302 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



ought to have been Included, the 

 court as to both defendants, dis- 

 charged the rule. 



The Attorney-General asked for 

 costs to the Bishop, since the 

 first rule as to him was dis- 

 charged ; and it was very hard 

 that he should bear all the subse- 

 quent expense, in a case in 

 which the court had decided with 

 him at first. 



Lord Ellenborough said, that as 

 this was the first case in which 

 this very question had come be- 

 fore the court, howsoever proper 

 it might otherwise be, he was not 

 inclined to give costs. Not so, if 

 the question came again before 

 the court. 



Case on a Bet Gilbert v. Sylces. 



—At the York assizes in March a 

 trial came on in which the Rev. 

 B. Gilbert was plaintiff, and Sir 

 Mark M. Sykes, Bart, defendant. 

 It appeared that the Baronet, at 

 his own table in a dinner party, 

 during a conversation respecting 

 the hazard to which the life of 

 Buonaparte was exposed had of- 

 fered, upon the receipt of 100 

 guineas, to pay a guinea a day as 

 long as he should remain alive. 

 Mr. Gilbert suddenly took up the 

 offer ; but finding that the sense 

 of the company was against making 

 a serious matter of a bet, proposed 

 at a moment of conviviality, he 

 said, •< If you will submit, Sir 

 Mark, to ask it as a favour, you 

 may be off." This the baronet 

 refused to do; the 100 guineas 

 were sent by Mr. G. of which 

 Sir M. acknowledged the receipt, 

 and he had continued paying the 

 guinea a day for nearl)' three years. 

 At length he declined further pay- 

 ment, and this action was for 



recovery of the sum still due upon 

 the contract. 



Mr. Topping, for the defend- 

 ant, contended first, that there was 

 no serious intention of betting on 

 the part of Sir M. Sykes, but that 

 he was surprised by the hasty ac- 

 ceptance of the offer by the cler- 

 gymen. He then, on the supposi- 

 tion that it was regarded as a 

 real bet, advanced an argument, 

 that Mr. Gilbert having thus a be- 

 neficial interest in the life of Buo- 

 naparte, might be induced, in case 

 of his invading this island, to use 

 means for protecting from personal 

 danger an inveterate enemy of his 

 country. 



The judge, after stating the evi- 

 dence to the jury, with his obser- 

 vations, left them to decide the 

 fact, whether there was an inten- 

 tion of betting on the part of Sir 

 M. Sykes, and reserving the point 

 of law. The jury returned a ver- 

 dict for the defendant. 



On April 16th the case was 

 brought before the King's Bench, 

 where Mr. Park moved for a rule 

 to show cause why the verdict for 

 the defendant should not be set 

 aside, and a new trial granted, the 

 verdict having been found against 

 all the evidence produced. He 

 recapitulated the circumstances of 

 the transaction, and said that Baron 

 Thompson, in his charge to the 

 jury, had treated the contract 

 rather as for an annuity than a 

 wager ; and however hastily it had 

 been adopted by the plaintiff, put 

 it to them whether it had not been 

 persisted in by the defendant. It 

 was no wager that Buonaparte 

 would come to his end by violent 

 means. 



Lord Ellenborough, in granting 

 the rule, said, that he was very 



sorry 



