SCHOOLMASTER FINED.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 53, 27 March 1909, Page 3

SCHOOLMASTER FINED.

FUll MOIiAL AND INTELLECTUAL DAMAGE TO A PUPIL.

The Dijon court of appeal gave on December 25) last their decision hi a case which had created extraordinary interest in the district. A teacher of the local communal school, named Morizot, was proceeded against by M. Girodet, father of 011 c of his pupils, for having, in a, mixed class of children, given utterance to antireligious, anti-patriotic, and grossly immoral teaching. Ihe defendant, in addressing his pupils during school hours, is said to have described the French Army as a b;ud of ruffians, to have contended that the Germans. were right in killing oil' during the war in 1870 French infanta in t'ueir cradles, and to have characterised those who believed in God as being little better than fools, adding that the only true God was a well-iilled purse. Morizot's ityctrine on the moral question is unfit for publication in an English newspaper. The injured father first thought to have ' this amazing teacher of the young pun--1 islicd by administrative chiefs, but the authorities of Public instruction turned •a deaf ear to hi* demand for redrew, and he ..thereupon decided to take legal proceedings. M. Girodet accordingly on- , tcrcd into action, claiming .080 by way of moral a7id intellectual damages for the wrong done his son—a lad of tender years—by this pernicious teacher. The Tribunal who beard the ease showed itself unsympathetic. In an eloquent speech, the Avocat, replying to the' Minister of Justice, warned the court of the danger which might result if what he termed "reactionary parents," were allowed to interfere, with the teaching given in French schools. The Court decided that it was incompetent to hear the action, and said that the defendant's iittennic'cs were, after all. merely a matter of opinion, and that the case was one for the educational authorities themselves to settle. The Prefect of the Department also Intervened and took 'these views. An appeal was lodged, and again the father was beaten, but at last, hi desperation, he. took his ease before ihe Tribunal des Conflicts. This body, afier ordering an inquiry with a view t » ascertaining if the ehnrges were wellf.nmdedj sent the case hack to the Court 'f' Appeal with orders lo adjudicate up■m it. Here, the whole ease was heard from the beginning. The court found tile charges proved, but reduced the damage*, to t'S aid costs. The President refused to order the insertion of the judgment in the newspapers, on the ground that it would be giving to the oll'enee a penal aspect which it did not deserve.

The Queen of Tloinnnniii is the most nrolific Koyal authoress of the day. Iltr book 1 : total about thirty volumes.