. 310 Attorney's Certificate: Re-admission.- On the Study of Medical Jurisprudence. was his last certificate," thereby excluding those | At Paris, in 1832, the body of a man was cases in which no certificate has ever been found in the Seine, cut into four parts. Being taken out. This view of the case has, how-placed in the Morgue, the medical inspector ever, been materially shaken by the recent remarked that at the different sections the decision in Wilton v. Chambers, 7 Ad. & Ell. skin and muscles were much contracted, as 524, & S. C. 2 Nev. and P. 392, in which indeed occurs when a part is divided during life; and the precise point above referred to was not on further examination he also found that in question, but it was there decided that a the heart and blood-vessels were empty, and neglect to take out a certificate for a year the system generally was drained dry. He w after re-admission, rendered such re-admission thence led to conjecture that the body must void, so as to involve the necessity of another have been divided before life was extinet; and re-admission before the party could be legally furthermore, from the appearance of the inqualified to practice; and it may be inferred cisions, and the absence of other injuries, that from various parts of the judgment that the the individual had been in a condition that Court would have came to the same conclu- disabled him from making any resistance. sion in the case of an original admission. This induced him to pay particular attention to the stomach; and by a careful analysis, he detected prussic acid in its contents. A clue was thus afforded to the murderer, who was soon after discovered. Some of this poison was found in his room. He was convicted and executed-having confessed that he had first rendered his victim insensible with prussic acid, and then cut his throat, and immediately after cut up the body. It is unnecessary for me to dilate upon the inconvenience that must result from these conflicting decisions,-an inconvenience which is in future likely to be more severely felt than ever, it being now the practice with most young men to go up for examination and to get admitted as soon as their articles have expired, although in the majority of cases they have no immediate intention of taking out their certificates, or of entering into business; their sole object being to get over what is familiarly termed the "bother" of the examination. If the inference I have drawn from the decision in Wilton v. Chambers be just, the effect of this decision will be to inflict a severe tax in the shape of certificate duty upon many who would otherwise defer this payment until they actually commenced practising; or, if they should decline submitting to this annual infliction, it will throw upon them the expence and delay of a re-admission, and possibly, also, under some future rule of Court, of a re-examination. A body divided into two parts was taken out of the Loire. It was divided exactly through the cartilage, between the third and fourth lumbra vertebræ, and there were besides several wounds in the abdomen. From the manner in which the division was effected, the examiner, Dr. Ouvrad, concluded it had been done by some person accustomed to such an operation; and as the wounds in the belly proved the man had been murdered, he conjectured that the murderer was probably a butcher. This proved true. The criminal was discovered, convicted, and executed. In 1823, a soldier named Bonino suddenly disappeared from a village near Montpellier, Under these circustances, I submit that a de- where he had for some time lived. Suspicion claratory rule, both prospective and retrospec- fell upon a paramour of his, and a man whom tive, is imperatively called for upon this point, she subsequently married; but no investigation and which rule I apprehend the Judges have took place for three years after, when the mapower to make under their general jurisdic-gistrates having directed a search, a body was tion, independently of legislative enactment. In the mean time, Sir, I feel that I cannot leave the subject in better hands than your own, and I trust that by the insertion of the above hasty remarks you will bring the question to the notice of those who may be far more competent to pronounce an opinion or to suggest a remedy than ON THE STUDY OF MEDICAL P. J. K. found in the garden of the suspected persons. After a careful examination of the remains of the body-all the soft parts of which, except the vertebral ligaments, were destroyed-Dr. Delmas was able to arrive at the following conclusions: that the individual bad been a male, of the age of forty or upwards, and had six fingers on his right hand, and possibly a sixth toe on the left foot; (it was ascertained that Bonino had these peculiarities, and that he was forty six years of age); that he had JURIS-been murdered by a blow of a blunt weapon, which fractured the left temporal bone; and that he had been buried in his clothes. The husband and wife were tried and convicted; committed the murder in the manner described and before their execution confessed they had by Dr. Delmas. As evidence of the assistance which medical science is capable of affording to the administration of justice, Dr. Brady in his introductory lecture in the Dublin Law Institutea states the following remarkable examples: a A notice of the Dublin Law School or Institute has been some time in our printer's hands, but unavoidably delayed. A still more extraordinary investigation was conducted by Orfila, Mare, Chevallier, and other distinguished medical jurists, in Paris, a few years since. So far back as 1821, a widow lady of the name of Houat, residing in Paris, had suddenly disappeared. Two men On the Study of Medical Jurisprudence. 