Mr. WIGHT, for the pannel Brodie--My Lords, I must object to this witness upon another ground, and shall not take up the time of the Court any longer than simply to state the objection, which appears to me perfectly irresistible. The law of this country requires that the name and designation of every witness to be examined against the pannels should be intimated to them at least fifteen days before; but the name of the woman who now appears in Court is not to be found in the list of witnesses served upon the prisoner. There is indeed a “Mary Hubbart or Hubburt, wife of George Smith,” mentioned as a witness in the indictment, but the present is no such person; her name is perfectly different, being Mary Hibbutt, as appears by an extract of the parish register where she was born, which I now produce. The objection, therefore, of a misnomer applies in full force to this witness. The LORD ADVOCATE--This appears to me a very extraordinary and frivolous objection, for, even supposing the witness’s name is Hibbutt instead of Hubbart or Hubburt, still there could not possibly be any mistake as to the person, since she is designed the wife of George Smith, and it is not pretended that she is not the wife of that person. This woman emitted several declarations before the Sheriff; in some of them she is called Mary Hubbart and in others Mary Hubburt. At first she pretended she could not write, and the only declaration subscribed by her is signed Mary Smith; so that the prosecutors, who had no other opportunity of knowing her real name than from the declaration, were left altogether in the dark as to it. As the witness allowed herself to be called Hubbart or Hubburt in the declaration without challenge it is not competent for her now to deny it. My Lords, it is of no sort of consequence in the present case that there has been a mistake of a letter or two in the witness’s name; it was perfectly unnecessary to have designed her in any other way than Mary Smith, wife to George Smith, and if that would have been sufficient, certainly an attempt [Illustration: Lord Hailes. (_After Kay._) ] to be more particular cannot have the effect of injuring the pannel, and therefore can be no valid objection against this witness. The DEAN OF FACULTY--My Lords, I cannot help considering this as a question of the greatest consequence, for if this objection is not sustained, then the objection of misnomer cannot have any longer effect, for if the change of a letter or two, as insisted on by the Lord Advocate, does not afford that objection, there can be no such thing as a misnomer, since the whole difference betwixt names consists only in change of letters.