The third Judge, Justice Tatting, withdraws himself from the case, as he finds nodoes not find a correct way to distinguish the principles according to which way to decide the case and excludes himself from the case. But, but not before criticisingcriticizing Justice Foster natural lawFoster's 'natural law' theory. He argues that the defendants were right to kill Whetmore, as this was a case of self-preservation. , which is a logic used in the case of self-defenceself-defense to justify oneone's action. Tatting believes if the defendant was trying to kill Whetmore, then Whetmore himself would be unable to plea self-denseself-defense if he triestried to kill someone trying to kill him.
Which, which I cease to understand, as Whetmore himself did not object when he was asked if he had any objections when the dice was thrown on his behalf, - in which case the throw went against him, so I am not sure how Whetmore could have pleaded self-defence?self-defense? Tatting stated while the statute concerning murder requiresrequired a willful act;, however, this can’t be compared as self-dense as self-defenceto self-defense, since self-defense is an impulseimpulsive response for self-preservation, and the action of the exploresexplorer was a premeditated, willful act, which was decided after deliberation between the speluncean explorers. Therefore, Justice FosterFoster's approach on natural law approach was heavily critiqued by Tatting. Nevertheless, justiceJustice Tatting couldn't find any principle upon which to decide whether to convict or to acquit. he believeHe believed the natural law of tradition iswas wrong and, so decided to step down from the case.