RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Otago Witness, Issue 304, 26 September 1857, Page 5

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Dunedin, 23rd Sept. 1857. (Before A. C. Strode, Esq., R.M.) Frank Pellet, of Dunedin, labourer, was brought up under a charge of assaulting and beating Robert Dent, labourer, on Tuesday the 22nd instant. The complainant, Dent, deponed that he had occasion yesterday to take out a summons against the prisoner for a debt, and that after i doing so he (complainant) went into the Royal Hotel and sat down at the bar parlour ; that in a short time Pellet came into the bar, remarked about having received a summons from Dent, and called Dent " a low-lifed coward." Dent left the room and was followed by Pellet, who pushed him up against the front door of the Hotel, thereby breaking a pane of glass. Dent went into the street, and was followed by the defendant, who came behind him, and without any provocation struck Dent three times on the face, thereby causing severe bruises. Defendant was fined £3 ; or in default of payment, 14 days' imprisonment, with hard labour. The fine was paid. * Barb. v. Millar. — We understand that judgment in this case, which was appealed to the Supreme Court, has been affirmed by his Honor Mr. Justice Wakefield. In giving judgment his Honor remarked as i follows :—: — " In respect that with reference to the first point of Law, raised by the defendant in this Appeal, the Jury appear to have been properly directed by the presiding Judge as to the question of liability, and that the Jury were the competent parties to decide the question of " carelessness, negligence, and mismanagement," from which liability could arise. I can find no ground for granting a new trial on the ground of misdirection or otherwise ; and in respect the second point of Law stated in the Appeal was not raised at the trial, I am of opinion it is now too late, and that the verdict of the Jury must stand." Appeal dismissed with 21s. costs.