Transcription
Serjeant, and the Jew witness, would fain have represented the Plaintiff as a respectable linen merchant. But how did that turn out?---he had neither shop nor warehouse, and ever man who had two shirts in partnership with his washer-woman, each having one at a time, night be fairly called as much a dealer in linen. It was more clear that he was a Jew, having due regard to that most ancient of their precepts, namely, never to miss the opportunity of pillaging the Egyptians, the Philistines, and the Christians, which the old cloathsman thought he could effect by this action against Mr. Astley,---Now, what was the assault? Mr. Astley turned out a troublesome fellow, and finding he did not go way quietly, he called the constable and said, “Here, keep this fellow until Monday morning.” The officer, who understood what was meant, takes him a little way and then turned him loose, as Mr. Astley meant he should. This is the imprisonment. Now, as to the blow! It was a very hard blow, was it not? Said his Learned Friend to Paul? To do Paul Justice, he looked at his friend as though he would say, “Why persecuteth thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” It was a blow, a blow---Paul would not swear it was a hard one,--This was the whole of the case, and perhaps the Jury might think there was a pennyworth of damage. There could not be more.
The Learned Judge observed, there was a false imprisonment in law, and an assault proved. The Jury would give what damaged they thought fit; but they must remember that a Jew was entitled to an equal measure of justice with a Christian.—Verdict for the Plaintiff, damages 40s.
