The Speluncean Explorers

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In the case of the Speluncean explorers, four men are charged with the murder of Roger Whetmore. All five men were members of the Speluncean society which is a society for people who are interested in cave exploration. The Court of General Instances in the country of Stowfield found the four defendants to be guilty of the murder of Roger Whetmore and all four were sentenced to hang. A petition of error was brought to the court and five Supreme Court judges presided over the case to give their own judgements. J. Foster is particularly interesting as he takes the approach that these men did not murder Roger Whetmore and declares them to be innocent of any crime (Fuller, 1949). In May 4299 the five explorers found themselves trapped in a cave for thirty-two days with limited food and supplies. By the twentieth day starvation had begun to set and Roger Whetmore suggested that they murder and eat one of them to save the remaining four. Too determine who would die to save the rest they used a dice and the dice ultimately decided Roger Whetmore’s fate, the other four men killed and ate him to survive. Foster upholds a not guilty verdict as he believes that the law of the Commonwealth is on trial as well as the fate of these men as it no longer pretends to include justice as it brings us to a conclusion we are ashamed of (Fuller, 1949). Foster believes that the law is there to improve mans coexistence with each other through fairness and equity. When coexistence loses its standing and it comes down to taking one life to save another four lives, then the law and statues have ultimately lost their force and meaning. Jurisdictions apply on a territorial basis of the Commonwealth; the four defendants were trapped in the cave which had no jurisdictions as it was aloof of the territorial basis of the Commonwealth. The four defendants were not in a state of civil

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