311 and the wife of one of them were arrested on suspicion of having made away with her; but for want of evidence at the time, they were liberated. Eleven years after, a report reached the police of a body having been buried in a certain garden about that time. The body was found, and after a most skilful and able examination of its remains by the medical men, the following facts were satisfactorily estab-pounded the medicines himself, had substituted lished: 1st. That the skeleton was that of a female, sixty or seventy years of age, and nearly five feet in height. 2ad. That the hair, which was bright blond in youth, was mixed with gray at her death. 3rd. That the hands were small. 4th. That she died of strangulation, and that the act was to all appearance homicidal. 5th. That the body must have lain in the earth for several years. The prisoners, who had been long suspected, were brought to trial twelve years after the murder, and convicted. Some years since, a Mr. Hodgson, a surgeon, was tried at Durham, for attempting to poison his wife, and the case affords an interesting illustration of the value of medical evidence. She had been ordered by a physician pills of calomel and opium for rheumatism; and it was pretty clearly proved that the prisoner, who kept a shop, and comcorrosive sublimate (a violent poison) for the calomel. When the wife began to suffer from the pills, the physician was sent for, and ordered a laudanum draught, which the prisoner himself immediately prepared; but the doctor, happening to observe that it was muddy, was induced to taste it, and recognised the peculiar acrid taste of corrosive sublimate. The prisoner, in his defence, alleged that he had mistaken for the water bottle an injection of corrosive sublimate he had prepared for a sailor. But by chemical analysis, it was ascertained that the injection contained five grains of corrosive sublimate to an ounce of water, while the draught for the wife contained fourteen grains. In the last case which I intend to cite, medical knowledge was equally successful, in a somewhat similar way, in defeating a conspiracy to impute the crime of poisoning. A man of the name of Whally was tried at the assizes of York for administering arsenic to a woman who was pregnant by him. She swore that the prisoner, after twice trying to prevail on her to take drugs, for the purpose of procuring abortion, sent her a present of tarts, of which she ate one and a half, and in half an hour after was seized with symptoms of poisoning. Mr. Thackrah, an intelligent surgeon at Leeds, who was called to see her, found arsenic in the tarts that remained, and also in the inatters vomited at different times; but he remarked that her appearance did not correspond with the complaints she made of suffering; her pulse and tongue were natural, and on careful investigation the following inconsistencies ap These are striking examples of the important aid the administration of justice may derive from medical skill and knowledge. They almost lead one to hope that science may one day realize the blind belief of the vulgar, and render it impossible murder can be hid. Less remarkable, but not less useful instances of the value of medical evidence are of every-day occurrence. The case of Bowerman, which was first reported in Paris and Fonblanque's work on "Medical Jurisprudence," and which you will find referred to by Mr. Phillips, and other writers on evidence, is a good illustration. Three years after the death of a step-child of Bowerman, a report was set on foot that he had killed the child, by pushing an awl into its head, just behind the ear. The coroner was induced to have the body disinterred, and on examination, a small round hole was found in the skull, corresponding exactly with the account of the murder given by a witness. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Bowerman, and at the next as-peared: sizes of Exeter, a bill was sent to the grand jury against him. In the mean time, however, Mr. Sheldon, a surgeon in Exeter, having investigated the case, found that the hole in the skull was the natural opening for a blood-vessel, which was obvious, as well from the nature of its edges, as from a little channel which led to it; and having pointed this out, to the jury and produced before them a dozen skulls similarly perforated, the bill was ignored. A few years since, an officer of excise was tried in Kent for shooting a man. The deceased had been, for some purpose or other, in company with a band of smugglers, and was retreating before the officer when he was shot. There was no doubt the officer had fired, but the smugglers, on their retreat, had also fired several shots; and a surgeon made it plain, from the direction and nature of the wound, that the ball must have entered in front, and therefore have come from the sinugglers, and not from the prisoner. 1. She said she felt a coppery taste on eating the tart, a taste which arsenic certainly has not. 2. From the quantity of arsenic in the tarts that remained, she could not have taken above ten grains, while after repeated vomiting, the last matter vomited contained fifteen grains. 