WHIMS OF JUSTICE.
WE have more than once observed on the caprices of justice ; of which we now see three examples lying within the narrow compass of
as many columns of a daily newspaper. They are three cases of assault ;—two the subjects of civil actions ; and the third disposed of summarily by a magistrate, the injured party not appearing to require the offenders to be held to bail. The outrages are curiously punished with a severity in inverse proportion to the provocation. For the worst case, a fine of thirty shillings is imposed. For the next in point of brutality, forty pounds ; and for the least outrageous, one hundred pounds is awarded. In all three transgressions the parties were about of the same condition in life.
Two young medical students, named °swam) and FARNHAM, went to the „Surrey Theatre, and employed themselves in promoting the practice of surgery by breaking the heads of his Majesty's lieges.
" One of the constables who attends the above theatre stated, that on the preceding night, during the performance of Bleed Eyed Susan, his attention was called to the pit by hearing a disturbance there. On proceeding to the spot, he observed the defendants, both of whom were armed with cudgels, 'hammering' away at those right and left of them. Mr. Osward, who appeared to be the niost desperate of the two, held in his hand the stick now produced, a most formidable weapon. With this ponderous club he was striking at those who surrounded him, and who appeared only anxious to wrest it from his grasp. Before this object was effected, he struck a Mr. 'Wood, who stood near him, a blow on the head, from 'which lhe blood gashed in torrents down his fine, and over Iris (Iress : the young gentleman was presently afterwards, together with his companion, taken off to the watchhouse.
" A Mr. Coxwold, who happened to be seated in the boxes immediately above where the fracas took place, stated that he never saw men behave with more violence than that exhibited by the two disciples of Galen. One of them in particular struck a gentleman a most violent blow on the head with a stick, from which the blood flowed most copiously. " Other witnessess proved having seen the defendants, previous to their entering the theatre, jostling the people as they walked along the streets, and flourishing their sticks about, apparently for the express purpose of exciting
row,' and calling their powers into action."
For this outrage the Magistrate imposed a fine of thirty shillings, and ordered the forfeiture of the sticks. The same penalty would probably have been levied for the similar offence of an Irish bricklayer ; and a heavy penalty it would be to him, while to persons in tolerably easy circumstances it is a mere trifle. Fines ought to be regulated with relation to the means of parties,—as the disciples of Baerraelf have been endeavouring to show, at divers times and in sundry places, for the last dozen years. Before we quit this instance, we would ask why it is that the medical students are as a body about the worst-conducted clast of young. men in London?
In the second case, an intoxicated Mr. CABLE calls at a person's house, complains of the dog and an unpaid bill, becomes violent, and is asked the cause. "By way of reply, the plaintiff received a blow fromthe defendant, who
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also collared him, and uttered a torrent of abuse against the whole family, He called them thieves, swindlers, and by other still more offensive epithets. He kicked the table down, on which was a set of China, which were all broken. He also knocked down the mustard and vinegar cruets, and some chocolate, by which the carpet was spoiled ; and deliberately took up a mahogany chair, and dashed it on the floor, observing, 'Iam able to pay for what I do ; my name is C able.' " To employ a favourite newspaper epithet, this spirited individualwas only sentenced to forty pounds damages, for the blow to the gentleman, the abuse to the whole family, the kick to the table, the murder of the crockery, the eversion of the mustard,. the mini a the vinegar, and aspersion of the chocolate on the destroyed .carpete ti We now come to the least outrage, 4nd 'heaviest damages. Two gentlemen, fellow-passengers on ship-board, voyaging from Sydney, dispute about hot winds, till one is inflamed to the degree of giving a bl1)u‘0'.ne evening at tea, the conversation between the two passengers turned upon the hot winds which prevail in those latitudes. Mr. Nesbit said they always blew with great violence. Mr. Dawson observed that the hot winds themselves were nut violent, hut were generally followed by squalls. The defendant declared he was satisfied they blew with violence, because he knew of boats being upset by them. The plaintiff', nevertheless, maintained his opinion, and said he did not believe that such was the case, although The defendant, without suffering him to finish his sentence, struck him a blow on the nose, which drew blood ; asking him at the same time, how he presumed to contradict him ? The plaintiff replied, that if he had not struck him, he was-about to have added, 'although I know you would not say so if you did not think it.' The defendant then expressed his regret for the blow Inc had given him, and invited the plaintiff to shake hands ; which invitation, however, he declined to accept."
Damages one hundred pounds, for one blow instantly repented of! In this instance, too, how many precedents sanction the act of the assailant t Is it not the way of the world to meet disagreeable opinions with a blow ? One man strikes with his fist, and another with the law ; in the means consists the difference, for the logic of going to loggerheads is the same in either course. The practice before our Lord the King at Westminster shows how favourite a mode of resolving disputed truths is punishment.
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