The execution was over, and when I looked at my watch I found that since the executioner had raised his sword over the first man's neck only twelve minutes had elapsed, but in that brief time seven human beings had been hurried into eternity. Then the crowd dispersed. I watched their faces, but not on the features of one single man, woman or child did I see a sign of the smallest emotion. Upon this occasion, either because the execution was the last of its kind or because it had been on a bigger scale than usual, the bodies of the victims were carried away by their relatives instead of being thrown into the thicket to be devoured by dogs, and this operation was being carried out when I left. TH QUAINT AND CURIOUS PUNISHMENTS. HE Egyptians prescribed a peculiar punishment for dishonest bakers, and one which certainly had a deterrent effect, namely, baking them in their own ovens. Perhaps this punishment could be resorted to with good effect in these dishonest times, and thereby teach traders to observe more closely the spirit and letters of the Ten Commandments. In my researches after ancient legal curiosities, I have unearthed the following quaint and curious punishments for the entertainment of the reader. They are as follows: "MCCCX (1310). The bakers of Dublin were punished after a new way for false weights; for on St. Sampson, the bishops day, they were drawn upon hurdles, at the horse's tails, along the streets of the city." This happened in the year of great scarcity, when a cronage of wheat sold for twenty shillings and upwards. Then again in Scotland, the home of witchcraft, sorcery, and magic, we find a quaint and curious punishment in the following sentence of a Scotch court at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It appears from the Records of Justiciary, that a custom at one time prevailed in criminal jurisprudence of commuting sentence of death into gifting away as slaves into perpetual servitude under specified masters. The following extracts will make the mode of gifting understood: "At Perth, the 5th day of December, 1701. the Commissioners of Justiciary of the South district, for securing the peace in the Highlands, considering that Donald Robertson, Alexander Stewart, John Robertson and Donald McDonald, prisoners within the tollbooth, and indicted and tried at this court, and by virtue of the inquest, returned guilty of death; and the commissioners have changed the punishment of death to perpetual servitude, and that the said prisoners are at the court's disposal; Therefore, the said commissioners have given and gifted, and hereby give and gift the said Donald McDonald, one of the said prisoners, as a perpetual servant to the Right Honorable John Earl of Tullarbardane; recommending to his lordship to provide a collar of brass, iron or copper, which by his sentence or doom, whereby an extract is delivered to the magistrates of the said burgh of Perth, is to be upon his neck, with this description: "Donald McDonald, found guilty of death for theft, at Perth, December 5th, 1701, and gifted as a perpetual servant to John Earl of Tullarbardane." PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT $4.00 PER ANNUM. SINGLE NUMBERS 50 Cents. Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, THOS. TILESTON BALDWIN, 53 State Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor will be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of interest to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities or curiosities, facetiæ, anecdotes, etc. NOTES. THE GREEN BAG starts the New Year with new plans, new features, and new covers, all of which additions or changes will commend themselves, we trust, to our subscribers. We need not call attention to these new features in detail the magazine speaks for itself. It may be said, however, that THE GREEN BAG has in hand, or has been promised, articles on a variety of topics, by some of the ablest legal writers, who will present their respective subjects in the same authoritative and interesting way as that in which the Panama question is treated in this number. AN Irishman was called upon to give evidence in a shooting affray. "Did you see the shot fired?" asked the magistrate. "No, sor, but I heard it," replied the wit ness. "That is not satisfactory. Step down." As the Irishman turned to go, he laughed and was rebuked by the magistrate, who told him it was contempt of court. "Did yez see me laugh?" THE GREEN BAG has been asked to define "quorum," and offers the following historical note as a possible answer: When the honorary members of the First Corps of Cadets, in Boston, were vainly endeavoring to frame a constitution, about the year 1885, Captain (afterward Major) William F. Lawrence, filled with enthusiasm and the annual dinner, on April nineteenth, made the following motion, viz.: "That a majority of those present and voting should constitute a quorum in all matters of business relating to this association." THE following trustee writ, drawn by a learned justice of the peace in Massachusetts, deserves careful study: Trustee on William Burrege Wages, Whome works for you. To Dr. Harrington: Please to stop from