78

Coroners' Expenses.-Selections from Correspondence.

children, by secret burying or otherwise disposing of their dead bodies."

These costs are regulated by one of Peel's Acts, 7 G. 4, c. 6, ss. 22, 23. By the former section, the Court may order payment of expenses of the prosecution in cases of felony, and also of such expenses as the prosecutor and witnesses may incur in attending before the examining magistrate, and also to compensate them for their trouble and loss of time, such compensation to be ascertained by the examining magistrate. No costs are allowed in prosecutions for misdemeanors, except those mentioned in sec. 23, and among these the misdemeanor of concealing the birth of a child is not enumerated, and the present Bill is to remedy the defect.

There is another and greater defect, however, which they do not propose to obviate. All these cases of concealing the birth come in the first place before the coroner, whose duty it is to hold an inquest on the child, to ascertain the cause of death. If the jury acquit the mother of the murder (the felony) the coroner's duty is at an end; the mother is discharged, and the parties must then go before a justice of peace. He must issue a summons, and the witnesses must attend before him on another day, and if the evidence is sufficient, the woman is committed or held to bail; but in the mean time, after her discharge by the coroner, neither he nor the constable has a right to order her detention, and she may, if she please, escape. Double trouble is also heaped upon the parties; this might be avoided by giving the coroner's jury the power to enquire into the misdemeanor of concealing the birth as well as the capital offence, and authorising the coroner to commit or bail, as the justice can do. It will save delay, trouble and expence. I propose that this power shall be given in the New Bill.

On the subject of costs, the giving the preliminary expences of attending before the examining magistrate in cases of felony, is a new enactment and a good one. For some time after it passed, and in some counties still, on enquiries before the coroner in cases of murder and manslaughter, being felonies, it was the practice for the coroner, as the examining magistrate, in such cases, to ascertain these costs and give the necessary certificate; but Sir James Allan Park, and some other learned Judges decided that coroners were not magistrates within the meaning of the statute, and refused to allow such expences and costs; so that if a man go before a coroner he is, as it were, mulcted for doing so; but he has a premium to go before the justice of peace. With great submission to the dicta of Justice Park and the other Judges, I think it is fairly arguable, that the statute by using the word "magistrate," meant it in its enlarged sense, and to comprehend all persons exercising magisterial functions, seeing that this very act in other sections mentions coroners and justices of the peace specificially, whilst in this it uses the term "magistrate" in its larger sense, as comprising the two officers. As there are

doubts, however, on this point, it ought to be set at rest; and as murder and manslaughter are both great crimes, surely there should be the like encouragement to prosecute before the coroner in these, as in other cases to go before the magistrate.

By 7 Geo. 4, c. 64, sec. I, two justices are empowered to bail in cases of felony. Now, I think, this power should be extended to coroners, to bail in cases of manslaughter. There are some cases in which considerable doubt prevails, and others in which the guilt is so small, that the cominittal and imprisonment previous to trial is a higher punishment than any court would award afterwards; and in my own experience it has worked great hardship. Some of our justices have stretched a point, and having ordered the prisoner before them and examined the witnesses, have admitted him to bail; but with great submission to them, this is clearly wrong, as they cannot get rid of the warrant of the coroner; and the gaoler, I think, might be punished for the escape of the prisoner.

SELECTIONS

A CORONER.

FROM CORRESPONDENCE.

Sir,

EXAMINATION OF ATTORNEYS.

Having read in the Legal Observer of the 6th of May last some remarks upon the utility of making some distinctions between those who may display a greater or less degree of talent and application at their examination (for admission as attornies), I beg to say that, in my humble opinion, the plan proposed by your country correspondent would, if adopted, be productive of the most beneficial effect; for by the present plan no public distinction is, I believe, made between the man who really gives proof at his examination of superior talent, or of what ap pears to me more deserving of praise and substantial reward, persevering industry, and him who just manages to answer his questions without breaking down. My own abilities are of a very common-place description, and my disposition is to be idle; but were there to be any distinctions made between the applicants for admission according to the talent or knowledge of their business displayed at their examination, my ambition would lead ine to inform my faculties, and shake off the fetters of idleness, which, though they prevent my doing more, cannot prevent my getting a mechanical knowledge of my business sufficient to pass me four years hence.

A YOUNG ARTICLED CLERK.

Attorneys to be admitted.

ATTORNEYS TO BE ADMITTED,

Michaelmas Term, 1837.

(Continued from p. 70.)

Clerk's Name and Residence.
Evans, John, Pwllheli, Carnarvon; and 33,
Ely Place.
Eastlake, George Shute, Plymouth, Devon; and
Featherstone Buildings, Holborn.
Fearon, Samuel, 4, Canonbury Square; and 22,
Henrietta Street, Brunswick Square.
Fry, Peter Samuel, 25, Ely Place, Holborn.
Forbes, David. Erskine, 16, Sonthampton
Street, Fitzroy Square.

