Hudson v Slade and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1862 |
| Date | 01 January 1862 |
| Court | Assizes |
English Reports Citation: 176 E.R. 174
Nisi Prius
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH,
Court of Queen's Bench, Guildhall, London Sittings, Michaelmas Term, 1862, cot am Cockburu, C J. hudson v slade and others. (The benchers of an Inn of Court being engaged in an inquiry into the conduct of a barrister, a member of the Inn, especially in relation to certain transactions in a company, he produced before them a director as a witness in his favour ; and they, having procured, from the solicitor of the company, a manifold letter-book containing copies of letters to and from divers persons, mostly relating to the affairs of the company, but containing also two or three private letters, cross-examined him therefrom ; he afterwards asked for it, in order, as he said, to offer an explanation, and having got it, put it in his pocket and declared he should keep it. and, when requested, refused to return it , whereupon they directed their porters to retake it by force . in an action for the assault, they justified, on the above facts , and it appeared that he had bought and paid for the book in blank ò-Held, 1 That unless the book was the private, personal, book of the plaintiff they had lawful possession, and he had no right to retake it. 2. That if it was really and mainly the letter-book of the company, it would not be his private book merely by reason of his having originally bought the book in blank, or having put two or three private letters into it 3 That, whether it was his private book or that of the company, was a question for the jury on the whole of the evidence, mcludmg the letters themselves. 4 That if it were the company's book the defendants had lawful possession of it, for the purpose of lawfully re- (a) That may be sufficient evidence of a fact which is consistent with the negative 01 affirmative of it ; but it must appear that the affirmative is more probable than the negative, so as to raise a presumption in favour of the former rather than the latter, and show a balance that way , Jewell v. Parr, 13 C B. 909 , per Crowder, J , 17 C B. 372. And any inference as to the course of business, or the like, is one of fact, and not a presumption of law ; see Middleton v. Earned, 4 Exch Rep. 241. It is like a case of primd facie evidence of negligence ; Piggott v Eastern Counties Railway Company, 3C B 229; and see 5 H &N 216. 3F. &F. 391. HUDSON V. SLADE 175 taking it by force, even after the plaintiff had it in his pocket. Qticere, whether, even assuming it to be the plaintiff's book, it having been once lawfully in the custody of the benchers in the course of an inquiry into a matter over which they had jurisdiction, it could be lawfully taken from them pending that inquiry ?) Action against four of the benchers and one Dakyns, under-treasurer, and one Bye, head porter of the Middle Temple. Declaration, that the defendants assaulted, seized, and [391] laid hold of and beat the plaintiff, and with great force and violence pulled and dragged him about, and then gave and struck the plaintiff divers blows and strokes on different parts of his body, and head, and face, and then violently cast and threw the plaintiff down to and upon the floor and upon certain chairs ; and then hustled, rummaged and overhauled the clothes and wearing apparel of the plaintiff, and then tore and damaged the same, and then struck him, &c , and also imprisoned him, and carried him to a certain police station, &c. Plea : as to the assaulting, &c (but not the imprisoning, &c.) ; that the Middle Temple was, and still is, one of the ancient Inns of Court in this kingdom ; and the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple was and is a Society of Barristers-at-Law and Students, members of the said Society, under the government and management of certain members of the said Society, being the Master, Treasurer, and Master of the Bench of the said Society for the time being (a) And the four first-named defendants were then [392] respectively members and masters of the Bench of the said Society, and the said defendant, Thomas Henry Dakyns, was then the under-treasurer and an officer of the said Society, and the servant of the Master of the said Bench ; and the said defendant, Richard Bye, was then the head porter and an officer of the said Society, and the servant of the Master of the said Bench , and William Digby Seymour was then a member of the said Society , and, before the committing of any of the alleged trespasses herein pleaded to, divers of the members of the said Society Masters of the said Bench, had as such Masters held ceitam parliaments, councils or meetings of Masters of the Bench of the said Society in the Parliament Chamber of and belonging to the said Society, according to the usage and practice of the said Society, for the purpose of inquiring, and had then and there inquired into certain matters affecting the conduct and character of the said William Digby Seymour, as such member of the said Society, before the said Masters in the Parliament Chamber, touching and concerning certain of the- said matters of the said inquiry (6); to wit, matters relating to a certain company, called " The Waller Gold Mining Company," with which the said William Digby Seymour, so being such member of the said Society as aforesaid, had been connected, and the plaintiff had then and