JUDICIAL JOKERS.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 780, 20 December 1876, Page 3

JUDICIAL JOKERS.

{Temple Bar.) The late Justice Maule had a dry wit about him, which he indulged, however, at the expense of decorum. I was in court once, at the trial of a man for felony, who after he had addressed the jury in his defence, on being asked if he had any witnesses, said, 'O, my .Lord, God Almighty is my only witness.' 'Call him,'said Justice Maule to the usher. And in summing up to the jury, ' Gentlemen, the only witness called for the prisoner was God Almighty, but, as he did not appear when called, the evidence seems to be all one way.' I heard of another ease, where a convicted prisoner exclaimed, ' May God strike me dead if I did it! upon which Justice Maule paused for a minute or two, and then commenced passing sentence thus : 'As Providence has not thought fit to interpose, the sentence of the Court upon you is,' &c. Maule is reported to have said, when at the bar, that he drank porter to bring down his mind to the level of the judges. Be had a great aversion to Sergeant Wilkins, and, when on the Bench, took every opportunity to snub him. • He once began his summing up, after a powerful speech of Wilkins for the prisoner, 'Gentlemen, the learned counsel has addressed you in a strain of what some people call impassioned eloquence. It is my duty to tell you, that you ought to be on your guard against all such attempts to mislead you.' On one occasion the Sergeant got the better of him. I must first tell you that Maule was suspected of having caused the fire in the Temple, by coming home drunk and leaving a lighted candle on his bed. Sergeant Wilkins, in support of some legal proposition, cited the ruling of a judge on the Northern Circuit. Maule, who suspected the genuineness of the case, asked if it was reported. 'No, my lord,'said Wilkins. ' Can you tell me the year in which it occurred?' 'I can't give you the date,' said Wilkins; 'but I know it was in the same year that the Temple was set on fire. One of the best repartees I ever heard of was that of Hawkins to Lord Campbell. Hawkins was counsel for the owner of a brougham, which had been run down by an omnibus driver. In speaking of the brougham, he pronounced the word as a dissyllable; upon which Lord Campbell said, 'Mr Hawkins, this vehicle is commonly called a broom ; don't lengthen the proceedings by making two syllables of it.' 'Very well, my lord,' replied Hawkins, ' I will call it a broom, to please your lordship.' By and by Lord Campbell spoke of ' the omnibus.' ' Pardon me interrupting your lordship,' said Hawkins, ' that vehicle is commonly called a bus, and we shall save two syllables by the abbreviation.' The most inveterate joker was the late Baron Alderson, His jokes were of the most wretched description—flat, stale, and unprofitable. And yet they were less to* be deplored than his most serious eccentricities. In his deportment on the bench, and especially at Nisi Prius, he was wholly deficient in dignity; you might sometimes have taken him for a mountebank or a madman. I remember once, at Hertford, he was in a perfect fury because a person made an exclamation in the gallery ; and as the sheriff could not discover the person, he ordered him to turn the whole body of spectators out of court. But what think you of the following scene ? A jury acquitted a prisoner against Baron Alderson's direction. The next case was called on. The judge cried out, ' Good God ! can't [ have another jury? and let these twelve persons go into the other court, where they can't do much mischief.' Turning to the jury, he said, ' Gentlemen, you will find in the other court perhaps something you can try.' Then, addressing himself to the prisoner, 'Prisoner, the jury have acquitted you : Heaven knows why ! No one else in court had the slightest doubt of your guilt, which is of the grossest kind. But you are acquitted, and I can't help it/