WINNING A BRIDE
QUESTION OF PERJURY DEBATE IN COURT Because William Goodman, aged 25, of Leeds, England, wanted to marry Dorothy Webster Simpson, aged 18, an alliance forbidden by the girl’s parents, he made a false declaration as to her age. During his prosecution at the Police Court, counseil for the defence, a Mr. Sandelson, and the Magistrate began a debate as to the pros and cons of perjury In securing a forbidden but willing spouse. Mr. Sandelson urged that it was a case of reciprocal love between a young man and a girl of 18 whose parents had refused their consent to a proposal of marriage. Very foolishly Goodman had signed a declaration that Miss Simpson was 22, that he and she had been resident in Paris during the required statutory time, though neither had, and armed with this licence had been married at St. Luke’s Church. “From the dawn of man,” added Mr. Sandelson, “history is studded with instances of men committing follies for love.” The offence of perjury was only a technical one. The Magistrate: Love does not enter into this court, and it is absurd to describe the offence as technical. It was a deliberate act to obtain by fraud what he could not otherwise obtain. Mr. Sandelson: If the young people had come before you to obtain the court’s permission I think you would have granted it, as you have power to do.
The Magistrate: I do not know what I should have done, but the probability is that after hearing the parents’ objection I should have refused my consent. To guard against that refusal this oung man deliberately committed perjury. Mr. Sandelson: The couple were deeply in love with each other, and are very happy now together since their marriage on May 5. The trouble is that the girl’s mother had social ambitions for her daughter, and thought the defendant was on a lower level, but he is a very honourable man.
The Magistrate: He is very far from being an honourable man or he would not have done this. It is nonsense to talk like that.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19280917.2.106
Bibliographic details
Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 461, 17 September 1928, Page 12
Word Count
353WINNING A BRIDE Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 461, 17 September 1928, Page 12
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