The Westport Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 591, 9 December 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1869.

The result of the charge of bigamybrought against Thomas Braithwaite will not surprise anyone who was acquainted with the progreds of proceedings preliminary to the trial. It cannot fail, however, to surprise those who live under the impression that t!ie law in criminal matters is devised to serve the ends of justice, and not that justice is to he made subordinate to the whims of the law. And that this case has failed through what may well be called a whim of the law is abundantly testified even by the words of the presiding Judge himself. It does not appear so from the short report we give elsewhere, but from private letters we learn that His Honor warmly condemned the preparation of the case, and in the Colonist's report we find his words represented as follows: The Judge said the case exhibited very clumsy proceedings, which said very little for the authorities of Christchureh who got up this evidence. There should have been the identity of Mrs M'lnnes proved before her deposition could be accepted as evidence. The case had been mismanaged, that was evident, and it was a pity that it was not tried at Christchureh, where there would have arisen none of this difficulty.

Mr Adams said the trial did not take place at Christchureh, because according to the provisions of the Offences against the Persons Act bigamy had to be tried in the district in which the offence was committed.

The Judge said there was a semblance of reason in that for sending the case to Nelson for trial, but that did not alter the fact of the careless manner in which the evidence had been got up at Christehurch. He was sorry after the delay that had taken place that the prosecution must fail. Those who remember the circumstances will remember that it was by the Magistrate here that Braithwaite was remanded to Christehurch, and, it must be some satisfaction to Dr Giles that, however a ridiculous technicality may have been twisted by the Bench or the authorities at Christchurch, he has the dictum of Judge Bichmond and of common-sense in favor of the course which he then took. Whether tried at Christehurch or not, so far the case was correctly dealt with. But at Christehurch, where this very crotchet of the Law or the Bench was insisted upon, there has been an abandonment of other but equally important technicalities, and, in consequence of that abandonment, there has been necessitated this entire abandonment of the case. It is to be hoped that the prosecutors for the Crown will read the result and the reflections or tne Judge us a lesson iu them. It is equally to be hoped that the law-officers who have the framing of our Acts and Ordinances will at once introduce an amendment in this particular Act by which such a crime as the crime of bigamy may be tried in that part of the Colony which may be most convenient for the full satisfaction of the ends of justice. It ia manifestly unfair that injustice should be done either to the innocent or the criminal by hampering the execution of the law in such cases with any petty geographical distinctions.