The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-20
EUMOR OF TIE BENG
Grave Barristers Indulge in Wit for
the Love of 1t.

supreme court Of New Jersey, has more
than usual judicial appreciation Of humor,
an d he has furnished me with an illustra-
ton Of ru site intelligence recently occurring
upon a trial before him. The action was
ejectment. A country lad, aged 2S or "a
years, a so n Of the plaintiff, was put on the
stand to te stify as to a line fence He gave
his testimo nv in so low tone Of voice that
Judge Garrison said TO him, Speak so
these gentlemen cap hear you,n pointing to
the jury. why said he, with beaming
smile, 'are these men interested in pops
caseln
In another case the terms of the descrip-
ton IN deed being ambiguous, Judge Gar
rlson left 1t FOR the jury to determine what
the words used meant. Defendants cOun-
sci deemed his construction plainly right
and said TO the jury that hs considered
there was nothing to argue about; where
upon plaintiffs counsel began his closing
argument as follows: "tientlemeD of the
jury, If. as my learned brother says, the
words here used are so plain that the way
faring man though a fool could not err
therein, his honor would not have found it
necessary to leave any question to The
jury"
Croake James published a work entitled
"Curlositles OF the Law aud Lawyers"
from which We quote an amusing incident.
At the Old Bailey it was customary to SEN
tence all the prisoners convicted at one time,
On one occasion Baron Graham, in the dis
charge of this duty, omitted to sentence one
John Jones, who had been brought up for
that purpose. The learned judge was about
to conclude, when the court officers in
formed his lCrdship of the omission, where
upon Baron Graham said with great solem-
nifty: 20, l am sure, | beg Mr.. Jones par
don," and then gravely sentenced him TO
transportation for life.
The American LdtU ReUiet0 publishes, as
splendid example of judicial rhetoric, a
sentence from the decision of the supreme
court Of Missouri in the case of Ames VS..
Scudder IA S. w. Rep. 500, from the con-
clusion Of the opinion Of one Of the judges,
the following:
"In my humble opinion suoh a theory of
the law is only equaled in its world-embrac-
ing comprehensiveness by the missionary
hymn; places an administrator in this state
on the same pedestal where the grafton of
Phillips places Napoleon the Great, making
him proof against perils, endowed with
ubiquity.n
do not know Chief Justice BleckIey Of
the supreme court OF Georgia personally,
though | have had correspondence with
him and know how high he stands in public
estimation, and with what respect he is held
by the Georgia bar. He contributed a short
| sketch Of his life and career to form part
| OF the Forthcoming work on the supreme
| Court of the North American States and
Provinces" which was recently published
in the MedicO- Legal Journal The sketch
| is replete with rare bumor. The con-
GLIDING sentence is g sample: ''In per=.
son he is tall, angular, and uugraceful;
and though he has passion for beauty, no
| trace of that enchanting quality is visible
| upon his own face. He, himself, admits to
| his confidential friends that he is ugly"
| Those who know him or have seen his
| portrait will readily appreciate that no
other man or woman in Georgia would
| have made that statement except the chief
| justice himself.
II saw in Ell Paso, Tex, justice who
| made an affidavit against man for larceny
| ut was the Justices property that was al
! legged to be stolen) before himself. lie
| issued the warrant to himself he arrested
| the defendant himself, brought him for
trial before himself, and was himself the
only witness in the case. The defendant
was convicted. George F. Moore, ESQ. e,
address before the Bar Association of Ala
bama, August, 1890
The Journal Of Jurisprudence of Edin-
burgh gives the following good story of
| Mr.. Justice Day Of England: Zone of the
| quiet humorists of the English bench is Mr..
Justice Day. A saying is attributed to him,
| as having been made at the recent Leeds
assizes, which did not get into the reports
| OQ6 WlOuSSS uepOSSQ LudG inc G6I6uuanJ
| spoke of the plaintiff as a - thief The
defendants counsel at once interposed in
| correction, "A - thief of lawyer, my
! lord That addition Mr.. Justice Day
said, in his calm and philosophic way, 'rend-
ers the saying perfectly innocuous
Mr.. Irving Browne, the versatile editor of
the Albany Ldio Journal, is responsible
for the following bit of judicial humor:
| "In the early days a certain Judge was
| b;oFi ,,ctfca of NisoOnain 40 IN
say the least, considered the ablest man
that God ever made, and it was notorious
| from his decisions, whenever he tried to
write one, that he owed his elevations to
fortuities other than juridical. He was q
very small man, and well formed, and had
| above all, or rather below all. an extremely
shapely foot One of his associates. Justice
B., was a very large, ungainly man,
awkward and homely and to add 20 it all,
had club foot. He was the brains of the
supreme court bench, however. One day,
in riding circuit, Judges A and B
| stopped at a wayside tavern, and were &C
commodated with one room, with two beds
In it. Each judge stretched himself on a
bed, and lay quietly until Judge A,
tently at his Judge As foot. What
are you thinking about. Brother B-3'
said Judge A. We'll, Judge A.
said Judge B, 4 was thinking that if 1
had your foot, would be almost willingtto
have your head.'n
A Justice Partridge. an English magis-
trate, upon authority Of the Fall Mall Ga
sette, quoted approvinglY as to veracity by
the London LdU Journal, recently SEN
fenced two boys brought before him and
convicted of stealing unripe pears from a
Mr.. Hammersmith, solicitor, to the follow
ing terrible punishment: He condemned
each of the boys ito eat the remainder OF
the unripe fruit" and added the following
awful brutum fulnlen, as he delivered his
fearful sentence, that he hoped the pears
| would make their stomschs ache"
The following amusing anecdote. which
was contributed by member of the Steu'
ben county New York bar, to the KntcE-
erbocker Magazine, is said to relate to
Judge Helm, who resided at an early time
in Bath, N. Y, and became one of the
Judges Of the court Of common pleas;
TAmonC them was a jolly old Virginian,
Judge H, a sportsman of the old school &,
of buff breeches and fair top boots, we'll
known throughout the country for genial
habits and generous hospitality. He had
been appointed judge Of the court OF com
mon pleas. Though little versed in legal
technicalities, he possessed a fund OF
genuine common sense, which made
him a good judge On one occa-
sion in the absence Of the first
Judge. it fell to him to charge the grand
iury. The substance Of the charge, so char
Scteristic of the man and his opinions, is here
giyen: Gentlemen of the Grand Jury-In