"It is argued on the part of the
defendant that Miss Smithers is, for the purposes of this case a
document, a document, and nothing but a document, and as such that her
mouth is shut. Now, I think that the learned Attorney-General cannot have
thought this matter out when he came to that conclusion. What are the
circumstances? A will is supposed to have been tattooed upon this lady's
skin; but is the skin the whole person? Does not the intelligence remain,
and the individuality? I think that I can put what I mean more clearly by
means of an illustration. Let us suppose that I were to uphold the
defendant's objection, and that, as a consequence, the plaintiff's case
were to break down. Then let us suppose that the plaintiff had persuaded
the witness to be partially skinned"--(here Augusta nearly jumped from her
seat)--"and that she, having survived the operation, was again tendered
to the court as a witness, would the Court then be able, under any
possibility, to refuse to accept her evidence? The document, in the form
of human parchment, would then be in the hands of the officers of the
Court, and the person from whom the parchment had been removed, would
also be before the Court.
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