SIR EDWARD COKE AND THE CASE OF COMMENDAMS.

The firm conduct of Sir Edward Coke, in the dispute between King James and the Judges, respecting Commendams, is highly creditable to the Chief Justice. The King imagining that his interests might probably be affected in the course of a suit which was then in progress in the King's Bench, directed the attorney-general to write a letter to Sir Edward, commanding the judges not to proceed in the cause without advising previously with his majesty. By the advice of Coke, a letter was addressed to the King, signed by all the twelve judges, stating it to be against law and their judicial oaths to forbear doing justice between the parties, and that they had therefore proceeded to a decision according to their duty. The King, after answering the arguments of his judges by letter, summoned them to appear before him at the Council Table; where, after much dispute and many reprimands, the following question was put to them. "Whether in a case where the King believed his prerogative or interest concerned, and required the judges to attend him for their advice, they ought not to stay proceedings till His Majesty had consulted them?" other judges yielded, acknowledging it to be their duty to do so; but Coke answered, "that when that case should be he would do that which should

The

be fit for a judge to do." This noble reply is most creditable to the memory of Sir Edward Coke. (See his Life in the Biog. Britt., and see Coll. Jurid. i. 17.)

THE BILLINGSGATE OF THE LAW.

The Law Reports contain an almost infinite variety of exprobatory epithets, some of which, in the older books, are of an amusing character. In Siderfin, (p. 327,) there is a curious decision respecting slanderous words applied to an attorney: "He hath no more law than Mr. C.'s bull. Being spoken of an attorney, the court inclined that they were actionable, and that the plaintiff should have the judgment; though it was objected, that the plaintiff had not declared that Mr. C. had a bull." In the Report of the same case, (in 2 Keble, 202,) Keeling, C. J., is said to have over-ruled this objection," for if C. had no bull, the scandal is the greater." So it has been adjudged, that to say of a lawyer that he has no more law than a goose, is actionable, (Sid. 127;) to which a quære is added, whether it be actionable to say, "He hath no more law than the man in the moon."

There are many curious decisions respecting words imputing witchcraft, which clearly show how very prevalent that superstition was in the seventeenth century. The malign influence of the

sorcerer seems to have gained the greatest credence among the rustic part of the population, as most of the cases impute witchcraft to the charming of cattle. Thus, in Sid. 424: "You en

chanted my bull, and made him run mad about the common." And again, in 1 Rol. Ab. 45 : "Thou art a witch; I will make thee say, God save my mare; I was forced to have my mare charmed for thee." It is said in this case, that in the country where the words are spoken, it is usual for men when they pass by cattle to say, "God save them," otherwise they are taken for witches. In Cro. Eliz. 312, the words were, "He is a witch, and bewitched my husband to death, for he made his picture in wax, and roasted it every day by the fire, until he roasted my husband to death." It was objected, that the reason given shewed the charge to be "a vain conceit;" but the court held the words to be " very heinous," and adjudged them actionable. If a man says to a woman, that she sacrificed one of her children to the devil, to the intent to bewitch his mother, an action on the case lay, for invocation of spirits was punishable by the Statute of Witches. This Statute of Witches was long a disgrace to our law; but, by the 9 Geo. II. c. 5, §. 3; no prosecution shall lie against any person for witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, or for charging another with such offence.

Many abusive epithets occur in these cases, the very meaning of which is now lost. Thus it is laid down, that "If a man says of a counsellor of law in the North, Thou art a daffa-down-dilly, an action lies, with an averment, that the words signify, that he is an ambidexter." (1 Rol. Ab.55.)

There prevailed at one time an absurd rule in actions of slander, that the words should always be taken in the mildest sense which could be put upon them, and that if by any intendment they could have been innocently spoken, they should not be held actionable. One of the most singular instances of the application of this rule is to be found in Cro. Jac. 181. The words were "H. struck his cook on the head with a cleaver, and cleaved his head; the one part lay on the one side, and the other on the other;" and they were adjudged not actionable, it not being averred unless argumentatively, that the cook was killed. So, where the words were, " He is a great rogue, and deserves to be hanged as well as Gale, who was condemned to be hanged at Newgate sessions;" they were adjudged not actionable, for they only shewed the defendant's opinion, and perhaps, he might not think that Gale deserved hanging. (T. Jones, 157.) It is scarcely necessary to add, that this rule of law has been long abandoned, and that now all words are taken in their ordinary sense.

Those who are desirous of seeing a very com

plete collection of vituperative expressions, (not indeed of the most decent kind,) may find it in Viner's Abridgment, title "Actions for Words."

it

may

LEGAL POETS.

It must be confessed, that the study of the law is far from being favourable to the growth of a poetical genius. The laurel will not flourish within the precincts of Westminster-hall; and yet there are numerous instances of lawyers who have attempted to be poetical,-an attempt in which, however, very few of them have succeeded. Lord Clarendon at one period sacrificed to the Muses; and even Sir Matthew Hale was ambitious of a poet's fame. It must be admitted that Sir Matthew's verses do not possess much merit; but be doubted, whether they deserve the se vere censure of Roger North. "He published much in speculative devotion, part prose, part verse, and the latter hobbled so near the style of the other, as to be distinguished chiefly by being worse." (Life of Lord Guilford, i. p. 116.) Aubrey tells us, that "Lord Bacon was a good poet, but concealed, as appears by his Letters."-(Walp. Cat. Royal Authors, ii. p. 205-208.) Sir Edward Coke was much attached to the practice of citing from the poets, and boasts that he has referred to Virgil three hundred times. "It standeth well," he observes" with the gravity of our lawyers to cite verses."