DOI issue:
January to June, 1852
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16609#0262
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
255
A CHANCERY BONE OF CONTENTION.
(an ower true tale.)
Our newspaper contemporaries
ought really to engage an
efficient staff of first-rate
writers of romance to do
justice to the reports of the
proceedings in the Courts of
Chancery. A mere matter-
of-fact style becomes "pale"
and ineffective in dealing
with subjects that surpass
in extravagance the wildest
and most exciting matters
of fiction.
"What might not a fever
ley? The question in the
case was whether an old
lady, who died in 1827 (only twenty-five years ago, which is nothing in
the age of a Chancery suit), had by her will executed a power of appoint-
ment, reserved to her by her marriage settlement.
One would imagine the question would be simple enough, and easily
answered; but sixteen counsel were employed in arguing that she
lad, and that she hadn't. The negative position was supported by
Messrs. Kenyon Parker, Haynes, and Oliver ; while the affirmative
was sustained by Mr. T. C. Wright, Mr. L. Wigram, Mr. J. Law,
Mr. Keene, Mr. Walker, Mr. Bacon, Mr. T. Hall, Mr. Baggally,
Mr. Bigg, Mr. J. Russell, Mr. Turner, Mr. Kingdon, and six-
teenthly and lastly, by Mr. J, Bailey. It is wonderful how so
apparently small a bone of contention can give employment to the jaws
of no less than sixteen barristers.
This, however, is not all, for in a Chancery suit it is not sufficient to
have a standing army of standing counsel on both sides, but there is a
neutral position to be taken up by somebody, and on this occasion it
was filled by Mr. Follett and Mr. Busk, who " appeared for the
trustees," who had no interest in the result either one way or the
other. No wonder " his Honour " said, that " after the number of cases
that had been cited he should reserve his judgment." We defy any one
to have any judicial faculty left after listening to eighteen barristers on
one point, and we would lay a wager—anywhere but at a betting office,
where those who lose pay, and those who win don't receive—that
however simple the question, the amount of " learning " employed upon
it must have reduced it to a mass of inextricable confusion. Happily
for the sanity of Chancery suitors in general, they are usually dead
before it comes to their turn to have the matters in which they are
interested brought before the Court, and the survivors entitled to the
" fund " have been born to consider the " fund " as the sport of the law,
so that they really are in the position fallaciously ascribed to the eels,
and have become, by use, hardened to the process of skinning.
RUINED HALLS.
Deserted are the Courts of Common Law,
Westminster, in thy venerable Hall;
The County Courts away all business draw,
And Nisi Prim totters to its fall.
O'er benches, formerly where, thick as thieves,
Mustered an ample bar, the Judge presides,
Lone as an owl, amid the ivy-leaves
On some forsaken ruin, that abides.
Or should the Judges number two or three,
They sit in unregarded grandeur big,
No gaping multitude has come to see ;
Below there's but a solitary wig.
That wig is asked if it has aught to move ;
It answers with a shake—and not " My Lud;
sh imagination make of the No fine harangue succeeding, meant to prove
S™^gthHl^av J«5 That black> m fact, is white, as clear as mud.
came on the other day in the i
Court of^Sir R. T. Kinders- J Those walls with quirk and cavil now resound,
Or cross-examination's furious roar,
Designed some timid witness to confound,
With humbug, and with sophistry—no more ;
THE SETTLEMENT FOR THE CUP.
The settlement for Ascot has gone off very much as might have been
expected—several of the losers having "gone off" in a most mysterious
manner. A large number of shop-boys who had for some time pre-
viously to the race " been making up a book," have transferred their
attention to their masters' books, which they have been trying to
''make up" in such a way as to meet the engagements they have
incurred, and some have attempted to settle their own accounts by
appropriating the proceeds of the accounts of their employers' customers.
An immense number of watches changed hands on the morning after
the race, and young Spooney, the linendraper's lad, who stood to win
forty pounds on Voltigeur, ran away, to avoid being asked for forty
shillings which he had laid out—from the till—on the " favourite."
Song of the Australian Shepherd.
The flocks may leave the mountains,
And psrish every fold;
But dust-Ary be The fountains,
Ere I'll forsake the gold!
sauce eor the mint.
Save rarely, when high damages are laid,
Such as for broken hearts young ladies seek,
Appeals to British juries being made,
By tongues eftsoons inserted in the cheek.
The suitors all the County Courts have sought,
These have the causes, and are like to keep,
For they are shops where justice may be bought—
As itself dictates that it should be—cheap.
