B. Tries First To Get
C. To Pay For The Canoe, And For The Rent Of The Canoe On Top, As A
Compensation For The Delay In Bringing Down His, B's., Trade.
C.
calls B. the illegitimate offspring of a greenhouse-lizard, and
pleads further that the floating log was a force majeure - an act of
God, and denies liability on all counts.
B. then pleads this as his
own defence in the case of A. and B. (authorities cited in support
of this view); he also pleads he is not liable, because C. is a free
man, and not his slave.
The case went on for a week; the judge was drunk for five days in
his attempt to get his head clear. The decision finally was that B.
was to pay A. full compensation. B. v. C. is still pending.
The laws against adultery are, theoretically, exceedingly severe.
The punishment is death, and this is sometimes carried out. The
other day King Bell in Cameroon flogged one of his wives to death,
and the German Government have deposed and deported him, for you
cannot do that sort of thing with impunity within a stone's throw of
a Government head-quarters. But as a general rule all along the
Coast the death penalty for murder or adultery is commuted to a
fine, or you can send a substitute to be killed for you, if you are
rich. This is frequently done, because it is cheaper, if you have a
seedy slave, to give him to be killed in your stead than to pay a
fine which is often enormous.
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