The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-01-26
A Litigated Poodle and other Legal
Curi0sities.

II is interesting to notice how little provo
cation it requires to start lawsuit and how
small subject may give rise to an apparent
ly endless litigation. But a short time since
the good people of the city of Louisville were
in state of excitement over what was known
as the ''poodle-dog case" then on trial on an
appeal to the Appellate Court of Kentucky.
As on an occasion which the genius of Dick
ems has rendered immortal, the inhabitants of
Eatanswil were divided into those who agre-
ed with the impressive Potts, and those who
preferred the dignified attitude of his journ-
alistic rival-so in Louisville, the citizens
were divided into two classes: those who be-
ieved that the poodle found in the posses
sion of the defendant was stolen from the
plaintiff, and those who considered that the
plaintiff was an impostor and that the "poo-
die" was the property of the defendant. AT
ter many months of costly litigation the dog,
which was by that time almost literally
''worth its weight in gold," was given to the
plaintiff, a lady, as the owner.
Some time before this decision another law
suit, about even a smaller subject, was set
| tied in the court of a western state. Here
the difficulty was about small piece of fan
mel shirt, worth at the outset about three
cents, which had been, legally or illegally,
cut from shirt in the trunk of the plaintiff.
This case, known as the "shirt-tail case"
went through all the courts in the state that
could possibly be induced to claim jurisdic-
tion. First the plaintiff appealed and then
the defendant appealed, until finally the
wretched piece of flannel had attained val
ne of over one hundred dollars, and the costs
amounted to over three hundred. Still anoth-
er case, known as the ''egg case" has been
recently going through the legal mill to make
grist for the lawyers in Louisville. Here the
| question was whether some eggs had been
| properly packed or not, and after elaborate
arguments by learned counsel, and an inf
mite series of atrocious puns by the local Jour-
nails, the Judge decided that, although the
eggs were bad on delivery, they were good
! enough for 'home consumption" and so the
! defendant had to pay costs, amounting, prob
ably, to fifty times the value of the embryon-
! ic chickens.
A curious suit, not yet terminated has
been prosecuted in the Circuit Court of one OF
the counties of the State of Illinois. Two
boys at one of the common schools Of the
county engaged in ahand-to-hand conflict, in
defiance of the precepts of the excellent DIR.
Watts, but in strict accordance with the rules
and regulations of the prize-ring During
the progress of the fight, and just as one OF
the principals was receiving his third knock
down. the teacher appeared at the school
house door and called ont to the boys to
stop. The worthy pedagogue then retired
| for a moment to put on his boots before wad-
ing through the slush and mud to where the
'ring'' had been formed. During the few
minutes in which he was thus engaged, one
\ of the boys had his elbow dislocated; where
! upon the youths father sued the teacher foI
criminal negligence. After a long trial, and
when the jury had been twenty-fouR hours IN
consultation, verdict was given for the
4 teacher. From this decision the plaintiff ap-
pealed, and the case is now before the Sp-
/ preme Court for final action.