"ON YOUR OWN HEAD!"

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 935, 30 September 1910, Page 8

"ON YOUR OWN HEAD!"

THE NODINE CASE.

CAPITULATION OR PRISON. ONE WEEK'S bRACE. •' i The long-continued Nodine litigation again occupied the Supreme Court yesterday/when a motion for writ of attachment was taken before- their" Honours Mr. Justice Edwards and.'Mr. Justice Cooper. The motion asked that a writ of attachment be issued against Charles \ Nodine, on the ground that.'he bad failed to obey that, part of ;the judgment of the Court pronounced on June 4, 1910, which ordered that an agreement (between Hannah and . Nodine) should' be specifically performed, and that Nodine should sign the memorandum of lease.'drawn' in accordance, with: the/said agreement. ; Mr. C. P. Skerrett; IC.C., and with him Mr. P.. P. Kelly, appeared for the plaintiff, Jas. Alexander Hannah. Mr.. Nodine' was. not represented by counsel. . "No. Defence." . Mr. Skerrett, after'briefly reviewing previous related proceedings, ■ stated' that on September 17 the parties settled the terms of the. lease, but on September' 23 •defendant in the present action refused' to sign. Counsel submitted that there ■■was no defence. The defendant, beforo the Registrar of the Court, settled the Serais of :the - lease;He raised a suggestion' that the lease should be signed by tlio mortgagee, which was at-onco performed. Defendant,. nevertheless," refused-to. sign. A w-rit. of attachment was 1 therefore , applied for.'-. It;.-would be a very-curious, thing if the laW and the wliolo. machin-' ery of. the. Court were to' be -flouted"' by an extremely obstinate'defendant'.

"Aspersions." :.Mr. Nodine said-it appeared, to lain that.' the other side 1 hail taken, action, -and given notice' ; ;of motion,»but ... were only: now starting to put; things-in order. ± Here were a lot of things that should have been fought out beiord .bringing nun . mere at all. He-was'' very'; giaa Mr. Skerrett was there in person. He (Mr., oit'errett) had ■ not ;had . the courage ■ to come ibefore. ! : Justice "Edwards: You -must , not .cast aspersions oncounsel.!' We know - Mr. blierrettiis not lacking-in personal .courage, but if-he were, you could not,be per-, mitted to -make such remarks. ■ ' : Mr. -,Nodine-next submitted that wheji he refused to sign the;!lease, lie was. not, in .fault,-..; The.- document, then lacked, the 'signature:, of-4he mortgagee, which .was.a very important:.thing. . ... . ; ;- ! Justice - Edwards: ' That; :has : ,been • got, over, Mr. Noiline;. Are.- ; you - prepared to sign the lease now?- : - ' • ... :- - Mr.- Nodine:. I- prefer.:to. answer that question' 'later; jour Honour.. • lly, ;point is that. -■I •: was -not. in 1 : fault., when -..these, proceedings were- taken:, ■ Justice Edwards: I am inclined to.think you "were ,in . fault,' Mr., Nodine. ■ At present, 'however,' all we liave is a judgment of the; Supreme'-'Court -idiijecting./you - to. sign the' -leasevset'tled .befpre- the Regis-. trar: 1 'v--'. Mr.,Nodine now , raised au objection that!'the- lease, -tin: question: camu,''from J ames',Ale.\ahder'!Haiuiah, .wlioin he did not '!know or - recognise.. He did not see Low the order of the Court could be car-ried-out- unless, the lease was.in of; liobert Hannah. - • .;. ' Justice, Edwards: Of; course,-we, cannot, review the-'judgnient; of ithe ;ohief Justice on,'that''-point;:. Ml".-- Nodine !';lt is for: you to .-'cause j why; you - should, not. comply with the order of. the Court. Mr. Nodine: It is going; to be one of tlio points of the 1 appeal:. Justice Edwards: X our signing, the', lease now would not deprive you',''pi' :.any. bene-; -.n in tlio appeal. ■■■:■■ . Mr. Nodine: J. don't think there should be'anybody else but liobert Haiinali ill it. 'The other side' are' not-content, ; !to wait for the'appeal to be heard. ■. Justice Edwards!; -You declined to', .give surety for the ient. .' . ~.vi.- ~. - Undaunted. • Mr. Nodine i -I doh't them a'shilling'. .Why should '1 ! give .security. I have had too much business .with these people already.'.' I won't them» anything. That is the gist of the matter, j. don't acknowledge James . Alexander ' Hannah; and I 'won't ; in. any ' case accept a lease from him. -•'■'•! ' ' '

; Justice Edwards: If you were not a lay-, man '1 should supply have' told you .- .that we could not listen to you on this at'all. ,; : Mr.' Nodine: One reason I dbn't.'want to' sign is Ithaf this;.appeal ''wiir come ;on in two or:' three.!:weeks,',';an3,. 'everything will;be gone''over again. "'.lt "seems. tb/'me a -very extreme , step has' been,'taken. Mi'. Skerrdtt has : admitted' tj me..that they have been in., business for twelve months, and 'they ! caniiot:, even draw an ■ ■ agreement'for.a lease that they can-enforce. . ...Justice Edwards': ;.We . are not an examining hoard,' examining plaintiff's soliv citors. ..; -.'! ; ; Mr.' Nodine: ;;Mr.'. Skerrett, himself •'. ad-', mitted that: there ; \Vas : no' other remedy' but .tO'6hase me; round from ,'day to' day. I don't; want your Honour. to. think that anyone .could scare me by sending nie to. prison. •;,- . v ! ;'. ' Justice Edwards: >, We. don't,,, want to, scare 'you, but' you' must' remember,'that' we sit ..here ,as Judges! of : the :land to. en.forco the law, and ,we have'.lie.optiph. but to do-our duty. '! : Mr.!' Nodine :'.;I understand, your!' Hon-;, our, that you have it in your: discretion to refuse this order if.you think fit? : ;Justice Edwards: I have told you before we- must'tpke it that you are:>bound ,by this lease. All, the plaintiff wants is to be put in 'a : position to- assert tho rights ivhich - the Chief' Justice has declared. Mr. Nodine: He . will- not get that from me. . I: suggest that you should ! ;order these proceedings to .bp-held over until the appeal .has been; heard.- , Justice Edwards: You announce- that under no. circumstances will you obey the order iof the' Court.., If'.we allowed that to pass we .should be. introducing anarchy into the ,land. 1 will not, and cannot, permit that. - : - : ; '

