LETTERS FROM A LAWYER.
The Temple.
My dear Dorothy,—You say that Aunt Anne is in a great state of mind because she has lost her copy of Uncle John’s will. She sent it to her solicitors to have their opinion on one of the clauses in the will, and they declare that the will was returned to her, and that it is not in their possession.
There is no need for Aunt Anne to distress herself, even if her copy of the will is lost; she can easily procure another copy by applying to Somerset House. If she only wishes to read over the will again with the opinion she has received from her lawyers, she had better go down to Somerset House, which is in the Strand, not very far from Wellington Street, on the right hand side going towards the City from Charing Cross, and there they will let her read the will on payment of, I think, a shilling, and they will supply her with a certified, or an ordinary, copy of the will on payment of so much per folio, the exact amount she can learn on inquiry.
The part of Somerset House where the wills are kept is exactly opposite the archway, straight across the courtyard—she cannot mistake it. Inside she will find several polite minor officials, who will show her what forms to fill up, fetch the books for her and render her every possible assistance; the men who fetch the books expect a small tip for their trouble.
At Somerset House, Aunt Anne will find all sorts of people reading not only the wills of their friends and relatives, but also wills under which they can take no pecuniary interest, such as the wills of public men in no way related to them; anyone can read anybody’s will on payment of the usual fee. To make a copy of a will for oneself is not permitted, but you may take a short note of its contents.
Somerset House, like most of the public offices, closes at four o’clock, so it is advisable to go not after half-past three at the latest. If Aunt Anne can put off her visit till next week, I shall be happy to accompany her if she desires it. This week all my time is fully occupied with an unusually large sessions, which means that your affectionate cousin will have the chance of scooping in a guinea or two by the prosecution of some unfortunate prisoner. This is what we call getting “soup.”
A curious name, is it not? I do not know the origin of the term, which is certainly a suggestive one. A good many of us never get beyond the “soup,” I am afraid, much as we should like to assist at the carving up of the joints.
After which poetical digression, let us return to our muttons. It is very annoying to lose a business appointment on account of a train being late. Gerald has my sympathy, but I can offer him no consolation, it being a generally established rule that damages cannot be obtained for the loss of a business engagement, nor can damages be obtained for the annoyance experienced by the traveller.
You see the railway companies say that “every attention will be paid to ensure punctuality,” and to recover damages you would have to prove that the lateness of the train was due to their neglect to pay the “every attention” promised, a difficult thing to do. Supposing the weather was foggy, or there had been a break-down on the line, or some other reason for the train being late, the company would declare that their failure to keep to the time advertised on their time-tables was unavoidable, and due to causes beyond their control.
There have been one or two cases where travellers have recovered damages from railway companies on account of the lateness of a train, but in all these cases there were special circumstances which rendered the companies liable; but Gerald’s case was not an exceptional one; in fact, if he were a suburban season ticket holder, he would find the lateness of trains arriving in the morning a very common occurrence.
If a train is advertised to stop at a certain station, and you get carried beyond your destination, you would probably be successful in obtaining damages for personal inconvenience, supposing you were obliged to walk back, and you would certainly be entitled to drive back and charge the expense of carriage hire to the company; or, supposing that no conveyance was procurable and it was too far or too wet or too late for you to return on foot, you would be justified in going to a hotel and making the company reimburse you for the expenses of the night. It would have to be an exceptional case which would justify you in the ordering of a special train, a course of action not recommended by
Your affectionate cousin,Bob Briefless.