E DEFENCE.

'May it please your lordship. Before I go into the case for the
prisoner, I have to submit that the Crown has not produced sufficient
evidence to warrant a conviction.

'It has been laid down by the authority of Lord Hale, which your
lordship will find quoted on page 276 of _Archbold_ that no man should
ever be convicted of murder or manslaughter on circumstantial evidence
alone, unless the body has been found; and in a comparatively recent
case--_Regina v. Hopkins_----'

'Yes, I know that is the law, Mr. Tressamer,' said the judge,
interrupting him; 'but how do you say the body has not been found? The
prosecution have identified the hand.'

'I submit that is not sufficient, my lord.'

'The coroner's inquest was held upon it,' called out the counsel for
the prosecution, who was decidedly taken by surprise at this unusual
objection. Tressamer treated the interruption with contempt.

'The coroner is hardly an authority to quote to this court. Your
lordship sees my point is this. Of course the finding of the hand is
some evidence of some crime. But it is nowise decisive. The deceased,
or, rather, the person said to be deceased, might have cut off her own
hand. We have no _conclusive_ evidence that she is really dead.'

'But what do you want? Do you mean that in every case the entire body
should be found?'

'Oh no, my lord. If some vital part were discovered, and sufficiently
identified, I should say that was enough to go upon. But what Lord
Hale means, I take it, is this: that where you are going upon
circumstantial evidence--as in this case--where no one saw the crime
committed at all, then you must have conclusive evidence from some
other source, namely, the dead body.'

'But that is not conclusive. That might be the result of suicide.'

'Still, it affords a very strong presumption. In any case, there is
the rule, laid down by Lord Hale, and acted upon ever since.'

'I know, Mr. Tressamer; I am not disputing the law. The only question
in my mind is whether this case is not taken out of it by the
production of what is part of the body. Of course, I will leave it to
the jury to say whether they are satisfied that this is the deceased's
hand, if that is any use to you.'

'No, my lord, I don't know that I can hope to contest that. But this
is a case of life and death, and I certainly would strongly urge your
lordship to consider my point.'

The judge got up.

'I will just go and ask my brother