Page:Select Essays in Anglo-American Legal History, Volume 1.djvu/785

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eo. VEEDER: A CENTURY OF JUDICATURE 771 motives which arise fairly and legitimately out of his con- duct, so that the jury shall say that the criticism was not only honest but also well founded, an action is not maintain- able. But it is not because a public writer fancies that the conduct of a public man is open to the suspicion of dis- honesty, he is therefore justified in assailing his character as dishonest." ^ Lord Campbell records in his diary in June, 1856 : " Hav- ing occasion for a new judge to succeed Erie, made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, I appointed Blackburn, the fittest man in Westminster Hall, although wearing a stuff gown, whereas several Whig Queen's Counsel, M. P.'s, were ' Campbell v. Spottiswood, 3, B. & S. 769. See also Hunter v. Sharp, 4 F. & F. 983, as to the protection aflForded with respect to statements of motive. One of his most valuable judgments is his exhaustive examination of the nature and limits of martial law in his charge to the grand jury charged with the investigation of the conduct of Colonel Nelson and Lieutenant Brand in the suppression of the Jamaica insurrection in 1865. In the " Franconia " case, 2 Ex. D. 63, he delivered a most elaborate opinion on the jurisdiction over the sea within the three- mile zone. Among his valuable contributions to the criminal law are Reg. v. Hicklin, 3 Q. B. 360, as to the bearing of motive in criminal acts; Reg. V. Charlesworth, 9 Cox Cr. Cas. 45, and Reg. v. Winsor, 10 Cox Cr. Cas. 3Cj, as to whether in criminal cases a mistrial is a bar; Reg. V. Rowton, 10 Cox Cr. Cas. 28, on the testimony admissible to prove good character; Reg. v. Carden, 14 Cox Cr. Cas. 363, as to whether mandamus will lie to compel a magistrate to receive evidence. The following commercial cases will repay examination: Goodwin V. Robarts, 10 Ex. 337, on the negotiability of foreign script; Sacra- manga v. Stamp, 5 C. P. D. 295, as to whether ship owners are liable for the loss of a cargo in a deviation for the purpose of saving life; Nugent V. Smith, 1 C. P. D. 423, on the liability of carriers by sea; Twycross v. Grant, 26 P. D. 469, a case of fraudulent prospectus ; Rou- quette v. Overman, 10 Q. B. 524, as to the bearing of the lex loci of performance on bills of exchange; Bates v. Hewitt, 2 Q. B. 595, upon the obligation to disclose material facts in contracts of insurance, and Frost V. Knight, 7 Ex. Ill, where the doctrine of Hochster v. De la Tour, 2 E. & B. 678, was applied to a contract in which performance depended upon a contingency. It may be pointed out in this connec- tion, that the significance of Cockburn's important opinion in Goodwin V. Robarts, mentioned above, lies in its repudiation of Blackburn's conservative view of trade customs as expressed in Crouch v. Credit Foncier, 8 Q. B. 376. See, also, his learned opinion in Phillips v. Eyre, 4 Q. B. 225, another case arising out of the Jamaica insurrection; his elaborate discussion of the nature and eflFect of foreign judgments in Castrique v. Imrie, 30 L. J., C. P. 177; and the celebrated ecclesiastical controversy, Martin V. Mackonochie, 3 Q. B. D. 730; 4 Q. B. D. 697; 6 App. Cas. 424, in which the writ of prohibition Issued by Cockburn was set aside on appeaL