3. The time at which these fifteen grains were alleged to have been vomited, was not till two or three hours after the symptons began; in which case, the symptons would have been violent before that time. The prisoner was acquitted, and the prosecutor and another woman, who had corroborated her testimony, subsequently confessed they had agreed to impute the crime to him, because he had deserted her. 312 Objections to the Copyhold Enfranchisement Bill-On the Mode of Examination. OBJECTIONS TO THE COPYHOLD EN-be retained by the copyholder against his ex FRANCHISEMENT BILL. pences of improvements, to be paid on the next admission after such improvements made; the value as rent to be fixed in the Manor [We have received the following observa-Court, by a jury, appointed-one-half by the lord, and the other half by the copyholderstions on the Copyhold Enfranchisement Bill, and the fine to be re-assessed upon the same and feel bound to insert them.] principle on every future change of ownership. The lords of manors, who, to say the least, are joint owners with the copyhold tenants, But they talk of the litigation occasioned and were originally the sole owners, cannot be satisfied, in lieu of rights as ancient, and which by copyhold tenure. Now, I venture positively ought to be as sacred, as any other description hold titles, and of the instruments by which to assert, from the peculiar simplicity of copyof property, with a miserable pittance doled out by arbitrary commissioners; and that pit-ledge of the homage of the Court of the facts they are conveyed-their publicity-the knowtance, in all instances of entailed manors, (which form the vast majority) not paid, but on which they rest-and their regular inrolinvested in the funds, at their present enorment in the manorial books, accessible to all mous height, producing there little more than persons interested, and answering the muchthree per cent. Thus exchanging their right litigation arising out of copyhold property desiderated purpose of a general registry, the upon the land, the best of all securities, for a fluctuating, precarious, and it may be, perish-than that arising either from freehold or lease(taking its relative quantity) is infinitely less able investment. And all this to be effected hold tenures, and I appeal to the books of reby cumbrous and complicated machinery, the expense of which will in may cases swallow ports for the fact. up the greater part of the money. And where is the necessity for this sweeping and mischievous change? All the real evils of copyhold tenure may be removed by a short act, without injustice to any one, and at the same time preserving its manifold advantages, for such I can shew them to be. I would say then, abolish the various anomalies of descent. Two lines will do this by saying that they shall all be assimilated to that of freehold tenure. Let heriots be commuted at the amount of average payments for the last three or five which have occurred-to be paid on all future occasions of death, &c.—for I presume it is not intended absolutely to rob the lord of his right. With regard to timber, as the law stands at present, I know practically, that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the lord commutes his right in timber felled for sale at a payment of one third of the produce; and it is settled without dispute or difficulty. Let the enactment declare this to be his right. As to the fines on land, I know from extensive experience that there is no difficulty in assessing them, nor does it operate as a hardship on the copyholder (who buys the property at a price accordingly, it being known that he is only part owner) and I deny that it is any discouragement to agriculture; for throughout the country the copyhold land is farmed quite as well as the freehold, and I defy any one to distinguish the one from the other. With regard to buildings to be erected on copyhold sites, it is not right that the lord should be deprived of all interest in prospective improvements, or of the increased value of land (which was originally his own absolute property) in particular situations. Let then the fine on new houses or buildings erected be assessed at the rate under the present law, namely, two years rent upon the improved value, but allow the half, or two thirds, or some other just proportion, to be defined, to It is notorious too, that the expence of conveying copyhold seldom amounts to one half, or even one third, of that attending the transfer of the other species of property. P. CLASSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL EXAMINATION OF ARTICLED CLERKS. To the Editor of the Legal Observer. BEING an articled clerk myself, you will easily I entirely agree with your correspondent as to the desireableness of maintaining the "respectability" of attorneys; but I think the means which he suggests for securing it would be utterly ineficient. He proposes that each candidate for examination as an attorney should first be compelled to pass an examination inVirgil, Cæsar, and Xenophon, in which, of course, he is to shew his mastery of those works in the original tongues. Now I ask what connexion is there between an attorney's respectability in his profession, and his possessing a knowledge of a course of ancient books, written in dead languages, and utterly foreign to his profession? And if by "respectability" your correspondent means, not a 'long purse," nor a new first-fashioned coat, On the Mode of Examination.