The Daily Dispatch: April 13, 1864., [Electronic resource]

The Alexandra case.

‘ The discussion of the Alexandra case in the House of Lords, or rather before six members of it, has terminated, and their Lordships announce that their decision will be made public soon after Saster. The discussion was wholly uninteresting, as the merits of the case itself were not touched upon. The arguments were on the dryest of all technicalities, and really interested nobody except the lawyers themselves. If the decision be in favor of the Government, then a new trial of the whole case will be ordered; but if otherwise, then the decision of the Court of Exchequer will stand, in favor of the Lairds, although that decision was only attained by the distinct understanding that an appeal was to be had to the higher courts. If this latter be the result, although the Lairds may thus obtain a technical victory, it will only be on the confession, by the highest court of the kingdom, that the language of the act of Parliament does no, represent the intention of the framers of it, and will prove how little dependence is to be placed on British laws in general.

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