7
“BAD BLACKGUARD”
THE EARL OF ERROLL
JUDGE’S DENUNCIATION
(Australian Press Association)
LONDON, June l8
Mr. Justice Hill, pronouncing a decree nisi in favour of Major Hill, with £3000 damages, described the Earl of Erroll (the co-respondent) as a very bad blackguard.
The Earl met the respondent in Kenya. The judge said that the respondent previously had committed adultery with the petitioner, so she was a woman of easy virtue. Thus, it was a hateful thing to assess damages, as they must not be punitive. It was obvious that the wife was a person of the lowest character, and a liar, but that may largely have been the Earl’s influence. There were no children. He had to consider that the wife had independent means, but she left bills of £2000 when she left Kenya, which her husband had
