MRS RUSSELL’S APPEAL

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11785, 22 March 1924, Page 12

MRS RUSSELL’S APPEAL

BEFORE HOUSE OF LORDS. PUBLIC EXCLUDED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received March 21, 5.6 p.m.) LONDON, March 20. The hearing of lira Rueeefi’s appeal before the House of Lords has begun. The public are not admitted, though there was a flood of requests for enfer Bevan, chief counsel for the appellant, said the grounds of the -*j>peal were-. —(1) Misdirection by tfce judge; (2) that the verdict wa* against the weight of evidence and (3) that tho judge wrongly admitted' the husband’s evidence that he and his wife occupied, the same bed for two consecutive nights in December, 1920. Mir Bevan said that objection was taken to the husband’s revealing what occurred on those nighfis, but the judge over-ruled counsel. The Russell divoroe suit attracted extraordinary interest in London last year The petitioner, the Hon. John Russell, is the eon and heir of Lord Ampthill, and he alleged that his “wife had oommitted adultery with more than one man, and that he was not the father of her aon. The jury at the first trial disagreed, but ultimately Hie wife was found guilty of adultery with some person unknown. The co-respon-dents named in the suit were found not guilty. The child’s paternity is the principal issue at stake.