Ejectment

“ The complainant, however, seeks to evade the force of the general principle on the ground that the verdict and judgment in actions of ejectment have not that conclusive effect between the parties which they have in other actions, either in courts of law or equity. ”

“ The verdict in actions of ejectment shall, when for the plaintiff, state the quantity of the estate of the plaintiff, and describe the land by its metes and bounds, by the number of the lot, or other certain description. ”

“ It will be seen from this statement that in a common law action of ejectment the case was submitted to the court upon the evidence, without the intervention of a jury, leaving it to the court to decide the fact, as well as the law, upon the evidence and admissions before it. ”

“ In every case the plaintiff must state, in ordinary and concise language, his cause of action, with a prayer for the relief to which he may deem himself entitled. The fictions of the action of ejectment at common law have no existence. ”

“ Foster v. Mora
This is an action of ejectment brought originally in the Circuit Court for the District of California, by the defendant in error, in which he recovered judgment against the plaintiffs in error. ”

“ It does not purport to be an order or judgment affirming an order overruling a motion for new trial, but a judgment affirming the judgment or decree of the District Court, and the only judgment or decree, which we find in the record, is the judgment for the defendants in the action of ejectment. ”

“ But it has been argued, that such a general verdict, under such circumstances, is a matter of mere practice, and involves no inconvenience or repugnancy to the general principles of law, because the plaintiff must still at his peril take possession under his executor upon a general judgment on such verdict, according to his title. That the whole proceedings in ejectment are founded in fictions, and the court will, in a summary manner, restrain the plaintiff if he takes possession for more than his title, so that no injustice can be done the defendant. ”

“ The great thing is to clearly understand that when the arm is kept perfectly straightened during the action of ejecting there cannot be any throwing in the case at all. But when during the action the arm is bent at the elbow, the method of ejection may or may not be a throw, according to whether the elbow is used directly to propel the object as described above or is not. ”

“ Suppose a bullet has been fired from a revolver. It has killed a man. You think you have the gun. You wish to say to judge and jury, ‘I have the gun that killed the man. This is the gun. I will prove it to you by a study of bullets fired from it.’ In view of the fact that there are thousands of such guns in existence, of the same caliber and manufactured by the identical machinery, are you able to prove that one particular gun fired the fatal shot?”
“Don’t seem possible,” said Johnny. ”

“ And all the evening long the timid townsmen’s doors have had to be quick opened to let in rough groups of soldiers, for whom there must be found both board and lodging, and the best of both, or woe betide the house and all within; for the sword is judge and jury, plaintiff and executioner, in these tempestuous times, and pays for what it takes by sparing those from whom it takes it, if it pleases it to do so. ”

“ No man in the firing squad was permitted to know whether his gun had a bullet in it or not.
The officer in command spoke scarcely above his breath, but so hushed was the time that his words were audible to the three thousand men there assembled, as he said to each alternate man: “Fire at his head,” and to the intervening man: “Fire at his chest.” Then turning his back, which was perhaps not an officer-like thing to do, the lieutenant gave in a husky voice the word of command. ”

“ Instead, therefore, of giving 180 guineas for a pair of hammerless ejectors by a best maker, the novice may for about a third of the sum procure a pair in every way as good by the same maker, if he foregoes the ejector part of the latest fashion. But, in order to make sure of fair treatment, dealing only with the most reputable establishments is advised, because it has been known that the less particular traders have themselves altered an old-fashioned gun into an ejector, and sold it as the gun of a first-rate maker, whereas it would have been more properly described as their own work. ”

“ It was one of those charges in which everybody sees that if a miracle happens it will be all right, and that if it doesn’t happen—It was one of those charges in which first an officer stands out, waving his sword, then a man or two follow him, then three or four more, then all waver back, only to start forth again, then others join, then the officer cries aloud, then, with a roar, the line springs forward and rushes over the field, in the cannon’s mouth. ”

“ The adjutant tries to be smart and polite, smiles a smole both child-like and bland, rolls up his shirt-sleeves, and winks one eye at you, gets astraddle of a camp-stool, whistles a little stanza of schottische, and with a big flourish of his pen, writes the major- general's name in small letters, and his own—the adjutant's—in very large letters, bringing the pen under it with tremendous flourishes, and writes approved and forwarded. ”

“ The Beauty of an Assault appears in the Execution of the Design. Make no Thrust without considering the Advantage and the Danger of it. If the Eye and Wrist precede the Body, the Execution will be good. Be always cautious, Time lost cannot be regained. If you can hit without a Feint, make none, two Motions are more dangerous than one. To know what you risque, you must know what you are worth. If you would do well, acquire the agreeable and useful. Twenty good Qualities will not make you perfect, and one bad one will hinder your being so. Judge of a Thrust, rather by Reason than by it's Success ”

“ In the earliest days of hanging it was the practice for the executioner to place his noose round the victim’s neck, and then to haul upon the other end of the rope, which was passed through a ring on the scaffold pole until the culprit was strangled, without any drop at all. After a while the drop system was introduced, but the length of drop given was never more than three feet, so that death was still generally caused by strangulation, and not by dislocation, as it is at present. ”

“ I know of an automatic rifle which ejects its spent cartridges with great force, and another which merely lifts them out, as if they were spilt [Pg 131] over the edge of the ejector slot, no force being used. This is the way ejecting should be done.
Such ejection would be very useful on an automatic pistol; now, if near a man shooting them, they, even the best, hit one quite hard with the spent cartridges.
This gentle ejection is a patent and is done by a very weak spring in the extractor which tips the cartridge out at the right moment ”

