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Lot 353
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British Barrister & Court Reporter Offers Opinion on Venue in Murder Trial
British Barrister & Court Reporter Offers Opinion on Venue in Murder Trial
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Sir Edward Hyde East
Exeter, England, September 27, 1798
British Barrister & Court Reporter Offers Opinion on Venue in Murder Trial
AES

[MURDER.] Edward Hyde East, Autograph Endorsement Signed, Opinion on Summary of Case, September 27, 1798, [Exeter, England]. 3 pp., 7.75" x 12.5". Expected folds; general toning; some edge loss with minimal effect on text.

In this document, Edward Hyde East provides his opinion on the ability of a man accused of murder to have a trial in the venue where he lived rather than where the death occurred. Aaron Warre shot an intruder in the courtyard of his home in the county of Devon in South West England, but the intruder was taken to a hospital in Exeter, the county town, where he died two weeks later. The grand jury issued an indictment for murder, and the coroner issued a warrant for Warre's arrest in Exeter. Warre feared that a trial in Exeter would be prejudiced against him.

Perhaps his attorney wrote this summary and query to obtain barrister and court reporter Edward Hyde East's opinion on the case. East gave his opinion that the only way for Warre to get a trial other than at the court in Exeter was to appeal to the Court of King's Bench, explaining that he feared he could not get a fair trial in Exeter. By the late eighteenth century, the Court of King's Bench was largely an appellate court, but it could consider a case such as Warre's on a writ of certiorari, which ordered a lower court to send up the record of a case for review.

According to a newspaper report, Aaron Ware was tried for the murder of Robert Haynum in the court of General Quarter Sessions for the City of Exeter in January 1799 and acquitted.

Excerpt

"Aaron Warre the son of a Respectable Farmer of the Parish of Broadclist in the County of Devon about three weeks since being alarmed in the night by a Whistling in the Court he at the Request of some of the ffamily dressed himself and went down to discover who it was, and for security was desired to take a Gun with him which is usually kept loaded, a Custom very common in the Country. The Court being in the ffront of the House, Warre went out at the Back Door. On coming in view of the Court Warre saw the man and asked who he was but no answer given the Question was repeated Three or ffour times but without any Reply. The man appeared to be coming towards Warre he (Warre) retreated, saying he would shoot the man through the Body if he did not speak. This Expression induced the man to run and attempt to catch hold of the Gun, immediately upon which Warre fired and wounded the man in the arm. The man was brought to the Hospital at Exeter, and of that Wound died on Tuesday last. The Jury upon an Inquisition brought in a Verdict of Wilful murder—whereupon the Coroner issued his Warrant for commitment to the Exeter Prison to take his trial at the General Goal Deliver for Exeter.
[Marginal note: "To state all the Circumstances attending this Case wo[ul]d only tend to perplexity—suffic[ien]t is here stated to Ground the Queries at the End."]
"Warre wishes now to surrender himself to Prison but as the People of Exeter from Gross Misrepresentations are prejudiced against him he would wish to be tried at the Devon assizes but as the Death happened in Exeter it is Doubted whether this is practicable as Custom seems contrary to it....
"You will therefore advise whether a magistrate for Devon can commit Warre to the County Prison notwithstanding the Coroners Warrant, or whether if He surrenders himself there, the Judge upon being informed of the Circumst[an]ce will try him at the Assizes for Devon, or order him to be turned over to the City Prison for trial at the General Goal Delivery for Exeter. Or whether in case Warre should be obliged to surrender himself to the City Prison an Habeas Corpus to remove him to the County Goal would be granted upon Petition without stating some spec[ific?] matter for the Grounds of such Petition, other than is stated."
[East's Opinion:]
"The trial must be in the County where the death happened according to the Statute of Edwd 6th & I am of opinion upon the construction of the 1st & 10th clauses of the 38 Geo. 3 Co 52 that the only way by which an Indictment preferred in the county of the city of Exeter can be tried by a Jury of the county at large is by removing it into the Court of King's Bench by writ of Certiorari, & by application to that court to direct the trial in the adjoining County, for which some reasonable cause must be stated. If the deft can lay before that court any reasonable ground to induce even a doubt whether he will have an unprejudiced Jury to try him that would be sufficient to direct the trial to be had in the County at large.
"Edwd Hyde East.
"Powderham
"Septr 27th 1798."


Edward Hyde East (1764-1847) was born in Jamaica into a family that owned several plantations there. He studied law at the Inner Temple in London and was called to the bar in 1786. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1792 to 1796. In 1798, he was a barrister and a law reporter for the Court of King's Bench in London. In 1813, he became the chief justice of the Supreme Court at Fort William, Bengal, India. He served in that position until 1822, when he returned to England. While in India, he was the chief promoter of the Hindu College in Kolkata. On his return to England, he was made a baronet in 1823. He again served as a Member of Parliament from 1823 to 1831. He wrote reports of cases from the Court of King's Bench from 1785 to 1800, published in five volumes in 1817, and from 1800 to 1812, published annually, and his reports were often cited in American courts.

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  • Dimensions: 7.75" x 12.5"
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