The Road murder : being a complete report and analysis of the various examinations and opinions of the press on this mysterious tragedy / by a Barrister-at-Law.
- Barrister at law
- Date:
- 1860
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Road murder : being a complete report and analysis of the various examinations and opinions of the press on this mysterious tragedy / by a Barrister-at-Law. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
23/70 (page 19)
![hearing, they were to be assisted by a counsel experienced in the criminal courts. 1 he justices would be much aided by a practised criminal lawyer advising them in the character of an assessor. Of course nothing is known of the results of the inquiry so far as it has proceeded, save this, that it is established beyond doubt that the murder must haw been com- mitted by an inmate of the house. The guilt attaches, therefore, to one of eleven persons, but on which of them suspicion is to alight remains to be seen.' The next step is, by the process of exhaustion, to ascertain against which of the eleven persons the probabilities most weigh; aud lastly will come but the most difficult task of all—to find proofs of guilt. We can however, vouch for it that the investigation is confided to good hands.’’ The Spectator says:— “ If the local magistracy from pure lack of experience are incom- petent to conduct an inquiry of this solemn and complex character, surely the Home Secretary may find constitutional means in aid of the magistracy. Miss Constance Kent was only discharged on her father’s bail from the charge made against her. We do not for a moment suggest that the young lady whom over.zeal placed in the dock, is at all cognizant of her brother’s death. But her mere discharge on bail gives the magistrates a locus standi upon which to resume the inquiry. Then the Home Secretary might add the assistance of the local recorders or some eminent criminal lawyers as assessors to the magistrates. But the refusal, on mere ‘ constitutional’ grounds, to issue a special commission, has been followed by a most extraordinary innovation upon the administration of the law. Sir George Lewis gets rid of the difficulty by a side wind, for it appears now that, although he refuses to initiate any proceeding, he yet sanctions another course taken by the local magistrates utterly subversive of every principle of justice.” Mr. Slack, a very eminent solicitor of Bath, and of great reputation as a lawyer in crimi- nal cases, is instructed by the “ authorities ” to prosecute an inquiry. To his private office are summoned the persons supposed to be able to give evidence. Mr. Kent’s own solicitor very properly asks Mr. Slack under whose “instructions” he is proceeding. To this a reply is given very remotely referring] to “the authorities’’ as setting on foot the inquiry. But is a private inquiry, conducted with closed doors, not upon oath, with the admissions of the guilty person, assuming his attendance, taken down in writing for future use, a constitutional proceeding ? If we are agreed upon one course of criminal procedure, it certainly is that every inquiry by which the life of a fellow-creature is put in peril, shall be conducted in a public form. In fact, the magistrates have become prosecutors, and employ an attorney to conduct an inquiry, superseding the natural right of Mr. Kent, as father of the victim, to the position of prosecutor. An inquiry so conducted could lead only to “ a lame and impotent conclusion;” and it appears in the form of a struggle of merely professional etiquette between the two solicitors; Mr. Dunn offering that Mr. Slack may come to Mr. Kent’s house and ask every one there upon the matter, whilst the magistrates aud their solicitor ask for the attendance of the family at Mr. Slack’s office in Bath. Publicity, responsibility, and proof, are all then here set aside. The inquiry is secret; Mr. Slack is not responsible; and the information he may obtain is not evidence, because it is not upon oath. The Road case may indicate the necessity of a public prosecutor; and perhaps Mr. Slack is the most competent person for that office in his own county. But the office of a public prosecutor, as in Scotland, carries with it notice of the official inquiries,, and a criminal is forewarned * * * The sound principles of publicity, responsibility, and proof have given birth to the advantage of imperial administration, by which equally the cruelty of the prosecutors, and the cruelty of the mob have bee nset at defiance. To invade the common sense of mankind as to what is law; to confuse the functions, public and private, of magistrates, policemen, and attorneys, is to shake law to the very foundation in the popular conception. If the murderer is to be found, the very information which will lead us to his trail is to be had by and before the magistrates in public, in an inquiry conducted by Mr. Slack in his professional character. The Road murder has been from first to last productive of blunders ; but the last is the most fatal, for even the detection and punishment of the murderer would not compensate U3 for the loss we sustain by the unconstitutional means employed. Private information, gathered m this injudicious manner, is likely to gratify the acuteness of clever practitioners and sharp detectives, but society looks for the independent evidence of guilt to be forthcoming, plus extorted admissions of unwary statements. If we abolish or narrow publicity in, our jurisprudence, we alkali do much to destroy the entire fabric which has brought down to us as much of glory as our deeds of arinB. The Observer states that besides the investigation carried on by Mr. Slack, another investigation of the Road murder is also on foot about which the public know nothing, but w ick is not the less likely to be successful because the utmost secrecy is obsorved. The overnmenf, says our contemporary, is determined that no efforts shall be wanting, aud no 8Pared, to discover the perpetrator cf this atrocious crime. Tho Obsewcr believes mat the murderer will now shortly be discovered. n * f^gards the progress of the examination made by Mr. Slack we believe wo are correct a mg that Mr. Kent having consented that an examination of himself and his household-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28404701_0023.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
