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356 THE LEADER. [No. 316, Satcrdav
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THE NEW ADELPHI DRAMA. A drama by Messrs...
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A parch was produced at the Haymarickt o...
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Miss Glyn lma been performing tho Cleopa...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Anecdotes Of Jurisprudence. Principles A...
justice should be easy or certain is impossible . It can only be attained by a stupendous succession of trials and appeals , consuming the estates of the litigants , and aggravating , term after term , the accumulation of precedents , the anomalies of juridical practice , and the difficulties of codification . To codify the laws , is to suppose that the laws are positive , plain , and harmonious . But to elicit the * real English law on all subjects from the mighty mass , partially repealed , partially obsolete , frequently unintelligible , almost invariably susceptible of two constructions , of the statutes at large , would necessitate a session of declaratory legislation , and compel Parliament to debate and revise every clause of the written and unwritten law , for no epitome , code , or abstract , would have any force in a court , if the words of the original act could be cited in a discrepant sense . Thus , the Legislature
has created its own perplexity ; but , though this evil is enhanced every time that a new act is passed ^ or an old act modified or repealed ; it is a fallacy to suppose that the principles of English jurisprudence flowed untainted from the original receptacles of the Roman law . For every evil that has accrued from our own disorderly methods of legislation , some other and greater evil has disappeared in the presence of reform . Much as it has been the affected fashion to laud old times and manners , the devotees of the past cannot adduce in its favour the language or the maxims of the published law Mr . Phillitnore quotes some wonderful examples of verbal tortuosity and obscurity , belonging to erudite ^ and polished times . When it was proposed to thestudenfc to argue " whether goods taken in Witiierham are irreplevlsable , " and declared " that the senspn in f »/»/ I ri /™*; ,-., ^ ,-. * it u _ . - o . Sii ¦ and declared " that the seisen to feed Contingent Uses bScintill iurisis
y a a , ™ mijMbus , in margin terra , or in custodia legis , " it mav be conceived how the Tribunals dominated over the law , and Low the most iniquitous iudc-Wtaco « ld . be coaceta-ed under a . surface of corrupt technicality . Lord Eldon disliked the jargon of the Courts , and gave his decisions plainly , one of them being as follows : " Having had doubts upon fliis will for twenty years , there can be no use m taking mare time to consider it . " ¦ Cromwell swept the Law Latin even out of Chancery , but it was restored bv the malevolent pedantry of the Restoration , with all the unmeaning forms and artifices tlat constituted . the - . legal Kabbala , and other worse customs , sanctionedb y ^ the feudal spirit . IfeWas inharmony with this type that the practice «*?? . ?* R owing debtors to be immured for life and treated as criminals / Sir William . Rich , a baronet , was found / by the parliamentary committee loaded
¦ with chains mthe Fleet prison , . . where within the present century , a wretched insolvent perished of starvation . Y <* the law was not barbarous , because no illustrious jurist supplied the commentaries of wisdom on experience . While Coke amassed his annotations , Dumoilin , styled by D'Aguesseau the greatest master oeanalysasthat ever .-wrote on jurisprudence , compiled that folio which contains "the standard of the French eustomary and feudal law . In o » e school Fleming . and the Scintilla Juris were preferred ; in another , I . amoignon ' s noble code became ^ a established authority , and Bodin , Machiavel , Grotius , Atte ? and constitute
P S seau > Montesquieu the series of commentator , placed by Mrv Philhmore la contrast with the vague and verbose pedants of the fiiteenth and sixteenth centimes . From the consideration of authorities he proceed ^ to the consid eration of principles ^ starting froin that of the Natura Law , which is to be obeyed by the originators of the Artificial Law . No better illustration could be chosen than the decree promulgated in Holland , that a person breaking down a dam shall be punishable with death . The legislators of England affixed to this offence the same penalty , not considering that to break down a dam in England was to commit a venial ottence
