just lost his only daughter, told him that he .nould shortly retire froni business, atid'tbat upon that event, the wlhole of thc concern should be transferred to him. The plaltiff in consequence, acceded to the proposal. and as a first step, took off Mtr. Hirjins's hands a large. house which he occupled in arpur-strect, 1tI Lion-square. The partnership was to com. mence in 182, though tbe cot,onS Of it were never positively fixed between the parties. This would appear the less extraordi. nary when he told thetn, th,,t one of the imducements to forming it, heldout to theplaintifbv the 'defendanl,wag, thathehMda femnale ward of considerable fortupe under his care, to whom he would introduce and. rccomme~nd hin. Shortly. ailer the plain. tiff had taken the house in flarpur-street, the defendant rernoved himself to Upminstei, in Essex, but not befprc the plaintiff had had. sufficiept time and opportunitygiven him to cultivate the, eon- nexion witb the young lady. His brppiness soon -becitrie involved in it, and it was only uaaural to susppose that the young ladv's did also; for on his mna'ing proposals to her, they were most readily ac- cepted. Having obtained the-consent of-one of her guardians' to their marrtage, the plaintiffwentinto the country, add after some exertion, obtained the consent of her other guardian, Colonel Tonjn.' The plaintiff then thought it. requisite toaspeak.to the 'defendajnt about the terms of their partnership-aproceeding,which a-as the more ne. ressary, as a .year lad now elapsed, and all the plaintiffs olden prospects, imstead 6f being fulfilled, appeared to be'receding furtier from hum. In that Year,:the plaintiffhad wound up aU thedefendant's affairs, had conducted his business, had taken his larIe house off his hands, and had not received out of the profits more than OLl or 15L; and that rather as a loan than a sum to which hIe was entitled. On the subject being mentioned to the defendant, he said to the plalintiff, " If You do - not like theterms of Ii rpartnership, ;you are at full liberty to-go." The plailtiffin consequlence did'go; He then communicated 3iis situa. tion to the young lad'k. Slue.was afraid that the quarrel between her lover and er guardian would break oft their connexion with each other, and to expressed herself in a letter which she wrote to nim. As the efendant had had the cruelty to place Miss Tr'eadgold's ranae on the record, he would read au extiact froxn tbat lettei to the jury- Mr. DE2 y objeced to he lettcr.being-rcad; MALSCAULETT said} thatntwitbstanding the obsecdii6, heshould certamnlY read it, for he waugoing to -open to the jur one o the ltS,taggravate d id iblalidis,injitrio tliat everwas inflicted by one mlar..QDansother. In one:of lier lterishtesa~id to thc plaintilf "Mhy dear James, your letter'of yesterday quite-csarprises nfe.' ' kasw not!tn-of- 'r Yisunderstandingiv ith Mr: Higgins." In another Oafn her t e UItO t-lx V-Mirkt'. I2 lOr to' bresxi(witli .gr ltins -{hoepthat -yousriff be- 'Oil Snedly- termsn with 3sim, sg hs ast the i>vr- tq sepat'ate'uL.". ' lt-e jery- would see-thasf the out cause- ln ronsequecace of Mli.s Treadsold;s aUziovi5 a~r, he 0, Ith it,ZAgT1t6 her h toa i 'his omn t,andin4 0tBrjtonas attisitcabe ferni: us he'could. n ,seapae uh~ fnSd iiatd4duraent fltr terrtm.Arndjng h1.ii tm lady toher bPe rOOm. t;9eP skentifig anbto'n thei fm. nrair;Jng t . v b edtratE ieydingagdend bhesentpo wage ***~ ~ ~~~FP-r** , ,4 it, lbpatd sa t3ma,cswho pener ~to be d in~ the house,s'io fthe aiontiabc ofthet corrtab e, on4 5 his arri A ounditun isitiang- b would ierely state th~i:ihliwafte iel,ngn otis lEltter orn :Aliss T-readg~ofd teprs. iggins inarl.eatelY or lent theosyn An ear to stake tuspiclins ntoher custody,anc wo koephim inc iennent sho,tly h fterwards ath othern , desiritngtedta hom .Te rs p toifim hoa uld be thatntly return. edo tHe ns wered t a ls e to viole nce, andre u d to will insd l b'hat olfence i Th comnstabld thashen addrcssed AI rsto Himgin that cooI and ls- coni stye? N anser ws reurne. Hewrote~ again; still no el y;mto wand fo a wor d ,, from that tIm no