"A Peculiar Situation." Mr.. NodineThese proceedings are • per-' secutiori. I .don't owe them anything. Of course I. ani in a very, peculiar situation.: I stated in a 1 previous case wiat I ithotoght*. of that paper beaded "Instructions for Lease."-' The Chief ~Justice treated me in,a very harsh way... • ': Justice.Edwards:. We cannot allow criticism" of this sort to be passed. If : you had any: complaint against the. Chief justico we. could not listen to it.. . . . ; : Mr. Nodine: I will defy anyone to say that my evidence, was iiot truthful, but his Honour ordered met? be prosecuted for perjury. ■ ' ' . :■ .- .. .Justice Edwards:; That has nothing to do'with the easel , ' .Mr.'Nodine: If your Honour will, allow' me to go on we will get through much quicker. . :. Justice Edwards: That is true, I have no doubt; Mr,. Nodine, but you see you (are mating' an address which may or may, ino't be.published, aiid if I allowed .this, to go on it would 'give.'rise'.to a very fain? impression. It, is a pity to see a man in your .position , so forgetting wliat is due : uto the laws of the State in which ho lives. ' The Final Court. ■ Mr.. lifodine: No one has more respect for .the-law tlmn I, but I am not afraid :to appeal to the outside community, which is the final court of appeal. ; Justice Edwards: We are not sitting in that court, Mr. Nodine. If you want to. appeal to the public you must go to the, Queen's Statue or some other, convenient spot.' But I cannot allow such remarks as you have made to pass without check. It would give rise to"'an impression.in some part of th6 J public 1 that they are .admissible. They, are . utterly inadmissible and improper. , You. must confine .yourself to the affidavits now, before' the Court. ■ '■■- •• ■ ' • ' After some further dialogue between his Honour and Mr. Nodine on l the sub-

ject of earlier, proceedings, the latter, remarked that he was trying to show that the, other side had caused a lot of delay. Justice Edwards: Do you think that you should have been attached earlier? '■ Stone Walls. Mr. Nodine: I am in the happy position, your Honour, that I don't care. ''Stone walls do not a prison make"—always. , Justice Edwards: If you push things to extremity- it will be the- duty of the Sheriff to take you into custody. The meaning of the attachment is that you will be arrested and. sent to prison until you comply with the order of the Cour.t Mr.. Nodine: "Sent to prison" is very' vague. Justice Edwards: You know as much about it as I do. I. have never been in prison in any capacity. '. ■Justice Cooper: You have already said, Mr. Nodine, that you do. not mind because "stone walls-do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage." Mr. Nodine: When will'-this attach-ment-come; will it be now? ..Justice Edwards: That is for the Court to decide, but understand, .that you go. there as a - wrong-headed man who will persist in defying the law of the land, and it. is absolutely essential to the ,just government of the. country that , every person affected, by the law should observe it.. ' ;_ . \'; '- ■ ' Mr. Nodine:, I have already appealed', against. this lease being sigiied, and it : seems to rue that in the ordinary business way—l can scarcely believe the Court would do it. . '.'l , . A Stern Warning. .Justice Edwards: We ' have already quite clearly. expressed -.what ,the law 4 is upon. :tho subject. . It, is .absolutely out of the question that; upon "such an application as this,. the party affected ■by the judgment should be allowed-to question the justice of the decision by which lie is'to "abide. It. is .absolutely out,of the question, that', when a litigant, bound by an order of the Court, declares, that, -.in' no - circumstances will 4 he. obey, the order of the Court, the. matter should be allowed :to . stand over. .It. is' essential ,to ; the just government .of the xountry,, and of all civil rights, that the judgment of this conrt. should be obeyed implicitly. . The: man' who> : sets .himself against the law in this way; as the defendant 7 seeks to do, is no; good- citizen. We are very' reluctant to make.'-this order. Possibly the defendant is so .wrong-, headed that he may think that lie is. only doing, what is right. But all considerations, must give, place to the consideration that it is quite impossible' that ; this ; Cour.t can-be! flouted bjr a/litigant who declares that under no circumstances will he : abide- by its judgment; -Leave", will be : granted to issue the writ ,of attachment. Tho writ will, lie in. the office of tho Registrar for seven days. Understand, then, 3lr..;N"odine, we are giving you seven, days to. come to your senses. 1 If, within that- time, you do not come to your senses, upon your own head-be it. TJ you .go to .prison it will; be only ( because. of. your. own follv; your own. obf stinacy,, and -your rigid' Setermiriation to dispute-the law of the. land, y 4 V . "' On the; application of Mr.. Skerrett costs £5 55.. were awarded .the. plaintiff....