The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-12-11

And az 10 the meaning tf tie word III the
lease, 1t would seem impossible that the ten
ant should be expected to bring vehicle be-
fore be knew the quality of work REQUIRED of
him; whereas, when he brought the horses,
they could be attached to the vehicle the ne
cessity demanded" And so their honors held
that team means the horses, and not the
horses anu carriage together. .
fernaps more curious case than any OF
these was that of the brothers who claimed a
legacy of two hundred thousand francs apiece
under their uncle's will; whereas, the residu-
ary legatee denied, in the French courts, their
right fo more than half that sum. The will
was written in French. The writing giving
| the Iegaces was:"A chdcun d eur cent mile
francs" But, between the and the eur
| there occurred speck of ink. Here the liti-
giants put themselves upon the country; for,
if this speck were made by the pen intention
ally, it was an apostrophe, and reduced each
legacy to one-half the amount claimed. giving
them each one hundred thousand francs but
il 1t were merely an accidental blot, made in
folding the paper before the ink was dry,
they were each entitled to two hundred thou
sand francs. The two readings were:
|. a chdcun deur cent mile francs.
2. a chGcun d'eur cent mile francs
The first Interpretation is: "To each one
| two hundred thousand francs;" the second,
"Toeach one of them one hundred thousand
francs" Being question of fact, this, while
fully as entertaining as the others, would
| hardly have been as profitable to counsel en-
| ployed.
In the rude origin of law, such dispute as
this last would have been settled by the con-
testants in open field, vi ct drmis Even
questions of law were once thus arbitrated.-
In Germany there was long dispute whe.h-
er mans children should inherit his effects
during the life of their grandfather. At last,
| it was agreed at the Diet of Arensburg, about
the middle of the tenth century, that the
point should be decided by combat. Accord
ingly, an equal number of champions being
| chosen on both sides, those of the children
| obtained the victory, and so the law was es-
tablished in their favor, that the issue of
person deceased should be entitled to his
goods and chatteIs in preference to his par
| ents' Mod. I'm. Hist. xxx, 2S). The wager
OF battle is treated of by Blackstone las obso-
lete), though, on the authority of "The Diary,
"reminiscences, and Correspondence of Hen
ry Crabb Robinson," it was (once) resorted to
as lately as 1917. EF,FEsHE 'EsEB
Retainers are. among the least understood
| amenities of lawyers. No lawyer works for a
prospective fee-making his remuneration
contingent upon his success-yet most lay
men fail to see that such course would re-
suit in the utter uselessnes of the profession.
ana WnyT surely because you cannot be
unprejudiced where your interests are at
stake, 1t is lot human that you should be;
hence you 60 to your lawyer for clear un-
biased brain. But, if you make his fee de-
pend upon your own and his prevailing-if,
in other words, you make him as interested
as .yourself-how can he give you that clear
and unbiased judgment, that cool instruc-
ton, you so imperatively require?
Nothing so abundantly preserves the an
Gent and majestic origin of the profession as
this very custom of taking the retainer So
exalted and invaluable privilege was it held
to he to speak for the oppressed, that the
Roman client would have as soon thought of
feeling the Pontifex Maximus for sight of
his sacrifice to Jupiter as the proctor for
pleading his case.
Under the tables, the lawyer could take
neither fee nor reward, but his client would
present him beforehand with token (honor-
arsum) of his regard and confidence.