90
NOTES.
The following unique " Confession of Judg ment " was drawn up by a clerk in a law,office in Buffalo, after he had mislaid a form of confession given to him to have executed. The document as reproduced by him from memory was actually executed. It is well worth preserving : — To All to Whom these Presents Shall Come, Greeting; — In the Name of God, Amen. I, as contractor and builder, in the of , N. Y., being of sound mind and memory, and desirous of paying a part of my just debts and liabilities, do hereby, in consideration of the sum ot one dollar to me in hand paid and other good and valuable considerations, confess judgment in favor ot of said , for the sum of $ being the amount of his claim against me now due and owing, and do hereby renounce, release, transfer, as sign, and set over unto them all my defences against said claim of every nature, good, bad, and indiffer ent, and do hereby authorize them to issue execu tions thereon either against my property or my body, but not both in the United States and Canada, and for the same consideration I do hereby revoke and cancel all former judgments entered against me and all gifts, devises, and conveyances fraudulent and otherwise heretofore made by me, it being publicly declared intention to make the judgment hereby con fessed a first and supreme lien upon all of my prop erty, both real and personal which I ever had, now have or hereafter may, shall or can have from the beginning of the world to the date hereof. Witness my hand and seal this day of (l. S.) County of Erie, ) City of Buffalo, S **' being by me severally, personally, and indi vidually sworn, but in his character of contractor and builder, however, doeth depose and say that he ac knowledges all due executions of the foregoing instru ment with the same force and effect as if it were a deed or conveyance or last will or testament. Commissioner of Deeds, in amlfor , N. Y.
The late Judge Rosecrans, of Saratoga County, N. Y., possessed a most brilliant intellect, and could, if he chose, so charge a jury as to almost certainly defeat either litigant that he desired with out giving the most astute lawyer any good ground to take exceptions to the charge. An old farmer residing in his county at one time had, growmg outside of his door-yard fence, and really in the ground belonging to the road, or highway, a gigantic chestnut-tree. For years the
farmer had honestly supposed that the nuts that grew on this tree belonged by lawful right to him, and he had gathered them accordingly. One day two stalwart butchers, out on a calf-buying expedi tion, came along and began to collect the nuts that hung plentifully in their burrs on the tree. Nat urally the farmer objected to this, and went out and forbade them. Words followed, and an alter cation ensued, in which the farmer, although a smaller man than either of his antagonists, gave them both a terrible drubbing. They, knowing him to be amply able to respond in damages, brought suit for damages for assault and battery. The case came on to be tried before Judge Rosecrans, and he, thinking that the farmer ought not to be punished, proceeded to charge the jury something in the following manner : "Gentlemen of the jury, I charge you as matter of law that this defendant was not the owner of the nuts growing on this tree, and had no more right to them than the plaintiffs had; and, there fore, they are entitled to damages for the assault made by him upon them. The only remaining question, then, is one of damages. This is en tirely for you to determine. The evidence shows that at the time he began the assault the plaintiffs had gathered about a hatful of chestnuts with the burrs. Now I further charge you that in estimat ing the amount of damages to which you may think the plaintiffs entitled, you have no right to set off against the same the value of the chestnuts so gathered, even if you think the damages shall amount to so much as the value you may put upon the chestnuts." The jury brought in a verdict of damages for plaintiff in the sum of six cents.
LITERARY NOTES. Mr. David A. Wells continues his account of of " Tax Experiences of the Federal Government " in Appleton's Popular Science Monthly for Janu ary, devoting especial attention to the reforms in in ternal revenue taxes made immediately after the Civil War, and some of the curious facts that they brought to light. During the closing weeks of 1895 the daily papers have published an extraordinary amount of interest ing and important news. It is worth something to the busy newspaper reader to have this mass of in formation taken up, arranged, digested and reviewed
