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1 Mr. Fairchild's Trial 1845

handle is hein.trials/aagh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: MI. TARCHILD'S TRIAL. MUNICIPAL COURT. pectability of the person accused. Indict- -ments of this character are not indeed of un- Monday, March 24. frequent occurrence, as the records of this At a quarter to'10 A. I., the north doors Court, and the printed decisions of the Su- of the Court room were opened, and the space preme Court, attest; and in most of the rq. outside -of the bar together with the gallery, cent prosecutions for this offence in this Court, the parties accused have pleaded guil- was immediately filled with a crowd of eager 7, and either forfeited the penalty ef their spectators, who paid but little deference to recognizances, or quietly submitted to the order in gaining their entrance. The South punishment of the law. But we are now as-. doors continued cosed, except for the admis d forthe solemn trial of an issue, in which,the accused denies his guilt;, and we si(n of jurors, witnesses and officers of' ihe wir to proceed throigh a most painful iqree- Court. The area within the counsellors. bar, tigatign, deeply affecting from many circum- was seated to its utmost capacity by the ex- stances, ill who are to-be engaged in it, and cellent arrangement of the Sheriff; and some- ;nvolviug under all circumstances, some of the most important interests of society4 time before proceedings commenced every It is my duty in opening the case, 4o state portion o,f the Court room was filled to over- the law to you, and give you a brief outline lowing, of the evidence to be introduced. Thi following named. gentlemen were er& The first section of the 130th chapter of aheolltow comse, enth e e ee the Rised Statutes, you perceive that tho' punnelled to compose the jury : the punishment is prescribed, the crime itself Tisdale Drake, foreman; Benj. M. Acker- is not defined; and it is a remarkable cir- man, 'hos, C. Baldwin, Joseph J. Bigelow cumstance that it is very difficult, .1 not im- Gao. W. Bond, Henry R. Cazneau, Davil 3. possible, to find in the law books an exact Collier, James W. Converse, Chas. S. A Ills, common law defiu;tion of Adultery. As to JohnL P. Fairbanks, Christopher C. Gore, most offences the defects of the statute law Samuel Vaughan. are remedied by a recurrence to the common Each juror was interrogated as to his rela- law, which our progenitors br ught with them tion or interest in the trial, and if he enter- to America, and are continued in force by the tained any bias or projudice, or had expressed sixth chapter of our State Constitution; but as to the crime of adultery, this remedy fails, any qpnion relative to the case. Sevpral for, for some centuries, it has not been an of-- were set aside in consequence. fence recognized by the temporal courts of Commonwealth's Attorney, S. D. PA.- the common law of Fagland, and is not in. dictable there. (Se Selkeld's reports, 552.) xas, Esq, was assisted during the trial by In very ancient times it was punished by ape. Ws. BRIGHAM, Esq. cial statutes in the temporal courts, but lat- Ex Judge WaRE and JOHN A. BMLISferly (since the statute of 19, Edward the first, of circumnspecte agat&) only in the courts Esq. appeared as counsel for the defence christian (the ecclesiastical courts) by penance The indctment against the prisoner was pras auteanimae, perpetual exiles, orperpetu- read, and.,set forth that on the 19th of Dec. al imprisonment. (See Gibson's Codez, 1841, he committed the crime of adultery!l085 ) .. . . .... . ..... Mis R d D . The name of the offence is said to besn wth Miss Rhoda Daidson. f abridgement of Ad althonme thwrum., though MR PARK&.'S OPENING ADDRESS. jsome lawyers derive it from aduljeratinffthe In the progress of the trials at this term,| issue of the marriage bed, an opinion that de. gentlemen of the jury, we have now arrived Irives countenance from the fact that an nn- at a priosecution'of no ordinry importance ;married woman cannot commit the crime. It It derives its interest from the heighnousness is an Offence whichi seems to have been well of the crime charged, and te previous res- understood without g studied definitiop t is

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