ne oettef his letiers were ever anstherefr and p ouesee her were ever successful. le tterefr judedthtce asPu undli constraint, and that theleter *lsc heha ~cl4d wredictated by some &iher per- son. SO convinced was he of that fac that he determined not to believe the contrary, till he had ot fomlher own mouth. He therefore Went down to f U inster, for the expre. s purlose of ob.. raining at interview with her and so learninig from her own lips whewethor she had deserted him After lingeaing there some time, he happened to see her one morning in the garden befyoe the defend ant's honse. He wtentd a and accosted her. As soon as i he saw hie, she appeared much agitated, and redI away. He followed her acrois the gras.plot and adjured her to stay. intrs. thiggins, who saw what passe.u , set up a scream, an tel ent the young lady to her bedws oom. me asled her why he was thus treated? She gave no re to that question, but ask-ed him to sit down. He did so, and w?yma t he was thus engaged, she sent a ng tlieman, mhhap.pked tobe in the house,ltoifeth a constable. he cosistable, on his arrivakl foundI him sitting quiietly in the house. jilrs. Higgins immediately ordered the constable to take the plaintiff into custody, and to keep him in confinement, till her husb3nd, tie defendant, returned home. Thd pltintiff, on hearing that order, said tQ tIls stable, IlIUse To violence, and I will willingly go with veu.1' The constable then adaressed Mrs. Higgins, and saig, "As am to wait for Mr. Higgins, hiad I not better take this gentlenian to the public-house ?" She tepliO a in the affirmative, and in cornsequence. the constable miarched off with the plaintiff to the Bell-inn .Upminster. This transaction tool; place bttween IC0 andl 11 o'cloc in the inmoing of Saturiday, the dth ot July. Mr. liggins was at Upminster about 4 o'clock. Immediately on his arrival, he went to the b1lligine, saw the constable, and said to himn, You have done perfectly right in taking Mr. Simskon ; you niust keep ims in your custody, and never lose sight of hima ; indeed, dluring the night, ysu msit sleep in the same room with iim ;` thus inti- mating that the plaintict, to whom ie had recently intrustedi the care of his whole fortune, was likely toHfly like a felon from the paltry' cearge he was meditating against him. The defendant miiot thave cAreitepanifta evening before a iiiagistrate if hie Issd choen fo Oacleayiianof hevillage wvas a magistrate, end dlid not live more than 100 yards from the Bell-inn. But no; he warted a mi.agistrate more to his purpose, and therefore he kept the plaintiff iT custody during the Sundiy, and then took hi te before a mvs- trate aoho lived at some distance fros the village of Upminster. Mrs. Higgins, Miss Treadgold, andha the servants of the family were there examined, butnotaworddidanyoneof themasd regardingan assault. ft. Higgins., however, insisted that the plaintiff thould be b rmund ver in recognizances to attend at the quarter sessions, and s.tswernany chargs tleat he mightvbring agaiisthi. The plaintiff, upon entering iOto such recognizances, was discbarged ; but not be- fore he-haa been obliged to sleep for two nighLts withl a co:salei his r,omt and for the simple offence of haveifg attempted to speak wordn withMiss Treadgold_ on r lir.i,gtinw ,'s grassuplot.e iWhn the quarter sessions arrived, he atteniled at Cielmsford with his sureties, his solicitor, and his witn-esses.Hie waited till the last day Df the sessions; but neither Mr. figgins nor any other person ap. peared to make a charge against him. From that day down to the presewnt, no offr of compensation or of apologv for the injury which he had sustained hlad been made to the ptanteiffnby the defendant. Though the liniury foineid had been, much aggravated by the youth of the pen rt on whom it was inflicted, he could assure them that if any apology had been made such as becme one gentlemnan to ofer and another to receive, they would not have been assembled on the presen t occ;asion; but as such an apology had not been made, tue plantifffelt himself obliged to appl tto their candour and j