aprast property , while to commit such an act in Holland was to cndauger the nation . 1 here would be every difference between the crimesdiiferen ^ e of motive and of result , yet there was a time when the English whe « anything was borrowed , to refuse £££ ? £ \ * a iT , - excc P tions "ere allowed , as when a man having lent a sword , and turned m a fit of madness to reclaim it , a principle t ™ V & S ¥ ™} imOVQ s « gg ^ tS , if he had borrowed props £ SSrS l r ? - ° ,, V ^ and * was required to give them Ap SKSSSFV t , 13 * f neralIy held as a sound maxim that money or other pioperty borrowed , cannot be claimed on the same day . But there was an evil on the other side . Simultaneously with this literal , mechanical bigotry , existed the love of subtleties , which produced as much injustice and
™« tlnrd , r lass ° f . questions included these ; whether a man , having SEnJT lV PUbU ° USht f' ceased to havo a clal ™ *<> the >» 3 which was l ™?™ m S l % atlXG > whether a person ha ving bought a vicious horse , and « wL V ™ 5 uent ( lela y » may claim damages from the seller ; ? ™~^ ! S ' i ^ TV a bir d and killinff a m ™> is guilty of murder u committing the higher felony , when only intending the Tower ; whether a wan , doping with a woman , should be held to havl stolen her clotthes , and T IT n «« i m T ? iU < e necess ^ y ^ constitute an irrevocable gift . SSrSTS- r ?*< " }*** ° r most of <*•«» contingencies , though , in sSme TZ' J \\ fh f S J ' Se f } ° l \ teil a juriaprudence of their own , ii 3 when they nSi ? . f g A °° i ' Who hnd fcv ^ 'fed his master ' s horses , was guilty of ™ K ? ¦ 8 " ° y « eccssity ' convae , could extort the recoguitiou of u E ™ « r m eq Y . lt . y to . meet a Cftse in which a bequest was left to a married OIMUtl
rt 1-4- ' i u . o , n tlJat she should desert her husband , the validity of the « S « bei"Ku » do « bteclly at variance with policy and morals . Another , and a more difficult noint is , how far an agitator , who draws a crowd togeloaa of life ™ thG conse ( luences ~ * iot > destruction of property , or thTu-. ?^!!?^ T fftr . erory cit » ze « may fairly be supposed cognisant of Mr TM , iJii « ' tUepofovo ; Justice , amenable for transgressing it , suggests to held exc S !? w 80 TO ? ? . ar ftnd rational distinctions . Wia , no man could bo aJaWfSow ' pi'W ? thafc he diU not know murder or robbery to be it ia ilWl ?« ? ° and ; l ) u * who would know , except by accident , that iUshore or t ^ dcft < 1 in woollen oloth 3 ' or to co " ect aalt l ) V mSSSl hL f WCar ? » Jt button ., or to shavo on Sunday ? Yet , such iSScTwe ^ J ^ SKa becn - ? leadod : « v « in , aa if Ithe object of to multiply pMBwlxmontn . In the same spirit , it was
until recently , the practice to confer a retrospective operation on every Parliamentary enactment , as far back as the commencement of the session . A person committing an act perfectly legal in February might be , and often was , punished for it in June ; a prisoner accused of a secondary offence in the spring , found himself , sometimes , condemned in autumn to the horrors of Execution Dock . In illustration of the axiom that every citizen is supposed to know the law uader which he lives the old anecdote is cited , of the five men , standing in a field , who lived under fire separate codes . In a marriage case celebrated in our courts , Edmund Lollu after taking the opinion of counsel , as to the non-validity of a marriage
, was sentenced to transportation for bigamy , and suffered two years' in theVull ' s But this subject—marriage—being the personal concern of every citizen k wrapped up in a hundred folds of obscure and intricate legislation . The law which , says Mr . Phillimore , might be cqutained in a few lines , is contained ia about sixty enactments , besides that relating to the Royal Family . In Great Britain a marriage contracted north of the Tweed is valid on the ' south , but ' a marriage contractetl on the south is not necessarily valid on the north . Thus tli © Scotch judges have dissolved a matrimonial union ceremonially legalised in England , while the English judges have no power to take his privileges from the blacksmith and bell-ringer of Gretna Green . ft
A succession of maxims , bearing on every point of modern jurisprudence has been selected by Mr . Phillimore , and commented upon in a critical and scholarly style . In one respect , however , the book is not worthy of the subject . It betrays a disposition to flippancy , and to acrimony . Fot the sake of a pleasant anecdote , Mr . Phillimore passes a sweeping and reckless censure on the line of English judges , suggesting that , in every case of a disputed passage m a will , decided in the English Courts , the result would have been more equitable if the judgment had been reversed . He has heard of an abbot who issued an order compelling all his monks to dress in white . When the original order was found , it contained these words on the margin , i : Blanc , e ' a dire , noir . "
356 The Leader. [No. 316, Satcrdav
356 THE LEADER . [ No . 316 , Satcrdav
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Clje Irts .
