In the same way, for the sake of illustration, it was not till lately
that I myself could find a house sufficiently convenient both for the
purposes of business and accommodation of a numerous family. I had
accordingly two houses, one in George Street and one in Princes Street,
and I have done business in both of them. Now, would an indictment
charging a person with having broken into the house of the Honourable
Henry Erskine, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, be sufficient, while I
possessed two houses, to support a verdict which found the pannel in
general terms guilty? It would not be enough to say that I employed both
houses frequently for the same purposes, and that I could pass from the
one into the other, though not without some little inconvenience of
getting wet when it rained. This undoubtedly would not be sufficient,
unless I could prove that both houses were one and the same; a verdict
finding the pannel guilty of breaking into the house, could, from its
uncertainty, apply neither to the one nor to the other.
My Lords, I will not detain your Lordships. The case is very short and
simple, and without stating any further illustrations or arguments, I
think that the prisoner cannot be more safe than in the opinions which
your Lordships shall deliver upon so plain a point so fairly stated to
you.
Lord HAILES--My Lords, I have great doubts concerning the competency of
this objection, but it is a subject upon which I do not like to enter. I
am indeed sorry that this objection has been stated, as it may flatter
the prisoners with hopes which I am afraid are ill founded.
The merits of the objection itself appear to me very easy of discussion.
The Dean of Faculty is mistaken with regard to the houses possessed by
the Duke of Buccleugh, for they are not both in the parish of Dalkeith,
as the house of Smeiton lies in the parish of Inveresk. But supposing
they did both lie in the same parish, there is a great difference
betwixt houses situated at some distance from each other and those which
lie immediately contiguous, as is the present case. The small house
adjoining to that principal one in which the Excise Office was kept is
to be considered as a part of the same building, employed always for the
same purpose, and used only for better accommodation.
I repeat it again, my Lords, that I have doubts whether or not this
objection be now competent, but laying this out of the question, I am
clear for repelling the objection, as the expression used in the
indictment appears to me sufficiently descriptive of the place in which
the General Excise Office was kept.
Lord ESKGROVE--My Lords, I am sorry that this objection has been stated,
and I think it my duty to declare, for the sake of the prisoners at the
bar, that I do not think it such as ought to induce them to hope that it
will operate any change as to the verdict which has been returned this
day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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