This Is, The
Practice Which Prevails Of Making Strong Appeals To The Jury In
Mitigation Of Damages, Or To The
Judge, after a verdict has been
rendered against a captain or officer, for a lenient sentence,
on the grounds of
Their previous good character, and of their
being poor, and having friends and families depending upon them
for support. These appeals have been allowed a weight which is
almost incredible, and which, I think, works a greater hardship
upon seamen than any one other thing in the laws, or the execution
of them. Notwithstanding every advantage the captain has over the
seaman in point of evidence, friends, money, and able counsel,
it becomes apparent that he must fail in his defence. An appeal
is then made to the jury, if it is a civil action, or to the judge
for a mitigated sentence, if it is a criminal prosecution, on the two
grounds I have mentioned. The same form is usually gone through in
every case. In the first place, as to the previous good character of
the party. Witnesses are brought from the town in which he resides,
to testify to his good character, and to his unexceptionable conduct
when on shore. They say that he is a good father, or husband, or son,
or neighbor, and that they never saw in him any signs of a cruel
or tyrannical disposition. I have even known evidence admitted
to show the character he bore when a boy at school. The owners
of the vessel, and other merchants, and perhaps the president of
the insurance company, are then introduced; and they testify to
his correct deportment, express their confidence in his honesty,
and say that they have never seen anything in his conduct to
justify a suspicion of his being capable of cruelty or tyranny.
This evidence is then put together, and great stress is laid upon
the extreme respectability of those who give it.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 559 of 618
Words from 153380 to 153703
of 170236
