Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 11.pdf/282

 A Coming Cause Celebre.

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A COMING CAUSE CELEBRE. By John DeMorgan. IT is within the realm of certainty that the case of Poulett v. Poulett, when it reaches the courts will prove one of the most im portant trials of modern times. Not because the claimant has had such a strange and ad venturous career, but on account of the many issues which may be raised, and which may lead to new interpretations of old laws, or the passing of new ones. It may even involve the House of Lords and cause a di vision in that august body, leading, it may be, to the abolition of the house as an hered itary branch of the legislature. When a few weeks ago Earl Poulett died, the estates and title were claimed by Vis count Hinton, who for some years had earned a precarious living in the streets of London by playing a piano-organ. His title was disputed, by order of his father, both by word of mouth on his deathbed and by testamentary desire, and the title was as sumed by the Hon. William J. Lydston Poulett, a son, by a third wife, of the late earl. The House of Lords called this son to take his seat and he was duly acknowl edged as one of the hereditary legislators. The story of Viscount Hinton is well known to all newspaper readers, but the strange and peculiar history will only be known officially when the cause celebre has been tried and the result decreed. Many of the highest families are involved, for Paulet, Marquis of Winchester; Powlett, Lord Bolton; Powlett, Duke of Cleve land; and Poulett, Earl Poulett, are all branches of the same common stock. The Earl of Rosebery is the son of a Duchess of Cleveland, and so related, though distantly, to the organ grinder. The first Powlett who was ennobled played no inconsiderable part in four successive reigns,

and the story of the siege and sack of Basing House, by Cromwell, forms the subject of a fresco in the corridor of the House of Lords. Viscount Hinton's case seems to be a strong one, and the defense appears, at pres ent, very weak. The facts on which the case is based go back exactly half a century. The family, by which is meant the oppo nents of the viscount, say that in June, 1849, the late Earl Poulett, then a subaltern in the army, landed at Portsmouth and went with his brother officers to the United Service Hotel. They were drinking at the bar when Poulett began to notice one of the bar maids and devoted more attention to her than to his brother-officers. They chaffed him and he said he would marry the girl, whereupon a bet was made of a thousand pounds that he would not marry her. Pou lett accepted the bet, proposed to the bar maid over the bar, was accepted, and a few days afterwards the marriage took place. The date of the marriage, as shown by the certificate, is June 23, 1849, and the bride is described as Elizabeth Lavinia Newman, daughter of a Landport pilot. The marriage was a quiet one and the couple went to live at Brougham House, Cottage Grove, Southsea, and there the boy, now claiming to be Earl Poulett, was born in December of the same year, or six months after the marriage. The young officer sep arated from his wife, refused to recognize the child, but made the mother an allowance. It is not denied that the child was born in wedlock, and the English law has always recognized that such a child must be legiti mate, the marriage of the parents being suf ficient. Medical testimony will doubtless be given to prove that a birth may take plaee six months after conception.