M'Kie v. White and Others

Subject_1 Parochial and Burgh Schoolmasters (Scotland) Act, 1861. Facts: A sentence of the Sheriff under the 14th section of the 24th and 25th Vic., c. 107, is final, unless the Sheriff has exceeded his jurisdiction.

This was a note of suspension of a sentence pronounced by the Sheriff-Substitute of Dumfriesshire on 12th February 1866, whereby the complainer, who had been parochial schoolmaster of the united parishes of Applegarth and Sibbaldbie, was deprived of his office. That sentence was pronounced in a complaint to the Sheriff at the instance of the respondents, who were respectively clerk to the Presbytery of the bounds and heritors of the said parishes. It was also proposed to interdict the respondents from proceeding to elect another than the complainer to the office of schoolmaster.

The complaint having been served upon the complainer, he lodged written answers thereto, in which he stated various objections to the relevancy and competency of the proceedings, and denied the charge made against him. Along with his answers he produced the following documents, which he contended proved that he had been married prior to the date of the alleged offence charged against him; and he offered to instruct Page: 31 ↓

“Annanhill, 4th October 1864.—We, the undersigned, having entered into a contract of marriage by our mutual agreement and consent, as permitted by the law of Scotland, hereby acknowledge and declare ourselves husband and wife. Witness our hands this fourth day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty-four years,

Parties having been heard upon the complaint and defences, the Sheriff-Substitute at Dumfries, before answer, allowed each of them a proof of their respective allegations, and also a conjunct probation. It was stated that the complainer and his wife had been examined in the course of the proof which was afterwards taken in the cause, and that they had given evidence to the effect that the writings above quoted had passed between them of the dates they bear.