concords of duels, and license to concord. Last on the varied list is a fine paid by a lady to hinder a duel between her and her brother. In the short reign of Richard I. the same thing continues. In his fifth year, notably, a fine was paid by a man who, after confessing to the king that he had no right to certain lands, had the effrontery to wage battle for them. Analogous entries continued throughout the reigns of John and Henry III., with strong indications of a falling off under the last-named king. — Trial by Combat.
FACETIÆ. Counsel. Did you observe anything particular about the prisoner? Witness. Yes; his whiskers. Counsel. And what was there peculiar about his whiskers? Witness. Why, he had none. Counsel. Now, Mr. Jenks, you say Mr. Joseph Jenks is a distant relative of yours? "Yes." "What relation is he?" "My brother." "But you just said he was a distant relative." "So he is; at present he is residing in India."
NOTES. Curious instances might be collected from the records of Indian law courts illustrative of the Old World beliefs of the people, which are brought at times into such strange collision with the legal forms of procedure established by our modern lawyers. A man was once being tried for mur der, when he put forward a plea such as could only have occurred to an Oriental, and to a be liever in the transmigration of souls. He did not deny having killed the man, — on the contrary, he described in detail the particulars of the mur der, — but he stated in justification that his victim and he had been acquainted in a previous state of existence, when the now murdered man had mur dered him, in proof of which he showed a great seam across his side, which had been the sword-
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cut that had ended his previous existence. He further said that when he heard he was again to be sent into this world, he entreated his master to excuse him from coming, as he had a presenti ment that he should meet his murderer, and that harm would come of it. All this he stated in per fect earnestness and simplicity, and with evident conviction of its truth and force, — a conviction shared by a large number of those in court. Trial by jury is attended with peculiar difficul ties in India, an instance of which I remember as having occurred. In that case, also, a man was on his trial for the murder of another. He had been caught red-handed, and there was no pos sible room for doubt in the matter. The mur dered man had succumbed almost immediately to his wound, living only long enough, after being dijcovered, to ask for some water to drink. Some surprise was felt at the time taken by the jury in considering their verdict; but when at length they returned and recorded it, the astonishment of all in court was unbounded when it proved to be one of not guilty. So extraordinary a verdict could not pass unchallenged, and the judge inquired by what process of reasoning they had arrived at their decision; if the accused had not murdered the man, who had? "Your Lordship, we are of opinion that the injuries were not the cause of the man's death. It has been proved that he drank water shortly before his death, and we are of the opinion that it was drinking the water that killed him." The explanation of this remarkable verdict — the more remarkable when it is remembered that the men who brought it in never drank any thing but water themselves — was that on the jury was'a high-caste Brahman, to whom the very idea of being a party to taking away a man's life was so abhorrent that no earthly persuasion could have induced him to agree to a verdict that would have hanged the prisoner; and the earnestness of his horror had exercised an influence over the rest of the jury so powerful as to make them return the verdict which so staggered the court. — Notes and Queries.
tlttent SDeatfjg. Hon. Alphonso Taft, ex-Secretary of War, died at San Diego, Cal, May 21. Judge Taft was born at Townshend, Vt., on the 5th of No