Fall, Nisi Prim, ne'er to rise again,
And perish those iniquities with thee,—
The laws of Doctor's Commons—and that den,
That sty, that sink, the Court of Chancery !
CORDIAL BONDS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA.
The Duke op Casigliano is a man of a sort of humour; he evi-
dently has a relish for a grim joke, and must laugh—when risible—like
a death's-head. This deadly droll duke, writing to Mr. Scarlett, on
the atrocity committed on Mr. Mather, offers as indemnity for the
Austrian sabre cut 1,000 francesconi; and the Duke
"Has reason to flatter himself that this act of generosity will he appreciated by the
British Government, and he congratulates himself beforehand [nothing like being
beforehand] that it may have the effect of contributing to draw closer the bonds ol
cordial friendship and good understanding which always existed between the two
Governments."
A thousand francesconi, and for only one cut at an English gentleman:
why, such, a handsome sum ought to purchase a cut-and-come-again.
However, we are to be all the better friends for the gash: if Mr.
Mather had been murdered outright, our amity would have passed all
former love of all former nations ; and at only the small charge of 1,000
francesconi—£210 sterling!
Thus considered, the Austrian ruffian who cuts down an unarmed man
becomes the sweetest of pacificators. Beautiful are the sabres of the
peace-makers ! And now our cordial bonds are drawn so closely ! To
tighten a knot, it is usual to throw water over it—the Austrian improves
upon this, and makes the water blood.
The Stuff of the Protectionist Banner.
The present Ministers, when they were in Opposition, were always
talking of nailing their colours to the mast. Instead of that, some say
they have now hauled down the flag; but that is not the case—the
Protectionist colours are still flying: but this fact may not be generally
known, owing to a mistaken supposition that they are what is commonly
called True Blue. The standard of the Protectionists consists of what
ladies call " shot silk," and changes its hue with every variety of invo-
lution which it assumes while wavering in the breeze.
The Mint authorities, in their delay with reference to the new Florin,
are almost as bad as the Court of Chancery, for they have shown ex-
treme tardiness in bringing matters to an issue.
Sporting Problem.
Given—The odds at a Betting Office.
To eind—The Betting Office if the odds are lost.
Old Joe. — Several of those who have lost by the result of the
Cup day at Ascot have been let into the secret that Joe Miller may be
no ioke.
255
A CHANCERY BONE OF CONTENTION.
(an ower true tale.)
Our newspaper contemporaries
ought really to engage an
efficient staff of first-rate
writers of romance to do
justice to the reports of the
proceedings in the Courts of
Chancery. A mere matter-
of-fact style becomes "pale"
and ineffective in dealing
with subjects that surpass
in extravagance the wildest
and most exciting matters
of fiction.
"What might not a fever
ley? The question in the
case was whether an old
lady, who died in 1827 (only twenty-five years ago, which is nothing in
the age of a Chancery suit), had by her will executed a power of appoint-
ment, reserved to her by her marriage settlement.
One would imagine the question would be simple enough, and easily
answered; but sixteen counsel were employed in arguing that she
lad, and that she hadn't. The negative position was supported by
Messrs. Kenyon Parker, Haynes, and Oliver ; while the affirmative
was sustained by Mr. T. C. Wright, Mr. L. Wigram, Mr. J. Law,
Mr. Keene, Mr. Walker, Mr. Bacon, Mr. T. Hall, Mr. Baggally,
Mr. Bigg, Mr. J. Russell, Mr. Turner, Mr. Kingdon, and six-
teenthly and lastly, by Mr. J, Bailey. It is wonderful how so
apparently small a bone of contention can give employment to the jaws
of no less than sixteen barristers.
This, however, is not all, for in a Chancery suit it is not sufficient to
have a standing army of standing counsel on both sides, but there is a
neutral position to be taken up by somebody, and on this occasion it
was filled by Mr. Follett and Mr. Busk, who " appeared for the
trustees," who had no interest in the result either one way or the
other. No wonder " his Honour " said, that " after the number of cases
that had been cited he should reserve his judgment." We defy any one
to have any judicial faculty left after listening to eighteen barristers on
one point, and we would lay a wager—anywhere but at a betting office,
where those who lose pay, and those who win don't receive—that
however simple the question, the amount of " learning " employed upon
it must have reduced it to a mass of inextricable confusion. Happily
for the sanity of Chancery suitors in general, they are usually dead
before it comes to their turn to have the matters in which they are
interested brought before the Court, and the survivors entitled to the
" fund " have been born to consider the " fund " as the sport of the law,
so that they really are in the position fallaciously ascribed to the eels,
and have become, by use, hardened to the process of skinning.
