Letter – Robert Hopper Williamson to Peter Mulcaster – 19 Jan 1787

Copy of Robert Hopper Williamson Esqr’s Opinion.

Under all the circumstances attending the Affair of the Pig of Lead in Fawcetts Possession I sh[oul]d think the best way w[oul]d be to get a Search Warrant upon the Application of either of Robt. Wilson or Wm. Bell and if the lead when found sh[oul]d prove to be the Pig lost by either of them I sh[oul]d suppose the Conduct of Fawcett w[oul]d fully justify his commitment upon suspicion of the Felony. 

If however the circumstances sh[oul]d not turn out so strong as at present supposed, & the property of the Lead can be ascertained, the owner of such Lead might by an Action of Trover recover the Value of it from Fawcett even upon the supposition of the truth of his story viz: that he found it in Corbridge, because when a man finds the property of another and refuses to deliver it to its proper owner upon having his reasonable charges paid him, such refusal is in law termed a conversion and renders the person making it liable to answer in Damages the Value of the Property to the real Owner. I sh[oul]d be inclined to adopt the first of these Methods as the most likely to answer the desired end, and I think the suspicion is strong enough to induce a Magistrate to grant such a Warrant

Robt. Hopper Williamson

Newcastle 19th Jany 1787