Mr. WIGHT--I say, my Lords, that the articles mentioned in the
indictment admitted of a more accurate description than that which my
Lord Advocate has given them. The maker’s name and number of the watch
might have been mentioned, the device on the seal, too, ought to have
been specified, also the number of the note and by whom it was issued;
and as to the chest or trunk, which is only described by saying that it
contained sundry articles, there is no particular description of it, or
of any of the articles it contained. It is not said that it is a hair
trunk, or the size or shape of it, or any other
[Illustration: The Solicitor-General (Robert Dundas).
(_After Kay._)]
mark condescended upon, whereby it could be distinguished. It might have
been mentioned what sort of a trunk it was, whether made of fir, of oak,
or of ash; to whom it belonged, and where and in whose possession it was
found.
To show your Lordships that this is no immaterial objection, I must beg
leave to mention a circumstance that occurred in the present case. Some
days ago, Mr. Brodie’s agent went to the Justiciary Office to examine
the articles founded on in the indictment; and upon inquiring for the
trunk, he was shown a black trunk, a trunk different from the one now to
be used in evidence. Thereafter the counsel for the Crown discovered
they had committed a mistake; they were so much misled by this want of
description that they had sent the trunk referred to, or meant to be
referred, in the libel to the prison to Mr. Brodie, and had lodged a
wrong trunk with the Clerk of Court. They did not discover this mistake
till yesterday morning, and they then applied to the Sheriff for a
warrant to recover the trunk, which is now in Court, out of the
possession of Mr. Brodie, and which was only lodged in the Justiciary
Office yesterday.
Although I have thrown out this general objection, I do not mean to
plead it to the effect of setting aside the libel altogether; yet, when
the prosecutor attempts to apply his evidence to these articles, I
reserve to myself the liberty of making special objections to each
article, as it shall be referred to.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL--My Lords, I will not take up the time of the
Court in making any answer to the objection stated, as to the manner in
which the watch and the other articles are described in the indictment,
as I have no hesitation to say that it does not deserve one. All these
articles, as well as the other articles libelled on, have been for weeks
past lying in the hands of the Clerks of Court, where the counsel and
agents for the pannels have had full opportunity of examining and taking
from them whatever description they might think proper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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