autice lbr a suitable remuneration far the wrong he had suffered. The de- rendant, in his plea, aad ventured to say that the plaintiff ifad assIted Hiliss Tread gold; hut Miss Treadgold had asserted dipon oath onice already, that no assault had beeni commnitted upon her, Siuch a plea was an aggravation of the offence which the de| fendasit hadl originally committed, andl would, he trusted, induice thiem to give heavy damagei to hiis ill-used and injuretd client. The false iinprisonment was proved, bht none of the circumtnces respetinig the intended marriage with an iss itreadgold. Mr. DEsnMAN told the jury that, thoughi the simple question wich they had to try was a question of assault and pinprIinent, thev had bee conpeolled to listen to along statenhent or transactions which was eiatirely foreign to it, anti in pcoof of whicgh tliere had not been one single tittle of evidence ofrered to their consideration. Ile trusted, however, that they wodld not allow their iinds to be whryju diced by assertions, which ought never to have been made, n ecause fnder the preseont issue they could no, be contraicted. Tvolut his learned friend appeared to have instrctions to throw oite all kinds of reflectons against the uharacter ofthe dienendnt, he had no instructions to throw out any against the character of the plaintiff All he had io say wac that he was in possession of facts which jus- titied Mr. Higgins ana also Miss Treadgold in putting an end to the coniiexion w'hils they rad oice conoteplatedlwith the laintidob That being the case, what reason lad the plainti ff to fonplain of I their resolutioi not to have any furthcr iantercourse witih himo? or what reason had he to thinkc that his dlisappoinitment in a mtrtimo- nial speculation was a sufficient justification f,,r trespassing cti an- other man's grounds,forthrowing his whole family inro alarm, bya%- saulting oneof itsimembers,and forcom-plasinin thcat for sogrievous. anSofene heihad only tisffereda tem ioray imprisonment, instead uf being prosecuted, as he deserved, at the sessions-? By the by, wby haid not his'learned friend-if his client were sover7 anxious to learni fros the lady's own lips fhether her submnission wvas voluntaryt or not-why hbd not hislearned friend given lher a suept ra, ae d asked her the question upon Oath in the witlness-box ? He shouHld not trouble them withiany evidee on behalf of his client. Indeed he considered this action not so thuch as a suit of law as a bill of discovery to learn the state of the young ladys heart. Could there, hiowever, be a doubt on the sbject ? WrVe young ladies of 19 years of age so Con- pletely under theauhoritv of theirguardiansh thnot towi'si o-dareto act for themselves, especifally when there Was a~ favoured lover in the casei? If she had acted tinder the compulsion ofher guardian, how did it happen that as she acted formerly, so she acted not, when she was 21 ? Ile contended that Miss Treadgold was averse u Mr. Sirnion's suit at the tiine he invaded Air. Higgins's grass-plot for the purpose ofnmaking his pathetic adjuration-, Stay, Caroline, 0 slay l They had heard of' the alarm which that invasion crested -culd they be surprised that a constable had teen sent for, especi- ally when they reollected thy aDgitated state of mind in which the plaintiff' must necessar Il have been ? The LoaD CHsExa'Jus-ricE, in summing up the evidence, told the jury that the plaintiff ntiust have a, verdict, because the de- fendant had not called any evidence to support the pleas which he had pistulpan therecord.Tfieoiilycquestion,tlherefore,wvhiiclsthe~y had to consider wag, the amount of damages which the plaintiff ouight tore c-eive for the unlawpful distraint--for unlawvfulit certainly was,vl,c the defendant had putupon his person. They would takeall the cir-, cumstancesof the case into consideration, and wvould give such tie- mazes as were best calculated to meet itsi justice. The Jury deliberated for a few mi-inutes, and then returned a. ver- dict for thie plain tiff-Dansages I 001. LAW REPORT. COURT OF KING'S BENCEFI FRIDAY. AIARC1I .7. S13tSO; V' HIGGI'JS.