Sir Joseph Arnould

Life of Thomas, First Lord Denman, Formerly Lord Chief Justice of England, V. 2 Sir Joseph Arnould

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 edition. Excerpt: ...was lawfully detained and captured, and so became a British ship for the purpose of founding criminal jurisdiction. The decision of the majority of the Court on the Felicidade case was very grievous to Denman. In a paper which he shortly after drew up and submitted to the Home Secretary, upon the origin, constitution, and procedure of the Court of Criminal Appeal, with a view to the much-needed reform of that tribunal,1 he thus alludes to the probable consequences of that decision, and to the unsatisfactory mode in which it was arrived at: " The result appears to destroy all reasonable hope of suppressing the Slave Trade, and to hold out to it the promise of entire indemnity; to place the lives of British officers engaged in that service, at the mercy of the slave trader; to turn the pirate into an injured man, and expose the officer of justice to the penalties and dangers of piracy. And all this is effected through the medium of an opinion formed under the circumstances which I have described, without any statement of the reasons on which it proceeded, and without the expectation of having to assign those reasons in the face of the profession and the public." Writing to his son, Captain Denman, on December 12, 1845, the day after the judgment, he says: " The case was, in fact, decided on the ground of jurisdiction, the Felicidade being holden not a king's ship, so as to form a part of the British territory. I thought her in the lawful custody of one of H. M.'s officers, and therefore a British ship. It seems to me the poorest of quibbles, and the most mischievous of doctrines to deny this. But it is wonderful and disheartening to observe the reluctance to recede from the: old iniquity." 1 This valuable paper, which will be found very interesting...