R. V. Dudley and Stephens - Huddleston's Blunders

Huddleston's Blunders

At some point after the trial, but before the special verdict was copied for the London review, Huddleston realised that he had made a potentially fatal error. In his original draft, he had described the Mignonette as an "English Merchant vessel" but had altered this to read "yacht". Further, he had described the lifeboat as "an open boat" and not asserted its provenance on the Mignonette. He now realised that he had omitted the critical finding necessary to give the court jurisdiction over Dudley and Stephens. Huddleston's solution was simply to alter his record of the verdict.

On 25 November, the Cornwall and Devon winter assizes reconvened at No. 2 Court, the Royal Courts of Justice in London. Attorney-General Sir Henry James appeared for the prosecution and immediately pointed out a problem. The Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench had an established authority to decide a matter of law with a panel of judges after referral from an inferior court. Statute only permitted this following a conviction and there had been no conviction in Exeter. James suggested that an alternative was to hear the case as the Cornwall and Devon assizes, albeit at an unusual venue, but to add further judges to the bench as all High Court judges had authority to hear assize cases. Huddleston expressed his scepticism that judges could be added to a trial once it had begun. Moreover, he had been looking for affirmation from a superior court. By this time Collins had become suspicious of Huddleston's tampering with the record of the trial and requested the shorthand notes of the hearing. With the proceedings now a shambles, the case was listed for 4 December and the defendants, though on what authority is unclear, were ordered to attend in London.

At a further hearing on 2 December, James withdrew his suggestion of an augmented assize court and gave the opinion that the court should sit as the Queen's Bench Divisional Court; this should only have allowed two or three judges, not the five who eventually sat. Collins seems not to have taken the opportunity to challenge the jurisdiction or constitution of the court, possibly because of some agreement with the prosecution and promise of clemency.