OCR Text |
Show TH READER'S COURTROOM i Wife of Arsonist Is Innocent By Will Bernard, LL.B J May a Wife be Punished For Her Husband's Crime? The wife of a druggist went to pick him up at his store late one night. While she waited for him at the counter, he went to the basement, base-ment, poured kerosene on some rags, and started a fire. Then they A crotchety old bachelor became very angry whenever the children in the neighborhood got onto his property. One day he spied a boy climbing over the fenje into his yard. As the boy dropped to the ground, the eld man sicked his bulldog on the intruder. The boy was badly bitten, and later sued the bachelor for damages. The man insisted that the young "trespasser" "tres-passer" had gotten only what he deserved but the court didn't see it that way. The judge held the man responsible. If a Man Puts on a Disguise And Scares Somebody, Is He Legally Liable? One evening, a mischievous young man decided to "have a little fun." He dressed himself In women's clothing, donned a veil, picked up a parasol, and went tapping tap-ping his way over to his neighbor's house. The lady next door, evidently evi-dently sensing something peculiar in the approaching figure, ran left. The store burned almost to the ground. However, an investigator for the insurance company figured out what happened, and the couple were arrested for arson. The court decided that the druggist was indeed in-deed guilty but his wife was not. The judge explained that, even though she was at the scene of the crime and probably knew what her husband was up to, she still hadn't actually lifted a finger to help him. A man got on a train without a ticket, and, when the corductor came along, flatly refused to pay for his passage. The conductor angrily an-grily dragged the man to the door and unceremoniously shoved him out even though the train was already on its way. The man later had the conductor arrested on a charge of assault and battery. The conductor's excuse was that the train "wasn't going very fast," but the court held him guilty anyhow. The judge figured that the passenger pas-senger deserved more courtejyl screaming to her husband. But when the husband seized a baseball bat and rushed forward to do battle, bat-tle, the prankster hastily made his identity known. The woman was so upset by the incident that she sued the young man for assault. However, How-ever, the court decided that no assault as-sault had been committed. The judge said that, far from being malicious, ma-licious, the young man was only trying to be playful!" |