Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1886-06-23
oDDIrIEs OF rHE LAW.

oddities Of the Law" Is the title Of
q miscellaneous collection Of informa-
tlun and hamoR on many legal paints
drawn from great variety OF sources,
By Franklin Fiske Heard. No attempt
is made at arrangement or an index Of
subjects, bat the work for this reason
is none the less amusing. The worthless
Of the English Bench and Bar contribute
largely 20 the collection.
4 good point was made during the
trial Of Thelwell for high treason. He
wrote the following nete during the evil
dence for the prosecution and sent 1t
over to Erskfne, his counsel:
i am determined 70 plead my cause
myself
Erskins wrote under II:
II you do you'll be hanged
To which Thelwell Feplisd:
Then III be hanged IL do"
Another incident, which shows the
| cleverness Of Erskfne In an emergency,
10 told. A case Of collision turned upon
the rule Of the road. The Judge, Lagd
Kenyon. seemed disposed to leave 10 60
the discretion Of the jury whether the
plaintiff might not have avoided q col
tision By taking the wrong side Of the
road. EFskine saw tue danger and
wasded Il on IN this elective style, which
gained him the case:
Gentlemen, IL the noble aud learned
Judge. In giving you hereafter bis advice
and opinion, shall depart from the only
principle Of safety, (unless whore COLI
sions are selfish and malieious) and yon
shall act upon 10, ! can only say that
shall feal the same confidence IN his
iofdShip's general learning and justice,
i mAaH A. A.f9eAa 4
always have delighted, IN attending bis
90d that l may never meet him on the
road"
Many old and trits anecdotes are given
here, but nothing is better than Lord
Brouoham's dsanisisn OF lawyer e. - q
legal gentleman Who Eescaea your estate
/ from your enemies and keepa>it him
SELF Justice Maule furnishes some Of
the most acrid comments on she absur-
dilies OF she EnRlinh Lac. A man before
him was convicted Of bigamy, and,
when asked what be had 10 say for him
self, replied:
My wife took mp with q hauker and
ran away i've years ago. and have never
seen her since, and married this woman
lase winter
The learned iustice then psrpetrated
this clever bit OF sarcasm under she Guise
81 instructions 10 the pFtsoDeFt
will tell ycn what yoa ought 10 have
dones and, Il you gay you did NOT know,
| must tell you that the law eonclnsiVely
pFesames that yoa did. You ought 90
have instructed your attorney 10 bring
an action against the hawkeR Tor crimi-
nai conversation With yoaF wife. That
would have cost you about q hundred
pounds. when you had recovered sub
siantial damages against the hAvker,
| you ehoald have instructed your proctor
70 sue IN The eceleaiaaticai courts for 9
divorce q asemsa - fA0ru. That would
have cost you two hundred o. three hun-
dred poands more. when yoa had eb-
tanned q divorce q uasasa e fhono, yOa
uoald have had b appear BY ooansel
before she Hoasa Of Lords for q divorces
q stnenio nats1AaRii. The bill miahk
have besn opposed IN all ice stages IL
10th Houses Of Parliament, and alto.
Resheg you would have bad 20 spend
about q thousand OF twelve hundred
poands. Yon vii probably talI me thai
/ you never had 8 thousand fArthinQa 81
your own IN the weird, bat. prisoner,
that makes No difference. Sitting hare
e. British Judge, u d my duiy 20 tell
you that this b not s0untry IN which
there Ia one Law for the rich and another
Toe the poor"
An iliastEaslon Of The Laws DELAY l.
< farnished IN the annals Of the Liondsn
custom housa. when the 6rst cargo Of
ice vas impoEted into Eaeland from
Norway, application Was made 20 the
Treasury and The Board Of Trade, a.
there vas no provision on tie Gusiom
house schedules Ter the novel article.
After long delay Il vas daeidea that The
ice should be scheduled a. = dry goods. =
bat before thia conolusioa waa reached
The entire cargo had melted.