Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02

You may, thereupon, descant learnelly
upon the ''Code of Justinian" or the
"COde Napoleon" and exhibit traces of
mind too broad for this hemisphere. You
Will md that little dab Of civil law,
especially in Latin, will sometimes cause
the Judge TO come down without further
debate.
A large amount Of this peculiar I attn
may be found ready in Judge Story's book
on baiIments.
If, however. all of these successive re-
sources that have named, proved fruit
less, you Will be driven to another resort,
VIZ; the Kentucky Reports. And here
let me warn you not to be downcast or dis
heartened at this stage; nor should you
yield to the gloomy apprehension, that be-
cause you have found the law against you
everywhere else you viii also find it
against you there. By beating the
Bushes" YOU may expect to scare up
much unexpected law.
OF course. if a case Is found in your Ia
vOr there. II generally ends your troubles:
for it will be followed by all the courts in
the State, except sometimes by the one
that rendered it.
There Is also a very valuable magazine
Of unknown learning in those manuscript
opinions marked mot TO be reported" l
have known some desperate cases TO be
won by the citation. from memory, BY our
older lawyers, of manuscript opinions,
which, however, they always assure US
younger members, were burned up in the
appellate clerks Office IRE in 1865"
An ingenious member of the bar, it is
said has with great advantage invented
the idea Of saying to the Judge below,
that he has, besides reading the opinion,
had a more or less confidential talk with
the Judge who wrote il, in which the
Judge told him that the opinion was
meant to 90 much further than on its face
it seems TO gO- and our friend sometimes
accompanies this with an intimatiOn that
if the Judge below, does not regard the
additional light thrown upon the opinion
by this confidential communication, the
chances are he will have occasion to meet
that most dreadful Of all things to Risi
DrtUs Judge a reversal Of his opinion on
an minated appeal.
If TOu find. after a careful exploration
Of BareOUr's Digest, that the Kentucky
law also is silent when you invoke it, the
next thing left you is TO attack that
myriad-minded monster, the United
States Digest Sit yourself down there
fore to this work o. digestion, in that
hopeful spirit in which the sick and hun
CRY Sancho Panza contemplated an lola
pOdrida."
quote sancho, that great dish which l
see smoking yOnder l take to be an OLA
pOdrida; and amidst the diversity of
things therein contained. may surely
light upon something both wholesome and
tOOthSome."
1t is the boast of our American people
that, owing TO our very great diversity of
soil and climate, we are able to show
wellnigh every product of nature. from
the tropical fruits of Florida, Texas and
the Pacific coast. to the hardy pines of
frigId Maine. But while America may be
proud of her diversity of products in other
directions, her greatest praise for variety
OF production is certainly in the line OF
the law. Ii vote were put on any con-
celyable point, 10 the reports Of the thirty
eight States, rarely indeed would it be
unanimously carried 1t has been pc
etically said that when Nero died .'One"
hand streWed flowers upon his tomb; and
no matter how bad your case may be, you
may rest assured that you can lay upon
its tomb the tribute of some pre- cedent in
its favor from the United States Digest.
Let us suppose, however, that you have
gone through all these processes Of en- |
and have tOmbarded the
court with the various legal artilleries l I
have named. Let US suppose your case
so bad that you can develop nothing in the !
Constitution or the Statutes, or the deci- !
slOns 10 support YOU. Still do not sue
IS not yet lost. There is one last resort !
for the despairing attorney. There is one |
faint light which his dying eyes may see.
1t may not amount to much. 1t NAV /
prove Elusive. But il is the duty Of the /
lawyer to try all legal means. AS a last 4
resort. therefore. my friends. and only in 1
that dreadful extremity, fall back upon 4
what IS known as the argument upon /
and the merits of the case.V
TO
give, possibly from your own personal |
vivid biographical sketch of
he moral PROJECTIONS OF your client; and
Nerhaps likewise a converse picture of the I
,qantat a.. moral obliquitles of his OPP
~ H.. ~nliment to the ere
,onent, ray tnat con they have
.ibility Of your witnesses wnlSs --or
always deserved, but have perhaps new
,efore received. DenOUnce the ''technI-
alitIes'' of the opposing law. Appeal to
hat higbea1r Tla plane Of Of the profession, IN
which the Judge. overlooking mere tech
lical precedents, rises into abstract
ethics. and considers the case upon
.hi-h points and general principles"
Indulge the sensibilities of the race.
Bring the calm light of the emotions into +
play to assist the logic of the court.
Paint the beneficent effects of the deci-
sion in your favor. Depict the fearful con-
wind up with an inspiring burst of pro-
ferver, or by a pathetic appeal, in
4 minor key.
II, however. in spite of all these lauda-
Die legal efforts. the Judge below is Obdu
rate. and the decision is against your I'M
happy client. still, my brother, do not /
yield wholly TO despair. As in the death /
Of a good man comes his brightest hope. /
so in the loss of bad case comes its best |
Remember there is organ |
ICED, in the Jurisprudence of every State, !
a series of superior tribunals, created /
for the express purpose" as Judge En- /
mons once said. ''Of reversing the lower /
courts Remember. as you lie rolling 1
over in the dust Of the lower arena. that /
there still stands a higher tribunal. whose I
doors are only open to the defeated and /
the beaten. and TO cases adjudged bad |
and to which the successful can never APP /
peal.
At the threshold of the appellate courts |
the history OF a bad case" naturally |
ends: for. there under the requirement |
of even-handed justice, all cases must /
-tor1 a1fI-a