CURRENT LITERATURE

Hokitika Guardian, 3 January 1927, Page 3

CURRENT LITERATURE

FAMOUS TRIALS. Xot only is Lord Birkenhead a distinguished lawyer, but lie has the gift of making intricate and highly technical questions comprehensible to the layman, who will find much to interest him in “Famous Trials of History.” Of the 23 here described, the author himself appeared in 10, and hence he apologises for the title of the book, which, he says, was tho most compendious one he could think of for a selection of this character." X'o excuse, however, is necessary, for most of the cases in which ho acted as counsel are historic-ill either from the legal or tile popular standpoint, and many of them iro enshrined in the reports. The South Rhodesian case, for example, in which nine ‘“silks” and seven juniors were briefed, settled an issue of immense importance. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council decided that conquest of territory by the arms of a British chartered company is made on beliaff of the Crown. and that, consequently, all unalienated land in Rhodesia was the property of the Crown. The hearing involved an exhaustive examination of the history of the co’ony. The. first of the trials is that of Alary. Queen of Scots. Lord Birkenhead asks whether she was really guilty, and returns a somewhat ambigious reply. “None who reads the protests against her secretaries’ confessions and acts being received as evidence can resist the conclusion that her whole defence was baseil upon the fallacy that what she implied, but did not personally do, was no proof against- her. She was cruelly treated at her trial. Without aid of counsel, a lonely woman was confronted with tho best brains of England, She defended herself steadfastly and brilliantly, weakened as she Was by long years of imprisonment: but she was done to death.” The first sentence suggests that she had no valid defence; the last that she was innocent. Further, the author appears to ho of the opinion that the trial was illegal. Being a foreign sovereign in involuntary residence on English soil, Alary was not amenable to English Courts.

In many of those trials there is a strong element of drama. Thus in the proceedings against Sir Roger Casement, Serjeant SullivUn, for the defence. imported into his advocacy an emotion which is seldom exhibited in English courts. The case ot the A eronica, the crew of which mutinied, mui“derod tlio captain and six others, and destroyed tlio ship in South American waters, reads like a. roirdtioe hv Air Rafael Sabatini. Unusual, too, is the case of the Liverpool Bank frauds, in which one Gotulic, with others, was found guilty of systematic emboz;*,eliient. Ho was discovered, not by his employers, but by two blackmailers, who compelled him to continue 1 1 is depredations oil a more extensive scale for their benefit. Their sudden alflucnco aroused the curiosity of another pair of scoundrels, who contrived to aseerlain its cause, and “hied” Golidio independently on their own account. Fast in the toils of l,wo sets ol pitiless taskmasters, this unfortunate wretch had to plunge ever more dccplv into crime to satisfy lheir demands. Ol the £107.000 be took he got very little for himself. Tn the circumstances the author, who a open red for him. Celt justified in making a strong appeal for ieiiienev, bill it did not impress the J mine. Two ol the blackmailers vanished, and were never traced. The same year the author had a stroke of luck, which \laid the foundations of a meteoric career. Tie had been called to the. Bar four years pi“eviouslv. and was in practice in Livetponl. His prospc-cts were as bright as those of a. “local” may lie. That is to saw in normal circumstances ho would have had “a long road to travel before lie achieved eminence. But lie was briefed in tlio group of flaw suits known as the “Guinea Gold” eases. These arose out of a tobacco pricecutting war between ail American r.md an English firm, lasted four years, and were la-fore the Courts on more limp 129:1 occasions. They provided 1-. L• Smith, as he then was, with lucrative work and advertisementwind invaluable training. Every young barrister,” he writes, “dreams of being engaged m heavy litigation ; hut few can ever have had the fortune which came to me. at n time when I Hid only been called for four years, of being retained in an unprecedented series of actions ai isi,w out, of the same events, and thus gaining in a short, space of time that ’indispensable knowledge and experience of ptictice of procedure, which . can onlv he acquired by a busy junior. When the proceedings ended he mi(l a seat in Parliament and an established reputation. Tie had “come to town,” and had H practice which enabled him to take silk soon after The author defended Ethel T,e Xeie. woh was charged with being no-cesssory after the fact’ in the Crippen murder. Sir Richard Muir, an astute Dud seasoned campaigner, apppeared or Die prosecution, and being aware that his ease was hv no means ccrSiin, attempted to manoeuvre his opponent into the position of proving his client not guiltv. The author ret used to l>« caught. It is an elementary rule ol Kmi’ish justice that the guilt ol the accused has to ho proved, anil only when a prima Sicic case has been established by the Crown need the defence furnish an explanation. He took his stand accordingly, and had tin satisfaction of securing an aequii.nl. He nntieinates the reader s coniineul. “The verdict simply indicated t int li e evidence was insufficient- for all that, she mav have known of the murder. But he'is quite convinced tint she was innocent in every sense of the \'< d. Ma„v of the trials recorded in tins volume were very lengthy, ami involved complicated issues. Lord- Bn k-enlu-ad condenses and clarifies the pioceedings with great skill.