PAUL DE FLONDOR Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A great deal of time has been wasted on this case, both here and in the Court below. This has been due to the fact that the Chief Presidency Magistrate has disregarded those elementary principles which ought to be observed by every Judge when trying a case. Instead of rivetting his attention on the essential facts proved, he pursued vainly a number of guesses, assumptions and what he called "insoluble equations," which had not any connexion with facts disclosed by the evidence. The result is that his long judgment is unintelligible to anyone who was not present at the trial, and he has drifted into most regrettable confusion while trying to apply the law to the facts.

(2.) When criticising the defence put for-ward by the accused he remarked that "an ounce of fact is worth considerable quantities of fiction"--a maxim with which, after reading his judgment, we find ourselves in complete agreement. He complained that the learned Counsel who appeared for the accused took a very inelastic view of the scope of his defence, and with the assistance of the accused trying to " bluff " the Court as to the facts, considered the matter from only one point of view.

(3.) If the Magistrate intended to say that counsel tried to bluff the Court, this was a most improper observation to make and in the present case had no foundation in fact. Quite rightly counsel refused to be drawn into unnecessary discussion of irrelevant hypotheses.