The New Adelphi Drama. A Drama By Messrs...
THE NEW ADELPHI DRAMA . A drama by Messrs . Bayard and Arthur de Be a . up-lax , entitled Tker ^ se , on Anye et Demon , and produced at the Paris Gymnase in October , 1852 , was on Wednesday evening presented in an English dress to an English audience at the Adelpiii , under the designation of Like and Unlike . Messrs . Langford and Sorel are the adaptors , and they have " linglished" the French , original in . a manner so attractive to the frequenters of Mr . Webster ' s house , that the piece may he ranked at once am- ng those " decided successes" which are as common to the Adelphi as failures are to other theatres .
The plot turns upon a species of mistake which has often been the fruitful parent of mystery and interest in novel and drama . Two sisters , both performed by Madame Celeste—the one a simple-hearted , pure-minded seamstress , named Lisette—the other an opera dancer find a jilt , if not something more , but afterwards the Countess Kromows-kie—are so like in fac , form , voice , and manner , that the one is being perpetually mistaken for the other ; and Air . Harry Mowbray ( Mi . Webster ) , a Yoikshire gentletuan in love with Lisette , is induced to break off his intended marriage under the impression that she has encouraged the advances , and . afterwards deceived , a Gallicisetl Manchester exquisite , Mr . Peter Potter , uproariously
personated by Mr . Wright , who , we are glad to find , has recovered from his recent illness . Mr . Mowbray afterwards mee ' s the Countess at a masqued ball in Paris given by herself and her husband . He gets in : o a quarrel with the Count ( Mr . Paul Bedford ); fights with him under the belief thafc he has married Lisette j and only finds out his mistake , recovers his lost happiness , and takes back to his heart the virtuous and belied seamstress , on seeing her and her sister almost together . The changes of dress , of manner , and of character , combined with similarity of voice and exterior appearance , necessitated by this most difficult performance , were wonderfully assumed , by Madame Celeste , and their rapidity , especially in the last scene , not a little astonished the audience .
It will be perceived , from this brief sketch , that the drama was of the most exciting kind . The intcrevst , moreover , is heightened by the audience being kept in doubt up to the last moment as to the apparent contradictions in tho character of Lisette . Of the acting , it may be said that ihe AmcLi'iu sliines in all its old glory . Mr . Wedstbr , sis the gloomy , broken-hearted Yorkshire gentleman , dropping into a melancholy stagnation alter his j ^ rcat disappointment s Mr . Wright , as the bearded , moustached , and Parisianized Manchester man , " afterwards Harlequin" at the masqued ball ; Mr . Suldy , in one of his favourite foppish characters , a certain Aithur Leslie , converted into Oliver Cromwell under the like circumstances ; Madame Celeste , witli her astonishing variations ; and Miss Wynoium , with her handsome looks and graceful bearing—make a most attractive combination . Pathos and fun alternate through the piece , like rain and shiwe in this present April weather j and Messrs . Langford and Sorel way be congratulated on the success they have achieved .
A Parch Was Produced At The Haymarickt O...
A parch was produced at the Haymarickt on Thursday night , untkr ^ title of' * Tho Postman ' s Knock , " and founded on the popular song of that name . It tuvxis upon the mistake of a young lady , who runs uway with her maid ' s lover , a . postman , in mistake for her own , who is a " sou of Mnrs . " The maid , on tho other hand , elopes with tho gallant warrior ; nnd the mistake in both cases arises from tho red coats of tho respective lovers . But , of course , it all " cornea right in tho end , " to the satisfaction o ( all beholders , as Swu'T said of the hanging footman .
Miss Glyn Lma Been Performing Tho Cleopa...
Miss Glyn lma been performing tho Cleopatra of Shakhimsaius'h '' Antony and Cleopatra" nt tho Standard Thka . tr . is , with Mt . Mahhton m tho illustrious soldier and lover . It is pleasant to note thoac dawning 1 * ol dramatic truth over tho benighted heathens of Shorcditch .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12041856/page/20/
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