And the average Englishman likes the contemplation of such a case,
it is sneered; and the sneer may be joined in by those who, under
other systems, have the immediate power of setting any such mistakes
right by a word. But the sneer, let the Englishman be assured, would
by no means be joined in by the population, who are subject to the
action of courts and judges. thus able by superior word to direct
the course of justice.
The new incident which suddenly arose to change all the aspects of
the trial and its results would, as far as the analogy of the Roman
mode of proceeding and our own holds good, have been too late in one
of our courts to produce the results which it did produce. The
judges were on the point of retiring to consider their decision and
sentence when they were met at the little private door, by which
they were about to leave the court, by one of the ushers. And the
consequence of the few words he spoke to them was that they gave an
order--turned back, and resumed their places.
It might well have been that the new incident might have been
prevented from bringing about the result it was calculated to bring
about in the Ravenna Court; but the miscarriage would have been
caused in an altogether different way from that which has been
spoken as sometimes characterising our own courts.
Pages:
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646