Farwell, Frederick Cooper, Totnes, Devon;
and 31, Beaumont Street.
Freeman John, Birstall, York.
Fowke, Frederick Alexander, Halstead, Essex;
and 2, New Boswell Court.
Grover, Montague, 6, Wells Street, Gray's
Inn Road,

Gleadall, Charles the Younger, Halifax; and
Hanger's Lane, Stamford Hill.
Garfit. Frederick, Gainsburgh, Lincoln; 2,
Millman Street, Bedford Row ; New North
Street; and Devonshire Street, Middlesex.
Garland, John, Winchester; and 1, Judd Street,
Saint Paneras.

Gibson, Richard, Hexham, Northumberland.
Garrick, David, Colonge, in Prussia; 1, York
Place; and 13, Belinda Street, Islington.
Gardner, George Harrison, Birthwaite, West-
morland; and 2, Thanet Place, Strand.
Gale, William Burch, Balham, Surrey; and
Penzance, Cornwall.

To whom articled, assigned, &c.
David Williams, Pwllheli.

William Eastlake, Plymouth.

John Coles Symes, Fenchurch Street.

Henry William Bull, 25, Ely Place.
Jackson Walton, 8, Warnford Court.

George Farwell, Totnes.

William Battye, Birstall.

79

Thomas Forbes, Kelsall, Fareham; John Pal-
mer Stocker, 2, New Boswell Court.
John Thomas Grover, 50, Bedford Row; as
signed to Francis James Ridsdale, 5, Gray's
Inn Square.

Michael Stocks, Halifax.

William Barnard Heaton, Gainsburgh.

Charles Seagrim, City of Winchester.

Jasper Gibson, Hexham.
Joseph Robert, Wilton, 19, John Street, Bed-
ford Row.

Thomas Harrison, Kendall.

Edward Erskine Tustin, Bride Court, Bridge
Street; assigned to William Harrison, 4,
South Square, Gray's Inn.

Grange, Richard, Hampstead; and 35, Great James Barnaby Mills, Hatton Garden; asJaines Street, Bedford Row.

signed to Janies Goren, Orchard Street, Portman Square; assigned to George Metcalf, Ramsgate, Kent.

Gylby, Worthington Thomas, the Younger, 26, John Parker Gylby, 17, Carlisle Street, Soho.

Dean Street, Soho.

Gaskell, William, Manchester.

Hill, James, 5, Verulam Buildings.

Henshall, John, Manchester.

Hotchkin, Spencer, The Mall, Kensington
Gravel Pits; and 31, Great Queen Street,
Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Harrison, John, New Woodstock, Oxford;
and 6, Warwick Court, Holborn.
Holdsworth, Charles Hunt, Truro, Cornwall;
and 10, Essex Street, Strand.
Hill, Alfred Wither, Worting, Southampton;
15, Chapel Place, Bermondsey, Surrey.
Harrison, Thomas Barwise, Whitehaven.
Humphrys, Harry, Wandsworth Road, Surrey;
and 8, Store Street, Bedford Square.
Hill, Thomas, 8, Goulden Terrace, Islington;
20, Chancery Lane; and Birmingham.
Jackson, Richard, Webb's County Terrace,
Newington, Surrey.

Richard Claye, Manchester.

Henry Hill, 62, Doughty Street; and Verulam Buildings.

Thomas Richard Weeton, Leigh, Lancaster; assigned to Oswald Milne, senior, Manchester.

Samuel Forster, Lincoln's Inn.

John Vewfield Harrison, Woodstock.
Samuel Were Prideaux, Dartmouth.
John Cole, Oldham.

Michael Walker, Whitehaven.
William Spence, Alfred Place, Bedford Square.
Robert Webb, Birmingham.

Howell Jones Phillips, Norfolk Street, Strand;
assigned to Robert William Peake, Norfolk
Street, Strand.

Jennings, Edward, 58, Judd Street, Brunswick Henry Charles Chilton, 7, Chancery Lane.

Square.

80 Attorneys to be admitted.-Judges' Circuits.—Insolvent Court Commissioners' Circuits.

[To be continued.]

Insolvent Court Commissioners' Circuits.—Superior Courts: Vice Chancellor.

Herefordshire, at Hereford, Saturday, July 15. Lincolnshire, at Lincoln and City, Saturday,
At the City of Bristol, Tuesday, July 18.
Somersetshire, at Bath, Friday, July 21.
Somersetshire, at Wells, Saturday, July 22.
Devonshire, at Exeter and City, Tuesday, July

At the City of Canterbury, Thursday, July 13. that the suit be instituted by the wife's next

82

Superior Courts: King's Bench.

to prevail, it would not be necessary perhaps to dismiss the suit, as he may be able to suggest neaus of making it conclusive against the wife.