your man $4.75, which he owes to Mrs. John Lannon. Cor. of Prince and Pond st. Jamaica Plain he has Promised to Pay it several times but will Not Do it he has be served with a writ from me and Promised to Pay last Monday Night but failed to do so. So that I had to trustee is Pay. Yours respectfully, D J. HEGERTY, Justice of the Peace, 28 Hall st., Jamaica Plain. To Dr. Harrington, orchard st. THIS is the final prayer of the answer to a bill in equity to foreclose a mortgage, recently filed in a New Hampshire court: "In the name of humanity, in the name of every sainted father and mother, of truth, purity and everything Christlike and holy, in the name of the everlasting love of God, of His Son, our Savior and Redeemer, the defendant implores the protetion of this Court to help her release the mind of her blameless daughter from this wicked hypnotic influence which holds her." THE late Chief Justice Caleb Baldwin of Iowa weighed 400 pounds and was the largest man who ever held public office in the State. A story is related in regard to the first meeting of the State Agricultural Society, the attendance being small, when the secretary, Dr. J. M. Shaffer asked Judge (then Colonel) Clagget, the first president: "What shall I say, Colonel, about the meeting, through the press?" "Well", said the Colonel in his impulsive manner, "publish to the world at large that a large and respectable meeting was held." "Why," said the doctor, "isn't that stretching it a little?" "Not at all," responded the president, "for Baldwin makes it large and you and I make it respectable." And so the report was worded. THE annual dinners of the Middlesex (Massachusetts) Bar Association are always productive of interesting legal literature. The menu this year contained the following verses: Tonight the members of our Bar again in union dine, Here where bright merriment abounds, o'er brimming cups of wine. Each year these friendships, waxing strong, around this festive board Bring scire facias whereby the judgment is restored. And while coram non judice you share these lawful joys, Right merrily you talk and sing, and act again like boys Old boys, perhaps, in age and form, but yet without a mayhem— Freed from all wasting cares, with kindred hearts aflame. Make common cause of Jollity, treat Bacchus as an aide I. e., a little something take besides a lemonade. Dear brethren of the legal faith, who hold the law in fee, CHIEF JUSTICE QUINONES of the Supreme Court of Porto Rico was the leading lawyer practising before the court over which he now presides. He was at the same time very fond of the national sport of cock fighting, and had the best string of cocks in the island. It was customary to designate the cocks by their colors, to wit: giro, canaguey, and others. The word giro also means a bank draft. On one occasion a client at Guayama was a little slow, and the counsellor wrote, demanding his fee, and received a telegram. saying that he would send a draft (giro) the next day, which was the day of trial. To this the counsellor replied by wire, "Si no viene el giro no pelea el canaguey." Which may be translated thus: "If the black-crested cock (draft) does not come, the red cock will not fight." The pun is on the word giro, which means both a "black-crested cock" and a "bank draft." The "canaguey" was a fighter when "sufficiently urged." Among his associates the Chief Justice is familiarly called "El Canaguey." 66 "I ENCLOSE," (writes a Maine correspondent), "a newspaper clipping of a decision just handed down by the Supreme Court of Maine. I think the reference to the mental processes of the dog is worth preserving." The case is Carroll v. James, and deals. with liability for damage by a dog, under St. 1895, ch. 115. The rescript by Emery, J., says:-3-The fact that an entry upon the premises of the owner or keeper of a dog was wilful and wanton does not of itself exempt him from the statutory liability for the attack of his dog upon the person so entering. The wilfulness or wantonness of an act is not in the outward visible aspect of the act but only in the mind of the actor; and hence cannot be a provocation to the dog. THE following is vouched for as an actual occurrence in the Province of Ontario, (says The Canadian Law Journal): The Court called for ex parte applications first. A barrister (of Irish extraction) arose and made a motion, to which, when he sat down, another proceeded to show cause. The Court was astonished. "I thought you said it was an ex parte application." "Yes, me lard; it is ex parte in the sinse that there's no rale answer to it." A LEARNED friend (says the American Law Review) sends us from Honolulu the following questions which were put to a native Hawaiian, about forty-five years of age and a member of the Legislature, on his presenting himself to the court as a candidate for admission to its bar: Q. What is a trust? Into what classes may be divided? Define each. A. "A trust is a capital of a combination which may be intrusted in the hands of a third party. There are several classes of trusts. I will name three in particular: (1) Special trusts for purposes which may be defined in their articles of