DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 22 August 1907, Page 2

DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT.

HOOK v. SIUEL tlwlgment was delivered yostcrda morning in the matter of the appeal b Richard Julia Shiel against. the decisio of My (i. W. iiiddell, &.M., in Jlook 1 •Shit'l. The uppci] was heard at the n mit Mew I'lVinuiuh sessions of th District (.'ourt by .Mr District Jitdg llaselden. Air Westou appeared for th appellant, and Mr Kerr for the.respoi clout. 11)0 appellant \v:is adjudged by th Magi-dinte to he tlx? putative fatho of the female infant of the responden J'. D. I look. Tin-. circumstances, sal His iionnr, were peculiar, but ho di not intend to review thorn in dotai They rcvonli'd weik immorality on th part of the woman, and cold depravit; on Hie purl of tile man. Xo good pm pose would be served by setting < u par Ocularly tin*repulsive featureswhic were present in .this case. Th'-re . v. f a much eon!radietion between tlie partie as to dales, and the respondent had i the various stages of the litigatio. shifted the date more than once. Tak big the last possible date as alleged b; her jis the Hth May, it pave the ?0 days, as the period of gestation, to ta birth on the 2nd March. If this Weill ease of legitimation this period woul not he considered as proof of illegiti macy, but in affiliation cases a dilferen rule applied. There was a presumpiioi of legitimacy in favor of children bor; ill wedlock. There was 110 such pre sumption here. The. general eircinr stances of the case did not favor th supposition of abnormally protracts gestation, and on the medical testiinon; Mis Honor was of opinion that, it \va; in the highest degree improbable thr tho nppellmt was the father of th< respondent's child, and therefore theiv could he no reasonable certainty thai lie was. The appeal would be allow.*] lmt, considering the conduct of* the ap pelhntj without costs.