Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/83

 was defective. How far, ſaid your Lordſhip, this may be the caſe or not the caſe in the preſent inſtance, I will not take upon me to determine; I muſt leave that as a particular point of Law, on which the whole hinges, to the opinion of the Court. At the ſame time I will allow a verdict in the Plaintiffs’ favour, if the Jury ſhould find it ſo, as far as I can fairly go; that is to ſay, for the infringement which ſeems to be clearly proved to have been committed by the Defendant on the Plaintiffs’ Engine, according to the models, drawings, &c. produced by them in Court. But how far they had a right to proſecute for the infringement of their Engine, when in their petition to the King they had claimed none, nor even in their ſpecification properly deſcribed one, I muſt leave the Court to determine at a future time. I confeſs, ſaid your Lordſhip, I am ſorry I can get no farther, as I think the inventor’s ingenuity deſerving every praiſe; but on the other hand I muſt do Juſtice; and if he has wilfully, cunningly, or ignorantly left undone any thing the Law requires, it muſt unavoidably be his own misfortune: for in ſuch a caſe we cannot help him; he has himſelf to blame, not us. I think it evident, as I have before ſaid, that it was in the power of the Plaintiff