asmuch as, if for no
other reason, the photographer who obtained them became technically, and
for that purpose only, an officer of the Court, and had, therefore, no
right to part with them, or any of them, without the leave of the Court.
It will be remembered that this motion gave rise to some very delicate
questions connected with the powers of the Court in such a matter, and
also incidentally with the law of photographic copyright. It is also
memorable for the unanimous and luminous judgment finally delivered by
the Lords Justices of Appeal, whereby the sale of the photographs was
stopped, and the photographer was held to have been guilty of a technical
contempt. This judgment contained perhaps the most searching and learned
definition of constructive contempt that has yet been formulated: but for
the text of this, I must refer the student to the law reports, because,
as it took two hours to deliver, I fear that it would, notwithstanding
its many beauties, be thought too long for the purpose of this history.
Unfortunately, however, it did not greatly benefit Augusta, the victim
of the unlawful dissemination of photographs of her shoulders, inasmuch
as the judgment was not delivered till a week after the great case of
Meeson v. Addison and Another had been settled.

About a week after Augusta's adventure in Regent-street, a motion was
made in the Court of Probate on behalf of the defendants, Messrs. Addison
and Roscoe, who were the executors and principal beneficiaries under the
former will of November, 1885, demanding that the Court should order the
plaintiff to file a further and better affidavit of scripts, with the
original will got up by him attached, the object, of course, being to
compel an inspection of the document. This motion, which first brought
the whole case under the notice of the public, was strenuously resisted
by Mr. James Short, and resulted in the matter being referred to the
learned Registrar for his report. On the next motion day this report was
presented, and, on its appearing from it that the photography had taken
place in his presence and accurately represented the tattoo marks on the
lady's shoulders, the Court declined to harass the "will" by ordering her
to submit to any further inspection before the trial. It was on this
occasion that it transpired that the will was engaged to be married to
the plaintiff, a fact at which the Court metaphorically opened its eyes.
After this the defendants obt