--Selections from Correspondence. but that union of intelligence and integrity which merit respect, I would ask whether the intelligence which an attorney ought to possess is to be found in Virgil and Caesar, or in the scientific and commercial treatises which exhibit to him the present advanced state of the world?—or, if he require his moral nature training, is that to be effected by compelling him to dwell constantly, throughout his youth, upon the absurd, and often obscene, rites and impositions of a heathenish mythology, practised in times and amongst people in which the principles of morality and religion were scarce at all understood?-or is he to learn this requisite morality from the divinity and philosophy of modern Europe? Surely not from the former in either case. I therefore humbly think, that if respectability in an attorney be usually united with a knowledge of the "classics," which I am not by any means at present prepared to admit the former is not, as your correspondent seems to think, a sequent result of the latter, but merely an accidental associate. Indeed, the truth of this is so obvious, on its suggestion to the mind, as almost to render unnecessary further comment. Your correspondent must, therefore, if he will have some preliminary examination to insure respectability, find out its veritable causes, and then proceed with his suggestions. In the mean time I shall proceed with my preparations for the present mode of examination only, with which, if rigidly carried out, I am perfectly satisfied. Your" Old Subscriber" also recommends an examination in the two first books of Euclid, and in "a proportionate quantity of Algebra." To be sure these occasionally bear a little upon the actual duties of an attorney: they may be of use in the financial department of his profession: Yet the occasions of their usefulness are so "few and far between," and old Cocker is so much more serviceable, that on the ground of utility I think their claims are very small indeed. And as to their efficiency in producing the respectability required in an attorney, the remarks already made in reference to the "classics," apply also, in a great measure, to the "mathematics." Both are admirable as accomplishments; they may adorn moral principle (the great thing wanting), they may polish it; nay, they may assist in crowning it with the beauteous wreath of intellectual superiority, but they can never confer the principle itself. One word more ere I conclude. As your correspondent seems to have so great a predilection for the "classics," and though styling himself old, still seems to retain the simplicity of his school-boy faith in their talismanic powers, he will perhaps, eulogise their excellencies, and grow eloquent in so doing; but I would ask him why an articled-clerk should be compelled to lose his time (of which, by the way, he is already short enough,) in becoming thoroughly conversant with disused languages, and books written in those languages, whilst all the excellencies which he seeks, and many more, may be found in his own tongue? What 313 ever can be said in favor of those "classics" of Greece and Rome, may be repeated, with additions, in reference to the "classics" of Britain. OMEGA. SELECTIONS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. WOMAN. LIMITATIONS TO THE SEPARATE USE OF A (Legal Observer, vol. 19, p. 275.) Sir, WITH deference, I beg to suggest, that the conclusion you have come to upon the judgment of the Lord Chancellor in Tullett v. Armstrong, “that when the marriage takes place, the separate estate will become effectual, whe ther the clause against anticipation be inserted or not," is incorrect, and I find that in the passage quoted from the judgment by you in support of your conclusion, the very words which negative that conclusion are omitted; the judgment being: "After the most anxious consideration, I have come to the conclusion, that the jurisdiction which this Court has assumed in similar cases, justifies it in extending it to the protection of the separate estate, with its qualifications and restrictions attached to it, throughout the subsequent coverture.' See 19 L. O. p. 268. H. B. [We quite agree with our correspondent, and are obliged to him for his correction. We intended to have said "whether the clause against alienation be inserted or not," i. e. the gift over in that event to some other person. In the case of Tullett v. Armstrong, ante, p. 264, it will be seen that "the second gift under the first will was not accompanied with the restraint on alienation," although in other gifts by the same testator there was this restraint; and the Lord Chancellor held that this made no difference, but that "if separate estate was to be supported, it must be supported on both branches. I do not see how the Vice Chancellor's view can be supported," alluding to the decision to the contrary in Newton v. Reid, 5 Sim. 663. The clause against anticipation is still a stringent and operative clause. ED.] ADJOURNED COURT OF THE LATE SPECIAL To the Editor of the Legal Observer. Sir, HAVING observed, by a constant perusal of your Journal, that its pages are always open, within reasonable limits, to the discussion of legal subjects, I beg to call your readers' attention to an important point of law arising from the late trials for high treason at Monmouth. 314 Selections from Correspondence.