His Honor, on a subsequent day, said he had consulted the Lord Chancellor on the point; and his Lordship did not think that he decided any such question. His Honor allowed the objection.

Owden v. Campbell.-At Westminster, April 26th and 27th, 1837.

King's Bench.

[Before the Four Judges.]

DEMURRER.

A rule to set aside a demurrer as irregular,
and to sign judgment as for want of a plea,
under the new rules, Hil. Term, 4 W. 4,
s. 2, must be a rule to shew cause, and can-
not be absolute in the first instance.
Quære, whether an action of debt can be main-
tained by an indorsee against the drawer of
the bill, such drawer being also the person
who indorsed the bill to the plaintiff.

Mr. Wightman moved for a rule to set aside a demurrer to a declaration as irregular, and to have leave to sign judgment as for want of a plea. This is an application under the new rule, Hil. Term, 4 W. 4, s. 2. In this case an action upon a bill of exchange has been brought against the defendant by the indorsee, to whom the defendant indorsed it. One of the alleged causes of demurrer is, that there is a variance between the statement in the declaration and the indorsemeut on the outside sheet

is, that it is not averred that the bill was payable when the action was brought, for that the form of expression used in the declaration is "which period has now elapsed;" and it is alleged that that expression refers to the time of the delivering the declaration, and not to the time of the commencement of the action. That objection was once entertained in the Court of Exchequer ; but in a subsequent case in that Court upon special demurrer and full argument, and time taken to consider, the Court overruled the former case and declared such an allegation to be sufficient. Another objection is, that it did not appear by the declaration on what day, or in what month, the defendant made the several promises, or any of them. Not any promise is alleged in the declaration, which is able. The plaintiff is entitled to his rule, which in debt. So that that objection is not sustainshould be absolute in the first instance.

Lord Denman, C. J.—You may take a rule, but it can only be a rule to shew cause. We in the first instance. cannot dispose of this matter by a rule absolute

Per Curiam.-Rule to shew cause accor

dingly.

Spencer v. Newton, T. T. 1837. K. B. F. J.

MANDAMUS-GAME LAWS.

The Court will not grant a mandanus to compel the justices in quarter sessions to enter continuances and hear an appeal against a conviction under the provisions of the Game Act, and to receive evidence of title.

Mr. J. J. Williams moved for a rule to shew

of it: for that the declaration states that the cause why a mandamus should not issue to the plaintiff by 4. B. his attorney complains, justices of the county of Berks, commanding whereas the indorsement shews that C. D. is them to enter continuances, and hear an apthe plaintiff's attorney. It is quite clear that peal, in which Thomas Pratt was the appellant, that ground of demurrer is frivolous, and the and the president and scholars of St. John's Court cannot look at the indorsement on the College, Oxford, were the respondents in the outside sheet of a declaration to contradict the case of a conviction of the appellant under the statement in the declaration itself. There is provisions of the Game Act; and he applied clearly a proper statement upon the record of also that the mandamus should likewise direct an attorney for the plaintiff. [Mr. Justice Lit- them to hear evidence of the title of the retledule. But on looking at the declaration, there spondents to certain land as set forth in the appears an objection which may not be frivolous. conviction. He founded his application on This is an action in the form of debt, against affidavits, which stated that an information the drawer of a bill of exchange. Might under the Game Act (1 & 2 W. 4, c. 32), had not that be made the subject of a general de- been laid against the appellant for being upon murrer?] No. It was at one time supposed certain land described in the information as that debt would not lie against a drawer, and the property of the president and scholars of the authority referred to was a dictum in Skin- the College of St. John the Baptist, at Oxford, ner; but that point is now settled by Predby and there killing a rabbit. By the 45th sec. v. Henbrey, where a privity between the of the Game Act, it is enacted that no sumplaintiff and defendant is recognised as the ground on which debt may be maintainable. mary conviction under that act, nor any apThe indorsement by the defendants to the plain-into any of the Superior Courts of Record. peal therefrom, shall be removed by certiorari tiff is an instance of privity on which debt may be maintained. The next objection is, that the action was commenced by writ of capius, and not by writ of detainer, as in the declaration is untruly alleged." This is too frivolous to require a moment's notice. Another objection

a

a 1 Barn. & Cres. 674.

The proceedings under that act are therefore wholly confined to the adjudication of the sessions. It becomes therefore absolutely neces

b Abbott v. Arlett, 4 Dowl. Prac. Cas. 759. c Owen v. Waters, 5 Dowl. Prac. Cas. 324; S. C. 2 Mee. & Wels. 91.