The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-01-25
FUN In LAW REPORTS
SOME OF THE CASES FURNISH FOOD
FOR LAUGHTER.

Many of the law reports are full of curl
Gus judicial slips. In a Georgia case for
| instance, the judge, giving the opinion,
says that Montgomery G. j., was provi.
dentially prevented from presiding in this
case This may have been whack at
Montgomery, G. j., or at the lawyer who
argued it before the weary judge This
isn't quite as bad, however, as the theo
logical slip of Nebraska judge in a su
preme court case, in which he holds that
the law presumes against the carrier un
less he shows that it was done by the
kings enemies or by such an act Of God
as could not happen by the Intervention of
man" His opinion of the relative posi-
tions of God and man recalls the story of
the Adams county justice who had oooa
sion to punish party for gross profanity
used in open court For taking the name
Of Almighty God in vain, " said this wor.
thy successor of Mr.. Justice Shallow. 81
shall fine you $40, and for offending the
dignity of this court you will pay a fine
of 500 and costs or go TO jail "
Lawmakers furnish us quite as funny
mistakes as law writer's. When the su
preme court of California came to pass
upon the cnarter Of tho city of Oakland a
few years ago, they said of the phra seology
of the charter that the joint labors of
Malaprop and Partington could scarcely
have made such collocation or disloca-
tion of words and sentences as did this
legislator. Among other things it gives
the board of trustees power to license and
suppress dramshops, horse racing, gam
bling houses, houses of i'll fame and all in.
decent and immoral practices, shows and
amusemonts. " Such a license power might
do in New York. 1t scandalized the pious
town of Oakland.
If clergymen wish to know their rating
in the pondorous sheepskin tones, they
can find it out by beginning with the very
earliest English lawbooks in existence
In one of the black letter year books it ap-
pears that some one had been so unkind
as to call preacher fool, with a good
theological prefix to the fool The preacher
brought suit for slander, and the defend.
ant justified, as the lawyers say-that is,
be claimed that what he said was not
slander, but gospel truth, and he showed
that the words spoken could not hurt the
Clergyman, for that it was a maxim Of
the common law that "a parson might
be good parson and still be a fool" F." The
court so held, but said that had the words
been spoken of a lawyer or doctor it
would have been otherwise.
Lord Coke, the great fountain of our
common law, had little use for the preach
ers, and in his third institute he says that
in order that the Carmelite frars of Fleet
street might perform their vows of chastity
King Edward III had to prohibit all wom-
en- from passing through lane next to
the friar house Apropos of preachers an
old chronicle relates that when Alan de
Neville, chief forester of Henry II, died
oartain 111nr, aetaTy, bapoad for coY,,a pf bic
great wealth The king, with fine reli-
gious discrimination, said, Il shall take
his wealth, but you may have his carcass,
and che devil VIII get bis soul.
Some of the funniest things in the law
books are the far fetched authorities that
are cited to establish certain rulings In
case tried before Justice Fortescue it
was claimed that the other side had no
right to be heard The judge decided that
it had Il have heard it observed, - said
he "that even God himself did not pass
sentence upon Adam before be was given
chance to defend himself Adam, says
God where art thou? Hast thou not eat.
| en- of the tree whereof / commanded thee
that thou shouldst not eat?' And the
| same question was put to Eve also
But for exciting legal reading the fa.
nous case reported in 10 Pa. ST. Report
easily takes first prize. Mr. Justice Lewis
thus disports himself on she subject of re.
straining widow from marrying: The
principle of reproduction, he says,
stands next in Importance to it's elder
born correative, self preservation, and is
equally a fundamental law of existence
1t is the blessing which tempered with
| mercy the expulsion from paradise. 1t
was impressed upon the human creation
| by a benofCeut Providence, to multiply
the images of himself and thus to promote
| his own glory and the happiness of his
creatures. From the lord of the forest to
| the monster of the deep, from the subtlety
| of the serpent to the innocence of tho dove
| from the elastic embrace of the mountain
kalmia to the descending modification Of
the lily Of the plain, all nature bows sub
| missively to this primeval law. Even the
| flowers, which perfume the air with their
fragrance and decorate the forests and
fields with their hues, are but curtains to
the nuptial bed The principles of moral,
| ity, the policy of the nation, the doctrines
of the common law, the law of nature and
the law of God unite in condemning as
void the condition attempted to be i'm
posed upon this widow"
In Manly versus Scott a case decided in
England in 1869, Mr.. Justice Wyndham
thus propheses as to what may be expect
ed if husband is to be held responsible
for the contracts of his wife His objeo-
tions are a curious commentary on the
marriage tie of those days. Among the
many inconvenience which must ensue''
he specifies the following
First The husband will be accounted
the common enemy, and the mercer and
the gallant win unite with the wife, and
they viii combine their strength against
the husband
Second.-Wives will be their own cary
ers, and, like hawks, will fly abroad and
find their own prey
Third-It shall be left to the pleasure
of London jury to dress my wife in suci
apparel as they think proper
Fourth. Wives who think they nave
insufficient win have it tried by merool
whether their dress is not too mean, an'
this will make the mercer judge whether
he will dispose of his own goods or not
Philadelphia Times