A Lawyer s Studies in Biblical Law. dash for the capital charge in the hope that something might turn up. And now, driven to their wits' end, old Mr. Smith was exam ined by one of the best advocates of the day, and this is what he made of him : "You have seen the remains?" "Yes." "Whose do you believe them to be?" "My daughter's, to the best of my belief." "Why do you believe them to be your daughter's?" "By the height, the color of the hair, and the smaJlness of the foot and leg." That was all : and it was nothing. But there must needs be cross-examina tion if you are to satisfy your client. So the defendant's advocate asks: "Is there anything else upon which your belief is founded?" "No," hesitatingly answers the old man, turning his hat about as if there was some mystery in it. There is breathless anxiety in the crowded Court, for the witness seemed to be revolv ing something in his mind that he did not like to bring out. "Yes." he said, after a dead silence of two •or three minutes. "My daughter had a scar on her leg." There was sensation enough for the drop scene. More cross-examination was neces sary now to get rid of the business of the •scar, and some re-examination too. The mark, it appeared, was caused by Har
riet's having fallen into the fireplace when she was a girl. "Did you see the mark on the remains?" asked the prisoner's counsel. "No; I did not examine for it. I hadn't seen it for ten years." There was much penmanship on the part of the Treasury, and as many interchanges of smiles between the officials, as if the dis covery had been due to their sagacity; and they went about saying, "How about the scar? How will he get over the scar? What do you think of the scar?" Strange to say, the defendant's advisers thought it prudent to ask the magistrate to allow the doctors on both sides to examine the remains in order to ascertain whether there was a scar or not; and, stranger still, while giving his consent, the magistrate thought it was very immaterial. It proved to be so material that when it was found on the leg exactly as the old man and a sister had described it, the doctors cut it out and preserved it for production at the trial. After the discovery, of course the result of the trial was a foregone conclusion. It will be obvious to the sagacious reader that the blunder indicated was not the onlv* / one in the case. On the other side was one of equal gravity and more unpardonable, which needs no pointing out. Justice baffled by want of tact on one side was righted by an accident on the other.— The Law Journal.
A LAWYER'S STUDIES IN BIBLICAL LAW. PRIMOGENHTRE. BY DAVID WERNER AMRAM. IN the patriarchal Hebrew family the first . oldest son was the successor and heir, and born was known as the Bckhor and en conducted the religious exercises of the fam joyed special rights and privileges. He had ily, and offered sacrifices at the family hearth a larger share of the family property, su.cto the household gods, who were none other ceeded to the patriarchate, and was invested than his deified ancestors. Similar family •with certain sacerdotal powers. In Rome the sacrifices were known among the ancient He-
