I am free to admit that if this witness had only been libelled Mary Smith, wife of George Smith, particularly as she had subscribed her name Mary Smith, then there could not have been stated any objection to her examination. But as she is particularised to be Mary Hubbart, it is a sufficient objection to me that the name of the woman now present is not Mary Hubbart, but Mary Hibbutt, a perfectly different name. There still may be a mistake of the person although she is designed wife to George Smith, for it may happen that Smith may have two wives. There is not a greater difference betwixt Erskine and Friskin, which last name is not uncommon in this country, than betwixt Hubbart and Hibbutt. It is all one under what name she is mentioned in the precognition, as that was not her doing; neither is it probable that she knew by what name she was there called. My Lords, there has not been a witness examined here this day that can know by what name he has been taken down by the Clerk. The LORD ADVOCATE--My Lords, I beg that the witness may be desired to write her name. The LORD JUSTICE-CLERK--Mary Hubburt, you will sign your name. [The witness signed her name accordingly.] The DEAN OF FACULTY--My Lord, the witness has subscribed her name “Hibbutt.” Lord HAILES--The name of Hobart is the name of the very respectable family of Buckinghamshire, in England, and I would have supposed that this woman’s name, since it so nearly resembles it, was the same, and would not have taken her own word to the contrary. Hibbutt, nevertheless, is perfectly different from Hubbart, and, however obscure it might be, still, as it is proved by the parish register to be the name of the person now called, I consider myself obliged to give weight to the misnomer. The DEAN OF FACULTY--I beg pardon for interrupting the Court, but I am just informed that this point has been decided by Lord Eskgrove and Lord Stonefield at the Glasgow Circuit, where a misnomer of “James Roberton” instead of “James Robertson” was sustained. There, there was only the want of a letter, whereas there is certainly a much greater difference betwixt the names here in question. Lord ESKGROVE--As to the case mentioned by the Dean of Faculty, Robertson and Roberton are two perfectly distinct names. In the case before your Lordships there can be no doubt that if this woman had only been libelled as wife to George Smith, without her maiden name, there could have been no question whatever. It is the universal custom in England that the maiden name sinks into that of the husband’s, but my great difficulty is, in this case, that the public prosecutor, in giving this witness a further description than was necessary, has totally mistaken her name, I do not think that there is any force in her being called Hubbart in the precognition for the same reason given by the Dean. [Here his Lordship was interrupted by the Lord Advocate.]