-The Student's Corner. but however, they thought the point was not raised at the proper season. A Special Commission was appointed to try the Judges who legally constituted the Court the parties implicated in the recent disturb at Monmouth, and, as I contend, also constiances at Monmouth. The Judges named in tuted the adjourned Court held at the Exthe Commission were Chief Justice Tindal, chequer Chamber, were of opinion that the Mr. Baron Parke, and Mr. Justice Williams. objection was valid; and also, that such was The Court opened and commenced their sit- taken in due time to entitle the prisoners to tings in the usual manner, and after the the benefit of it, and a majority of the Judges prisoners had pleaded to the indictment, an who attended for the express purpose of “asobjection was taken by their counsel that thesisting" the Court, were of the same opinion, direction of the statute 7 Anne, c. 21, s. 11, had not been complied with, and the Court, considering the objection entitled to consideration, it was agreed that the trial should pro ceed without prejudice to the question as to the validity of the objection; and the Chief Justice stated that the Court, at the conclusion of the trials, would adjourn to a future day at Westminster Hall, and request the assistance of the other learned Judges; and that the prisoners would be entitled to the same benefit of the objection, as if the Court was sitting at Monmouth; and on this understanding the trials proceeded, and ultimately the leaders of the riots were found guilty. Chief Justice Tindal, Mr. B. Parke, and Mr. J. Williams, accordingly assembled in the Court of Exchequer Chamber, requesting the assistance of the other twelve learned Judges, (the question being of great importance to the parties concerned) to consider the point raised by the prisoner's counsel at the trial. Now Sir, I submit the Court was an adjourned Court from Monmouth, and not an Exchequer Chamber Court; and those three Judges who presided at Monmouth, legally constituted such adjourned Court, and not the whole fifteen Judges. The fifteen Judges were only requested to advise, and not to decide. Without entering into the merits of the objection, it will be sufficient for the present purpose to observe that the point was argued with great ability by the counsel on behalf of the Crown, and the prisoners; and it was held by a majority of the presiding Judges at Monmouthand, as I contend, a majority of the constituted Court, viz. Mr. B. Parke and Mr. Williamsthat the objection was valid; and a majority of the Judges who lent their assistance, were of the same opinion. Chief Justice Tindal, and the minority of the Judges who assisted the adjourned Court, were of a different opi nion. Another point was raised, whether the objection was taken at the proper time to entitle the prisoners to the benefit of an acquittal consequent on the objection being decided in their favour. Mr. B. Parke and Mr. J. Williams, held that the objection was taken at the right season, and on the above principle, the majority of the Court, as constituted at Monmouth by the Special Commission, and adjourned to Westminster, were in favour of the prisoners. A minority of the Judges who assisted, also thought the objection was taken in time. Chief Justice Tindal was of different opinion, and a majority of the Judges who attended to give their assistance to the adjourned Court, coincided with C. J. Tindal. The result therefore, is, that the majority of I think, Sir, no question can arise as to whether it was an adjourned Court, constituted by the same Judges who presided at Monmouth, or a Court of the Exchequer Chamber, constituted by the whole fifteen Judges; because C. J. Tindal distinctly stated that the Court was not an Exchequer Chamber Court, but only an adjourned Court from Monmouth, and was exactly the same as if they were sitting there, but in consequence of the importance of the point to be decided, they had thought proper to request the advice and assistance of their learned brethren. If it had been an Exchequer Chamber Court, I think no question could arise, but that the whole fifteen Judges constituted such Court, and the opinion of the majority of them would be the judgment of the Court; but, considering it as an adjourned Court from Monmouth (and I apprehend that no doubt can arise as to that point after the observations that fell from C. J. Tindal), I am of opinion that the decision of the majority of the Court, so constituted by the Special Commission at Monmouth as aforesaid, and so adjourned from thence to Westminster, to consider the objection taken at the trial, was the judgment and final decision of such Court; and I think the Judges assisting the presiding Judges, had no power to interfere with the final decision, but only to lend their assistance to enable the adjourned Court to arrive at a conclusion warranted by the law, and the Court was not bound to acquiesce in the opinions pronounced by them, or the majority of them, lending their assistance. Suppose the objection had been decided at Monmouth as it has been at Westminster, by the majority of the Judges who constituted the Court there, would not the prisoners be entitled to an acquittal on the question being decided in the affirmative? Most assuredly they would; and I contend that by adjourning the Court from Monmouth to Westminster, it could not alter in anywise the constitution and power of such Court. W. J. THE STUDENT'S CORNER. To the Editor of The Legal Obsesver. Sir, 4. CONVEYS to B. for a valuable consideration. The draft is, by mistake, drawn “to and to the use of C. in trust for B." the purchaser. After which follows an assignment from D. to C. of an outstanding term in order to merge. |