SUPREME COURT—IN BANCO.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5324, 20 April 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

SUPREME COURT—IN BANCO.

Thursday, April 18. {Before their Honors the Chief Justice and Mr. Justice Eichtnond.) REGINA V. PALMER AND JACKSON. Defendants had been convicted at the District Court, Wanganui, under the Debtors and Creditors Act, 1876. An application was made for a'writ of cci'tlovu rt on the ground that evidence had been improperly administered at the trial. Argument had been heard previously, and his Honor Mr. Justice Eichmond delivered judgment as follows : —I have considered the matter very carefully, and am of opinion that it is too late for such a proceeding. The grounds taken here are that the District Judge had wrongly admitted evidence against each of the defendants. Some of the questions raised, I confess, appear to me to be questions of difficulty, but I am persuaded that I should be making a bad precedent if I, were to allow the writ to go in this case. The books contain some very strong discussions upon the subject, and one of the strongest is a case in which a writ was refused, although it was stated by counsel that the verdict was against evidence and against the ruling of the Judge. In spite of that, the King’s Bench, then presided over by Lord Ellenborough, refused to open a new door for criminal appeals. That is the ground upon which I go in this case. It is not alleged that, there has been any substantial, failure of justice, and I feel myself unable, from the material before me, to form any opinion upon thatpoint. I cannot say what I might have done if the facts had been regularly set but for the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal in a reserved case. If, however, it is conceived on the part of the defendants that any such failure has taken place, the proper course ! now would be for them to appeal to the, Executive Government. _ The case is not one of error ; the sole ground is the improper admission of evidence. There will be no rule. The Court then adjourned.