To The Editor Of The Time...
The Times, 1824-01-12T00:00:00

r of iai, Dec. - 1823. Sir.-I send you the reports of two mercantile cases recently tried in this Isle, which will afid hints to the mercantile man that mav guard him froin future loss and inconvenience, while thc explanatory notes mayassist in elucidating thepeculiaritiLsof ourjurisprudence. U. AN'D J. COCKBURSN, PLAINTIFFS, AND CASAR BACOh, ESQ., DEFEh'DANST. Thz plaintiffs in this cau'se are wine.nierehants in Scotland,and the deferdant a man offortune in the Isle of IMan. The plaintii sewlayedamaloof the name of Murray, as their factr, to dispose of'port wie irt the island, for which he had a coIn- The defendant was a friend of IMurras's, and had lent him 3001. upon his promiesory note, payable with interest, vhich money Alurray bad held for a considerable time, and regularly credited de. fendantin his account current for the interest. Mllurray obtained orders for French wines froip the defendant, and sevcral'o:ber pers6ns, which orders ie sent over to tho plaintitTh, pro. pOsing thatthey should supply the goods. Tihe plaintiffs hesitated, butatlastagreedtomeettheorders,and to give Xurrayhalf the profit instsaif- cemYnission. Thegoods were ordered from a house in France, by the nlaintifs, and arrived in theTsl,e f Nstn. consigaed to Mlurray, with an in. voice of each D eisorlYlorder, and a hil drivwa on each pez son by the FMechhouse-in favour of plaintiR, for the anmount of his order, aAd 'am,st the rest there were winc4 for the defendant to tbh uniount.of'gQl. 9s., and a bill on him for thet amoUnt, and Murray had 3SSL worth of thf wines entered ia 'the invoice for his: owr. private account. The'tjines wero recened by defendant, but before the bills were presented for acceptance. yMuxra died, in. golveat, and muach indebted to tbe plainti on lpaTgensracu besides the plaintifs having paid for the entire to the horie in-wance. The bills draws by the Frenck houte, in fawi>ur of the plaintif$i, wete founid ins 3tirray'e desk aftex his death, apd it appeared tliat MIurray ad pt^>edl a bill ia favour of the plaintiws, for 6501., ahich plain!tifffhedcnderfiid to their banker, aBd whtich was return. {dto the administrators after his (Mlurray's) d04lsth as of nwo us;. On Agay'adeatbb,plnintifflcam e to thej c io:.Xg&aice3 their property, andrecived paynitent for-thLe rresch cargo frora every person int the island except defendant J3tacn, w hi contended that hean:d a right toa-pPol the 84. 9s. tot the wine to the ptyment of the S001. due tohim bpv9 1urray on the romlissory note. This cauwe was brousht betore Jobn ?1hristian,. Esq., the F*ist Deimeter (I) of the Isle, who, after full hearing, gave judgment in favour of plaiRtiffs, and ordered BaroD to pay the 841. 9s., the value of'thie wines, and costs. Bacon appealed from the Deemster's judgment to the stafrf(2 oe Government, and the appeal now came on to bt hecrd before his Grace the Dule of Athol and his assessor. It was urged on the part of Bacon, that he had a right to set off the demand due to him by Mlurray on his note; that he dealt with Murray, and knew nothing of the plaintiff's, or of his having any partner; and that whether Ilurray was partner or factor, Bacon had a righL to set off lurray's debt to him ea-amst the wine. On the other side it ras urd!ed, that if Bacon could refuse to pay the plaintiffs, any man in Alurray's situation might etwidlet`an English correspondent out of his propertyo pay a debt due to a fieand in the island, by otrdering oveTrgoods to sell on commission, handing theim to his creditors ws if by a sale, and then declaring himself insolvent. Cases were cited to prove that a factor could not pledge, or otherwise dispose of property intrusted to him to sell; and that the honest ovner of property sold b a factor could follow his goods or the price in the hands of the purc aser, if the purchaser had not actually paid the money ; that the assignees of a banker, or the administrator of an intestate, could not receive such money; and if they did,they would he subject to arn action for money had and re. ceived to the owner's use. It was also urged, that one partner could not be subjected to the private debt of another; and if this case were decided againmt the plaintiffs, r;o man in E.ngland would trust a factor in this island, if such factor was allowed to transfer his urincipal's property to pay hlisownl creditors; that no merchant 'would venture to have any comrinunication with persons in the island, if the smallest participa- tion of profit wvere to open a door for thte applicationi of his property to the payment of the old debts of his new partier. As the iudgments were the samne in both cases, I will shortly state the Recon(1 case before givinig you the judgment. TELrOltD AND CO., PLAINTIFFS, AND CHSA.R BACO9, ESQ., D2FEVDANT. The plaintitfs in this cause were London merchnnts,they employed I1I urray as their factor to sell sherry wine, and when he obtained anye number of orders he sent the nanmes, &c., to the plaintiffs, who orr'tered over the weines. and paid 1ll..rray a commission. Murray, arrongs, others, ordered a butt of sherry for defendant. The only difference between this and the former case is, that there was no participation of the profits. Alurray was only factor, re- ceived commission, and was largely indebted to plaintiff's. The sherry caame out at the same time with the French wines ; the plaintiffs sent over a hill on defendant in their owln favourfor the a rount, 53L; the defendant received the wine; Murray died before he hiUl was presente or acceptance- and the bill, withl all the others, were toundiu 31urray's desk after his death. Thle plaintiff's came over to look after their property, and received the money for the sherry frorn every person but the defendant, who ir..sisted se~ hisight to apply the sherry to the discharge of Murray's This cause was also brought before Deemster Christian, and by him decided for plaintifFs. On hearing those two causes, his Grace the Duke of Atholl evi- dently took the case up decidedly in favour of the plaintiffis, and ex- pressed himself with that strength and warmth that uaturally arises in the inind ofgentlemen on a view of such a ease. The papers and proofs were ordered to be given in for judgment; anid notwithstanding the opinion expressed by his Grace in Court, he has been advised to set aside the Deemrster's judgment in bothL cases, and to refer the plaintiff's to a common law court for justice. lurray has been dead near three years, the plaimtiffs have been al that time at law to recover their proprrtv, and they are now sent to common law, wvhere they will probably be kept more than two years longer, at the end of which they may draw a blank. (1 )2) Explanations is-ill be gIven at a future time respecting the nvotes I and 2. (3) common Lawv Court.-This Court is by tbe nat!ves termed in derision the Lottery couFr: whben its conistitution Comaes so lo-lves- tignted, It wlvi be found thatbetWveen themslvs it ayb arys called:htthsi-saea i,.A- estma firys TO THlE EDITOR OF TlYE TIMES.