RUINED HALLS.
Deserted are the Courts of Common Law,
Westminster, in thy venerable Hall;
The County Courts away all business draw,
And Nisi Prim totters to its fall.
O'er benches, formerly where, thick as thieves,
Mustered an ample bar, the Judge presides,
Lone as an owl, amid the ivy-leaves
On some forsaken ruin, that abides.
Or should the Judges number two or three,
They sit in unregarded grandeur big,
No gaping multitude has come to see ;
Below there's but a solitary wig.
That wig is asked if it has aught to move ;
It answers with a shake—and not " My Lud;
sh imagination make of the No fine harangue succeeding, meant to prove
S™^gthHl^av J«5 That black> m fact, is white, as clear as mud.
came on the other day in the i
Court of^Sir R. T. Kinders- J Those walls with quirk and cavil now resound,
Or cross-examination's furious roar,
Designed some timid witness to confound,
With humbug, and with sophistry—no more ;
THE SETTLEMENT FOR THE CUP.
The settlement for Ascot has gone off very much as might have been
expected—several of the losers having "gone off" in a most mysterious
manner. A large number of shop-boys who had for some time pre-
viously to the race " been making up a book," have transferred their
attention to their masters' books, which they have been trying to
''make up" in such a way as to meet the engagements they have
incurred, and some have attempted to settle their own accounts by
appropriating the proceeds of the accounts of their employers' customers.
An immense number of watches changed hands on the morning after
the race, and young Spooney, the linendraper's lad, who stood to win
forty pounds on Voltigeur, ran away, to avoid being asked for forty
shillings which he had laid out—from the till—on the " favourite."
Song of the Australian Shepherd.
The flocks may leave the mountains,
And psrish every fold;
But dust-Ary be The fountains,
Ere I'll forsake the gold!
sauce eor the mint.
Save rarely, when high damages are laid,
Such as for broken hearts young ladies seek,
Appeals to British juries being made,
By tongues eftsoons inserted in the cheek.
The suitors all the County Courts have sought,
These have the causes, and are like to keep,
For they are shops where justice may be bought—
As itself dictates that it should be—cheap.
Fall, Nisi Prim, ne'er to rise again,
And perish those iniquities with thee,—
The laws of Doctor's Commons—and that den,
That sty, that sink, the Court of Chancery !
CORDIAL BONDS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND AUSTRIA.
The Duke op Casigliano is a man of a sort of humour; he evi-
dently has a relish for a grim joke, and must laugh—when risible—like
a death's-head. This deadly droll duke, writing to Mr. Scarlett, on
the atrocity committed on Mr. Mather, offers as indemnity for the
Austrian sabre cut 1,000 francesconi; and the Duke
"Has reason to flatter himself that this act of generosity will he appreciated by the
British Government, and he congratulates himself beforehand [nothing like being
beforehand] that it may have the effect of contributing to draw closer the bonds ol
cordial friendship and good understanding which always existed between the two
Governments."
A thousand francesconi, and for only one cut at an English gentleman:
why, such, a handsome sum ought to purchase a cut-and-come-again.
However, we are to be all the better friends for the gash: if Mr.
Mather had been murdered outright, our amity would have passed all
former love of all former nations ; and at only the small charge of 1,000
francesconi—£210 sterling!
Thus considered, the Austrian ruffian who cuts down an unarmed man
becomes the sweetest of pacificators. Beautiful are the sabres of the
peace-makers ! And now our cordial bonds are drawn so closely ! To
tighten a knot, it is usual to throw water over it—the Austrian improves
upon this, and makes the water blood.
The Stuff of the Protectionist Banner.
The present Ministers, when they were in Opposition, were always
talking of nailing their colours to the mast. Instead of that, some say
they have now hauled down the flag; but that is not the case—the
Protectionist colours are still flying: but this fact may not be generally
known, owing to a mistaken supposition that they are what is commonly
called True Blue. The standard of the Protectionists consists of what
ladies call " shot silk," and changes its hue with every variety of invo-
lution which it assumes while wavering in the breeze.
The Mint authorities, in their delay with reference to the new Florin,
are almost as bad as the Court of Chancery, for they have shown ex-
treme tardiness in bringing matters to an issue.
Sporting Problem.
Given—The odds at a Betting Office.
To eind—The Betting Office if the odds are lost.
Old Joe. — Several of those who have lost by the result of the
Cup day at Ascot have been let into the secret that Joe Miller may be
no ioke.