260 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



him of the right which the com- 

 plete proof adduced of his wife's 

 adultery would otherwise entitle 

 him to. The Court, therefore, 

 pronounced for the divorce. 



Aberdeen, Sept. 25. — Collie for 

 Bigamy. — The Circuit Court of 

 Justiciary was opened by the right 

 hon. lord Gillies. 



John Roger, late servant to Alex- 

 ander Collie, farmer at Wanton- 

 walls, in the parish of Inch, was in- 

 dicted for the crime of bigamy, in 

 so far as he having, on the 18th of 

 August, 1805, entered into a matri- 

 monial connection with and married 

 Margaret Innes, daughter of John 

 Innes, crofter in Sunside, in the pa- 

 rish of Kinnethmont, with whom, 

 subsequent to that date, and till 

 the end of the year 1812, he fre- 

 quently cohabited in the house of 

 her said father, and corresponded 

 with her as his wife ; the said 

 Margaret Innes, and the said John 

 Roger, being publicly considered 

 and held to be husband and wife ; 

 yet that he the said John Roger, 

 did, nevertheless, and while he 

 very well knew that the said Mar- 

 garet Innes was in life, and that 

 liis marriage with her subsisted, on 

 the 15th day of January last, in 

 the church of Inveraven, in the 

 county of Banff, feloniously marry 

 Mary Mitchell, daughter to John 

 Mitchell, residing at Drum of 

 Carron, with whom he thereafter 

 cohabited as his «vife. 



The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty, 

 denying the first marriage stated 

 in the indictment, and admitting 

 the last, upon which the case went 

 to proof. 



Margaret In-nes, the prisoner's 

 alleged first wife, being called, 

 was objected to as incompetent as a 



witness, and the objection was sus- 

 tained by the Court. She was, 

 however, admitted as a haver, and 

 she produced two letters addressed 

 to her from the prisoner, which, 

 however, were not read in Court. 



John Innes, father of Margaret 

 Innes, was then brought forward, 

 and he stated, inter alia, that he 

 considered his daughter as the law- 

 ful wife of the prisoner. That 

 about eight years ago, she having 

 fallen with child by him, they 

 were both called before the Kirk 

 session of Inch, for the purpose of 

 being rebuked, as he supposed — 

 on which occasion, he afterwards 

 understood they were lawfully- 

 married bji Mr. Daun, the minister 

 of that parish ; and that, in conse- 

 quence, they had since cohabited 

 frequently in his house, and corre- 

 sponded together as husband and j 

 wife, which he would not have ' 

 allowed, if he had not considered 

 them married persons. 



In that evidence Christian Innes, 

 his spouse, and mother of Margaret 

 Innes, concurred. < | 



The rev. George Daun, minis-' I 

 ter of Inch, being sworn, stated to 

 the Court and jury, that in the year 

 1805, the prisoner and Margaret 

 Innes were called before him, and 

 the other members of the Kirk 

 session of Inch, for the purpose of 

 being rebuked and fined as for- 

 nicators ; that, on this occasion, 

 he, the witness, addressed Mar- 

 garet Innes, and said, that he was 

 confident from her demeanour and 

 general good character, that she 

 would not have surrendered her 

 virtue to the prisoner without a 

 previous promise of marriage from 

 him ; to which she answered that 

 she had not done so, for that he Imd 

 promised her marriage. Upoa 



