CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.

West Coast Times, Issue 6118, 20 January 1886, Page 2

CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.

An aklerman of' the city of London, Mr •Uderraaa De Keyser, having been taken to task for exercising a little discretion in one of his decisions, thus explains that circutnst nces alter cases, and that common sense could sometimes, with advantage, take tbe place of common law : — He believed if they took the magistrates of the city of London hb a whole, they would not corr ->are unfavorably with any body of magiovra'es in the kingdom. One thing was certain : that they tried to do their duty, and in the discharge of it they tried to be just, true, lenient, and charitable. They knew very well that in the eyes of common law, half-a-crown must be 2s 6d ; yet they knew as well as he did that there were many cases where kalf-a-crown might mean a heartless, crup 1 and wicked robbery, while in another case tbat half-a-crown might have been tbe result of temptation and misery ; therefore they, as magistrates, said that half-acrowh was not always 23 Sd in the eyes of justice and truth. Fearlessly would they continue to act on that principle, aud so long aa they did that, he knew the aldermen would justify their selection.