THE JUDGE EDWARDS CASE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11277, 26 May 1891, Page 3

THE JUDGE EDWARDS CASE.

COURT OF APPEAL.

(By the Times' Correspondent).

Wellington, May 19. Mb Harper's Argument. .

At ttie appointed hour this morning the Court contained about a dozen people other than those engaged in th,e. case. Mr Harper began his arguments in that steady, matter of fact way for which, he is celebrated. As he opened we all noticed great piles of books on both sides, where no piles had been on the previous J day. It looked as if the whole library had marched into the precincts in order to. provide us with a new Battle of the Books.- Mr Harper was Boon referring to them, reading extracts, giving- chapter and verse. How closely the Judges followed him was shown by their frequent questionings. " Are the pages numbered on from one volume, to another ?" said one. " What volume did- you say ?" pai< another. 'I didn't quite catch the year?' interrogated a third. So the time passed on. For a long time the orator for the defence struggled with some technical points. He did not like them, he said, he was surprised that the necessity had been forced upon him, but as it had been .forced upon him he would be obliged to notice them, and if necessary to ground part of his case on£4Jiem._ Of course his side wanted no technicalities, they were prepared to fight -on their merits, they were ready to ground their case on the merits, and they were prepared to wip. So much; might be gathered from the manner of the advocate, as he confidently unfolded bis points. From him we heard a good deal about the Act of Settlement and the power of the Crow n. We began to think that there was more history than Sir Robert Stout had given us; but when the orator niado a point, Sir Robert would intimate in his decided way that he had made that point before; that he had discussed the whole question. Whereupon a reply would come. One of the champions would laugh and the other would smile, which proclaimed aloud that in these preliminary stages both felt they were merely displaying their art of fence. When the history was getting well on, a good deal bad to be said about contraots, to which the Judges were very much alive. Cases Cited. ' What struck a layman most about the proceedings at these points was the familiarity of their Honors with the cases cited. If the counsel happened to slip in describing the scope of-a case, someone or another would be sure to correct him, and sometimes quite a protracted little argument ensued between one of their Honors and the counsel on some point. Sometimes the discussion spread'to the Bench, subsiding then into a whisper, their Honors very earnestly nodded one to? another, the counsel the whilo standing respectfully silent until the point had been disposed of one <vaj or .another. How it was disposed of no one of course knew, but afterwards guesses were hazarded, as usualin these cases/by people, .the opinion !of the judicial views being guided generally by the wishes of observant critic. The Act Op 1882. . In due course of his speech, Mr Harper came to the Act of 1882. From the long train he had laid, in fact from ever so' far back in history, we felt it was the cruse they were coming to. No sparring here, nothing but- very steady, earnest, close reasoning.' The flagging atte: tion of the auditory has been aroused. Everyone follows the-counsel's carefully-made periods, his deliberate language with that, .air. of havibg been ■• calculated before^ hand, which distinguishes an earnest effort in the moment of grave responajk bility.-' As we follow the argument thereP comes a flash from the Bench to light us oh the way. "Surely, Mr Harper, you don't mean to argue that the Crown has ;he power to appoint as many judges as it likes, withont'the sanction of Parliament, which shall be compelled to pay their salaries ? If that is your contention, you might find it very difficult to induce us to accept it." No. It was very evident that Mr Harper had no intention of going quite so far as that. He stated his argument on, the point ovei again, just to show what his meaning really was, and he stated it clearly and boldly, as one wlufis planting his foot on firm ground, and is determined to take, his stand, come what may.' Another time, one of their Honors spoke warningly about loading, a case. "Jf you load it too much, you may sink it." But the smiling counsel bad no intention of sinking it, and went on with his argument more carefully than ever. " Demise Op The Sovereign." ■ Before luncheon Mr Justice Richmond took an opportunity to make the amende honorable to the framer of the Act of 1858, to whom he had' referred in somewhat severe terms the day before, about the axpression of " the demise of the Sovereign. His Honor did it very gracefully, and very fully, pointing out that though the expression was not the proper expression, -nevertheless there had been legal precedent for it. It waß not the mere vulgarism he had described it the previous day. Luncheon time came with relief to the counsel, whose voice was showing signs of the wear and tear of contention. After that]meal, Mr IHarper finished his argument in half an hour or so, and made way for Mr Chapman. Mb Chapman's Speech. Mr Chapman's assigned task evidently was to face the enemy j to countermine his moves of technicality with tools no less technical; to turn his finer points of argument against him jto reduce bis best reasonings to' absurdity. . Sir Robert was constantly throwing in corrections, and the Judges' would bring their recollections of the matter to bear now and again, often deciding that the adversary's argument had not been fairly put about the contract between the late Government and the Judge whose commission was then the subject of quo warranto. Mr Chapman had a great deal to say, and when he had said it he, too arrived at the Act of 1882, and he likewise hoverid ov9r that enactment, making display of the results of weeks of labour. Mb Theo. Coopee. To him sueceded Mr Theo. Cooper, who began in a remote age, settling himself down among archives and ordinances, holding fast to the royal prerogative through long lines of- kings! He carried that staff unscatced until he struck it against the Act of 1882, and having arrived by a different road, he based his reasonings on the rules for the construction of statutes upon this ground. He was very firm and very clear, and their Honors wero very attentive. When he had finished that part of the subject he turned to another. Whereupon the Chief adjourned the Court with the remark that in the morning the Court would follow Mr Cooper on any new ground he might have to take.