there voluntarily appeared and submitted himself to be then and there examined and questioned touching and concerning the said matters as well by the said William Digby Seymour as by the said Masters of the said Bench. And it had then and there, upon such inquiry and upon the examination of the plaintiff, as such witness as aforesaid, appeared before and to the said Masters as the fact was that (a) " An Inn of Court is no body corporate, but only a voluntary society, and submitting to government , and the ancient and usual way of redress for any grievance in the Inns of Court was by appealing to the Judges " , Booreman's Case, cited by Mansfield, C J , 1 Doug 354. " The original institution of the Inns of Court nowhere precisely appears, but it is certain that they are not corporations, and have no constitution by charters from the crown. They are voluntary societies, which for ages have submitted to government, analogous to that of other &eminanes of learning But all the power they have concerning the admission to the bar is delegated to them from the Judges, and in every instance their conduct is subject to their control as visitors " , Ibid , Rex v. Gray's Inn, 1 Doug 353 So, per Tenter-den, C J., Rex v. Lincoln's Inn, 4 B & C. 885. In a case cited in the notes to the former case, it appears that the defendant pleaded special pleas of justification, " wherein were set forth the constitution and regulations of the Inns of Court, and the different proceedings and oiders of the Middle Temple " ; and these pleas appear to have been similar to the above The cases show clearly that the benchers had jurisdiction to inquire into the matters set forth in the plea, as relating to the conduct of a barrister or member of the Inn. And see the case of Hatf, cited in a note to the Gray's Inn Case, which in some respects appears to have been a similar sort of inquiry. See 1 Doug 354. (6) Vide ante, p. [391], note (a). 176 HUDSON V. SLADE 3 F. & F. 393. the plaintiff tad been himself connected with the said Waller Gold Mining Company, and with divers matters relating thereto, and the plaintiff as and being such witness as aforesaid had been [393] and was then and there questioned by one of the said Masters,-to wit, by the said defendant Benjamin Bridges Hunter Rodwell,-of and concerning the last-mentioned matters, and divers of the questions of and concerning the last-mentioned matters, which had been and were then and there put to the plaintiff as and being such witness as aforesaid by the said defendant Benjamin Bridges Hunter Rodwell, were founded upon certain papers [of the said Masters (a)] which were then and there produced by the said Masters for the purposes of the said inquiry, and which were then and there in the possession and custody of the said Misters (6), to wit, copies of certain letters which the plaintiff then and there admitted to have been written by him and other persons connected with the said Waller Gold Mining Company, and from which papers the conduct of the said William Digby Seymour and of the plaintiff and the credibility of the plaintiff as such witness as aforesaid respectively with reference to the last-mentioned matters might and would have been made more manifest; and because the said inquiry and the said examination of the plaintiff as such witness as aforesaid could not be then and there completed and terminated at the last-mentioned parliament, council or meeting so held as aforesaid, the said parliament, council or meeting was then and there duly adjourned by the said Masters to a certain other day, and was on the last-mentioned day and before the committing of any of the alleged trespasses herein pleaded to by such adjournment as aforesaid duly continued and again held in the said Parliament Chamber, and was so held by and before the said defendants, &c., as and being such Masters as aforesaid, and others members of the said Society, Masters of the said Bench, for the purpose of continuing the said inquiry ; and the said inquiry [394] was th$n. and theie continued accordingly, and the plaintiff then and there again voluntarily appeared before and at the said parliament, council or meeting as such witness as aforesaid, and again submitted himself to be examined and questioned touching and concerning the said matters as aforesaid ; and the said papers were then and there again produced by the said Masters for the purposes of the said inquiry, and were then and there in the possession and custody of the said Masters ; and the defendants say, that thereupon the plaintiff immediately before the committing of any of the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Steinke et al. v. Hajduk Gibbs LLP, (2014) 581 A.R. 91 (QB)
...46, footnote 6]. Donald Hunt Ltd. v. Greenberg (1955), 1 D.L.R.(2d) 27 (Man. C.A.), refd to. [para. 46, footnote 6]. Hudson v. Slade (1862), 176 E.R. 174 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 46, footnote Walmesly v. Booth (1739), 26 E.R. 412 (Ch.), refd to. [para. 47]. Harrison v. Tew, [1990] 2 A.C. 523......
-
Alberta (Treasury Branches) v. 1401057 Alberta Ltd. et al., 2013 ABQB 748
...(K.B.), refd to. [para. 19, footnote 5]. R. v. Gray's Inn (1780), 99 E.R. 227 (K.B.), refd to. [para. 19, footnote 5]. Hudson v. Slade (1862), 176 E.R. 174 (Q.B.), refd to. [para. 19, footnote 5]. Arrowsmith, Ex parte (1806), 33 E.R. 241 (Ch.), refd to. [para. 22]. Uxbridge (Earl), Ex parte......
- Ziems v Prothonotary of the Supreme Court of New South Wales