[Editor: This article was published in The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.), 21 April 1877.]
County Court.
In the County Court yesterday, John Miller and Annie Miller (his wife) sued Stephen F. Croxton for £49 damages, for having assaulted Mrs. Miller by attempting to steal a kiss from her.
Miller and Croxton are Sandridge cabmen, and it appeared from the evidence that they were drinking rather heavily in Melbourne on the night of the 12th March, and then went off together to Miller’s house, in Sandridge.
When there they had more drinks, and after that Croxton caught hold of Mrs. Miller with the intention of kissing her. She, however, frustrated his efforts, and her husband put Croxton outside, and thrashed him so severely that he had to be taken off at once to the Hospital.
In his defence Croxton informed the Court that he drank so much on the night of the occurrence that he knew nothing of what happened from the time he left town until the following morning, when he found himself in the Hospital.
His Honour Judge Cope thought that as the male plaintiff had taken the law in his own hands, and had punished the defendant so severely as he did, the plaintiffs were not entitled to much further damages. He therefore gave a verdict for plaintiffs for 20s., that amount having been paid into court by defendant before the case commenced, and ordered each party to pay their own costs.
Source:
The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.), 21 April 1877, p. 502
Editor’s notes:
defendant = a person, company, or entity against whom an action or claim is brought in a court of law; (in a civil case) a person, company, or entity who has been sued for an alleged wrongdoing; (in a criminal case) a person, company, or entity who has been accused of breaking the law
See: “Defendant”, Wikipedia
plaintiff = a person, company, or entity who initiates a civil action in a court of law, in order to seek a legal remedy
See: “Plaintiff”, Wikipedia
s. = a reference to a shilling, or shillings; the “s” was an abbreviation of “solidi”, e.g. as used in “L.S.D.” or “£sd” (pounds, shillings, and pence), which refers to coins used by the Romans, as per the Latin words “librae” (or “libra”), “solidi” (singular “solidus”), and “denarii” (singular “denarius”)
Sandridge = the former name of Port Melbourne (Vic.)
See: “Port Melbourne”, Wikipedia
[Editor: Inserted a comma after “frustrated his efforts” and “plaintiffs for 20s.”]
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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