combination; (2) General trusts for the benefit of others; (3) Dry trusts which are only for local benefit." Q. What is (a) connivance, (b) condonation, (c) recrimination? A. "Connivance is the effect of conspiracy; condonation is seeing a crime committed and not to intervene or allowing such crime to be committed; recrimination is a counter action, such as a husband suing for divorce and the wife bringing a counteraction." Q. What is the doctrine of stare decisis? A. "It is a matter which has been already decided and staring in your face; in fact, it is a decision already rendered and not appealed from and the decision standing final. That is stare decisis." Q. What is a direct attack and what collateral attack? What questions may be raised or examined into in one, and what in the other? A. "A direct attack is personally; for instance, if I strike another that would be a direct attack. Collateral attack is an attack by a third party, and not direct; for example, A and B have a difference. A engages C to assault B. That would be a collateral attack." Q. Under what circumstances can an agent be held liable personally? the A. "Under no circumstances can agent be held liable unless he makes a breach of covenant or of a condition in the trust." Q. What is a contingent remainder? A. "A contingent remainder is a tenant who has a lease for a certain stated time under certain indenture of lease." Q. Explain a "deed poll?" A. "A 'deed poll' is a personal privilege, and may be utilized to purposes suitable to the donator." Q. What is a natural and what an artificial person? A. "A natural person is an individual in person; and an artificial person is a body by name only." CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editor of THE GREEN BAG: Sir: You would do a good service if you would induce some one of your contributors to trace the history of the overthrow of primogeniture in the United States. This subject has received slight attention; although there are few differences between English and American law which have more important bearing upon the state of society than have the differences as to descent. Yours very truly, EUGENE WAMBAUGH. Harvard Law School, Dec. 31, 1903. To the Editor of THE GREEN Bag: Sir: In a week we are promised the report of the Governor's Commission on the Law's Delays. Advance synopses furnished to the Bar indicate a report in favor of four judges and ten trial commissioners. The commissioners are to be in effect masters in chancery and are also to sit as commissioners in condemnation. Recent experience has shown that very superior men could be induced to sit as referees in bankruptcy and at a compensation much less than that received by our Supreme Court judges. If trial commissioners of like quality can always be procured, then the Governor's Commission will not have to disappoint the large expectations of the Bar. Such another commission for talent and industry has hardly been impanelled in recent years. Mr. Hayes, the counsel for the commission, has the results of vast tabulations, not only of the arrears of our courts but also of the experiences of the English courts. Our judges are appearing in print to claim that the English courts furnish no proper comparisons. We will back our own all we can. If our Tammany clerks are left behind in any argumentative statistics or if Senator Platt's appointees are defective in metaphysical facts, then our pride in them will receive an unexpected shock. Perhaps the benefit, after all, will come from public discussion and private thought; for it will be hard to tabulate the difference between the born judge and the made judge. So far as known, To the Editor of THE Green Bag: Sir: The arguments upon the appeal in the United States v. Northern Securities Company et al have been made since I wrote the article upon "Schemes to Control the Market," which is now in your hands. In that article I discuss the decision in the. case below of Mr. Justice Thayer with approval. Nothing that has been said by counsel for the defendants before the Supreme Court of the United States has been strong enough to shake my confidence in the opinion on the Circuit Court of Appeals. The greatest stress has been laid by these counsel upon the right of every man to do as he pleases with his own. That one man might have bought what stock he wished in both of the railroads, the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific cannot be denied. It does not follow that a body of men may combine to take control of the two roads. Our law has always made a difference between the freedow allowed to individuals and the policy necessary for combinations. The attorney for the government properly insisted upon this distinction. The issue is thus before the Supreme Court in a square form with everything said that can be said. The time has come for a final adjudication upon full understanding. Within a few months we shall know the extent of our law against combinations in restraint of trade. The device of a holding company can hardly cover this issue. Yours truly, Harvard Law School, BRUCE WYMAN. Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 31, 1903. |