'A REGULAR DEMOS" OF A WIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8682, 26 September 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

'A REGULAR DEMOS" OF A WIFE.

I A T.~jz?jsr ca*e in Paris has attracted much notice. ■ A certain Madame Langdale, the wife of a respectable ' tradesman, was [ charged before the Tribunal Correction | In company with her paramour, a workman [ named Bodin, with infidelity towards her j hatband. Proceedings of this character in I a criminal court are, of coarse, unknown to j English law, and are somewhat startling to f English ideas ; bat the event jsbows that • they afford opportunities for taking account of the " broader equities," and of tempering justice with mercy in accordance therewith, which oar jurisprudence might well envy. The ease having been proved against the two defendants, the injured husband asked to be allowed to 5.15* a few words, and received permission to do so. Had such a request been made by counsel for the petitioner in oar own Divorce Court we should have known what to expect. It would at once have 'c ?;n concluded that the learned gentleman proposed to address the Coui t "on the question of costs." In ether words, we should have anticipated from him an argument designed to represent the behaviour of the co-respondent in the worst possible light, and should have prepared ourselves for an eloquent discourse on the treachery of his conduct, on the gravity of the injury which he had inflicted upon tho petitioner, and on the incalculable extent of the loss which the latter had sustained thereby. Vet how different was the attitude and the conduct of the French husband in the case before us ! Availing himself of the permission granted him, ne proceeded to deliver the address with which he was evidently bursting, and it proved to be a powerful apoeal for mercy 011 behalf of his wife's lover. Interrogated by the magistrate as to his reasons for preferring this extraordinary request, M. Langdale replied, in words of simple eloquence which leave no doubt of hi? sincerity, "Ah, Monsieur le President, you don't know Justine ! She is a regular demon, and has been the scourge of rny life ever since I married her. You cannot imagine what a relief it is to be rid of her. Eodin, poor man, has taken ray burden ujx>n himself. He little knows what is in store for him." There was obviously no resisting such an appeal a? this, which was invested at once with ail the moral persuasiveness of an act of signal magnanimity, and all the argumentative authority of the evidence of an expert. The Court, at any rate, felt apparently bound to give full weight to M. Langdalo's plea, and thus, while Justine was sentenced to sis days' imprisonment, the unfortunate Bodin, on the strength of his having sentenced himself to Justine for life, was allowed to escape for the present with a fine of one hundred francs. The money, wo presume, will go into the coffers of the French Republic, the husband himself receiving nothing. This, however, is only as it should be. lie could hardly claim to receive any pecuniary compensation for tho technical loss of a possession which he so honourably appraised at its true negative value; and, in fact, the only question is whether, on the whole circumstances of the ease, he might not fairly be called upon to indemnify Bodin. Except, indeed, on the principle of our law that no man should bo allowed to profit by his own wrong, we hardly see how a claim on his behalf to a pecuniary solatium for his misfortune in winning such a matrimonial prize as Madame Langdale could be reasonably resisted. Perhaps, however, a subscription might be got, up for him among hi? sympathising friends, and in that case it would be a graceful act on the part of the emancipated husband to head the list with a handsome donation. He is, perhaps, not wholly irresponsible in the matter. A man who keeps a " regular demon" on his premises in the reputed capacity of a wife is at least as much of a danger to society as the owner of a ferocious dog, who, whenever he can be " fixed" with knowledge of his charge's violent propensities—which is the case here— i«, by our law at any rate, held liable in damages to anyone who may fall a victim to thorn. Perhaps, in view of the fact that there has been something like contributory negligence on the part of Bodin in allowing himself to bo caught, we may take it that substantial justice has been done.