The petition for divorce brought by Mr. John Russell came
on Saturday last to a singularly unsatisfactory conclusion. The jury found that the respondent had not committed adultery either with Mr. Bradley or with Mr. Cross, but disagreed on the question of whether there was adultery with a man unknown. In his summing-up the President said : " In an ordinary case the evidence would be sufficient for a jury to find adultery, but the present case is an extraordinary one." On Monday Mrs. Russell was granted full costs on the twa issues in which she succeeded, and costs, as secured by the petitioner, on the undecided issue. In all, the costs are said to amount to £20,000. Except to persons of unlimited means such a result is little short of a disaster. There must surely be something wrong in our legal system when the cost of so legitimate an appeal for a judicial decision is so huge.
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