“ Suits me better than my own." CHALMERS, who will have been going through a similar pantomime with your gun, will make some decently complimentary remark about it, and each of you will think the other a devilish knowing and agreeable fellow.
From this point you can diverge into a discussion of the latest improvements, as, e.g., "Are ejectors really valuable?" This is sure to bring out the man who has tried ejectors, and has given them up, because last year, at one of the hottest corners he ever knew, when the sky was simply black with pheasants, the ejectors of both his guns got stuck. ”

“ All being ready at a signal the executioner enters and as soon as he gets immediately behind the prisoner gives his sword a whirl and bringing it down with full force severs the head from the body, except a small piece of skin which connects it with the torso. ”

“ The tall guard stood moveless until the weapon was actually in sight, and then the arm in the blue coat shot out, strong, swift, straight from the shoulder, and the pistol-arm dropped, the weapon fell to the ground, and the man staggered back, to be received in the unwilling arms of the head-waiter, to struggle there for a moment, and then to submit, quite as much to the fire in the young guard's eye as to the strength of his arm. ”

“ Grasping this weapon in both hands, the executioner steps up behind the prisoner, and thrusts it up to the hilt between the left shoulder-blade and neck of the victim. The heart is pierced immediately, and the criminal dies at once painlessly. ”

“ No execution in such a town as this for these ten years past! one might as well live amongst the savages.
SECOND EXECUTIONER.
It is a pitiful thing to be sure, but don't despise us altogether, Mr. Master: we shall improve by and by, please God; and here is a fair beginning for it too, if the Lord prosper us.
FIRST EXECUTIONER.
Ay, thou wilt, perhaps, have the honour of hanging a thief or two before thou art the age of Methuselah; but I warrant ye, the beheading of this young nobleman here by the famous executioner of Olmutz will be remembered amongst you for generations to come. ”

“ But we found, after sending out two or three strong detachments, that we had a handful here, prisoners being brought in daily from the surrounding country, tried, and executed at once. The execution parades are ghastly sights to witness, but the horrible, fiend-like deeds that they have perpetrated leave but little room in our hearts for pity. We execute, more or less, every day. The blowing away from the mouth of the cannon is a sickening sight, and I do not care to dwell upon it. Since we came here I have been appointed drill-sergeant of the regiment. ”

“ Like a stone from a catapult Brant was upon them, smashing the globe of the bracket light in passing, and while one might draw a quick breath three pairs of hands clutched fiercely in the darkness for the weapon on the table. In the midst of the struggle—if that which has no duration in time can be said to have a middle part—came the crash of a pistol shot. ”

“ Many a poor sailor, at the guns of that quarter-deck, must have received a bullet intended for some wearer of an epaulet.
By candidly confessing my feelings on this subject, I do by no means invalidate my claims to being held a man of prodigious valour. I merely state my invincible repugnance to being shot for somebody else. If I am shot, be it with the express understanding in the shooter that I am the identical person intended so to be served. ”

“ But he held his ground and continued to fight in spite of all, firing at one time as from two faces of an acute triangle.
His determination was superb, and the coolness of his gunners and cannoneers was worthy of the unbounded admiration which we, their enemies, felt for them. Their firing increased as their difficulties multiplied, but it showed no sign of becoming wild or hurried. Every shot went straight to the object against which it was [202] directed; every fuse was accurately timed, and every shell burst where it was intended to burst. ”

“ That battle is a fact. I saw the two armies as plainly as I see you, and when the enemy planted that battery there on the hill, driving our forces away, I was among the troops ordered to charge them as a forlorn hope, and I fell right there, in front of the guns, riddled with canister shot. I was ahead of the line, for some reason, and just as I fell our men were driven back by a counter-charge right over my body. My friend, prevision is possible. Prevision is a fact. The battle, the charge, the counter-charge, and my death, right there, are what we call Future events. ”

“ You have been selected as a firing squad for the execution of a soldier, who, having been found guilty of a grievous crime against King and Country, has been regularly and duly tried and sentenced to be shot at 3.28 A.M. this date. This sentence has been approved by the reviewing authority and ordered carried out. It is our duty to carry on with the sentence of the court.
"There are twelve rifles, one of which contains a blank cartridge, the other eleven containing ball cartridges. Every man is expected to do his duty and fire to kill. ”

“ Weighing the circumstances, I, with a lenity natural to me, and which I trust I shall prove to have ever been my character, from high evidence, ordered him a slight punishment, too trifling in its nature, and not unbecoming his situation as a soldier, merely to walk the quarter-deck with a musket in his hand, and to which I was induced, by a prepossession in his favor, and a wish to preserve him from condign punishment, which must have been the consequence, if the regular steps had been taken. ”

“ I doubt if he would have been able to put enough power behind that to drive it into the man’s body with deadly effect, if, indeed, he could make it enter it at all. 264 Where Ojeebi scored over all others lay in the fact that with his plan there was no necessity to have the icicle enter the victim’s body at all. He required nothing more than just sufficient power of propulsion to break the skin and establish contact with the blood, and then that hellish compound on the point of the projectile could be depended upon to do the rest. ”

“ Beavers to be shot to-morrow morning. No proof whatever he was ever soldier. If not soldier, could not have deserted. Too old for conscript law, and no proof of enlistment except Governor Letcher’s telegram. Telegram not under oath, not legal testimony. Witness not subjected to cross-examination. As counsel, I demand stay in this man’s case.
I rode back to the guardhouse, and found that a new member had been added to the battery. The company was known as Lamkin’s Battery. ”