“And Attorney-General for the Duchy of Lancaster.”
“Dear me!”
“And judge of the Salford Hundred Court of Record.”
“Is he really?”
“And prosecuting counsel for the Post Office.”
“You don’t say so!” said Coleridge, throwing up his head in astonishment. “What a lot of outdoor relief the fellow has!”
West, however, certainly had his revenge in a case at Liverpool. He was defending some men for assault upon a woman. The jury had disagreed at Manchester, and Lord Coleridge, who was eager to get a conviction—probably for good reason—tried them again in Liverpool. Louis Aitken—who held a junior brief in the case with West—used to give a graphic account of the scene as one of the most polished, yet deadly encounters he had ever witnessed between Bench and Bar.
West had put up some men in the court, and asked the woman questions about them. He did not call the men as witnesses. After West had made his speech to the jury, during which there had been several skirmishes between Coleridge and himself, the Lord Chief Justice began the summing-up and West went out of court. The Chief commented
severely upon West omitting to call the men who had been shown to the jury. Nash, one of West’s juniors, jumped up to remonstrate, but Lord Coleridge swept him aside. Aitken went out for West, who returned and made an endeavour to interrupt the judge, for which he was sternly rebuked, and the summing-up continued to the end and the jury retired. Then West, with aristocratic humility, but in the tone of a schoolmaster who is going to administer punishment at the end of the lecture, began:
“My lord, I understand your lordship commented unfavourably on my action in not calling as witnesses the men who were put up in court for identification by the prosecutrix.”