Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 16.pdf/457

 The Green Bag, so reported to their principals. A fresh de tective was then put upon the quest, who, acting upon his instructions, took the hus band, who was a dissipated, weak man to Jersey, got him intoxicated and conducted him to a house of ill-fame. He then brought him back to Plymouth, having paid the en tire expenses of the trip, including those in curred in the house of ill-fame. One Osborne, the solicitor to the Agency, and who had the conduct of the divorce case, con sidered that it would not be safe to rely upon evidence obtained in this way, and he himseli visited Plymouth to assist the detectives in getting sufficient evidence at that place. Through his exertions a woman of the town was found who was persuaded to say that she recognized Pollard as a man who had visited her. Upon this the petition for di vorce was filed, with the result stated. The trial of the case upon the King's Proc tor's intervention involved the bringing to London of a large number of witnesses, from Jersey, Plymouth and elsewhere. It lasted eight or nine days, and, in addition to the Solicitor General, two leading juniors were briefed by the King's Proctor. The ex penses which must have been very heavy were defrayed in the first instance by the government, although as the King's Proctor succeeded and an order for costs was made against Osborne and the proprietor of Slat ers, much of the outlay was recovered from these persons. Nevertheless the govern ment took the risk of this large expenditure in order to maintain the purity of its process. The trial illustrates another feature in English procedure. The issue involved the gravest consequences to Slater's Agency, the profits of which, it was revealed at the trial, were very great, and also to Osborne, who if the charge of fraud was proved against him, would be struck off the rolls. It was therefore contested bitterly. Notwith standing this not a single question was ad

dressed to the jurors who were not sworn on their voir dire, and not an objection was made to any one of them. Twelve men were called into the box and sworn, and the triai began. Furthermore, although the case lasted eight or nine days/ during which no less than 8,798 questions were addressed in chief or in cross-examination to the numer ous witnesses, not a single exclamation of "I object" was heard during the trial. It should not be inferred from this that there were any infractions of the rules of evidence, or that less attention is paid in this country than in the United States to such rules. The absence of objections is attributable to two facts, first, that counsel are punctilious in avoiding the putting of any question which from any point of view is objectionable, and, second, that no bill of exceptions is neces sary in case of appeal. A notice of appeal delivered to the other side is all that is neces sary to obtain a hearing in the appellate court, and, once there, the judges will hear whatever counsel have to say as to errors at the trial, but in no case will a judgment or verdict be disturbed on the ground of the wrongful exclusion or admission of evidence, unless the appellate judges are satisfied that such evidence so admitted or excluded ma terially affected or might have affected the result of the trial. The consequences of the Pollard case have, in fact, been most serious to those who were found guilty of making a fraudulent case against the husband. Slater and Os borne and three or four of the detectives have been arrested and will doubtless be shortly tried at the Old Bailey for interfer ing with the course of justice. Slaters' busi ness will be ruinously affected, and Osborne will doubtless be struck from the rolls. The moral effect of the proceedings as a deterrent to those tempted to trifle with the Courts cannot be over-estimated. STUFF GOWN.