People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-11-05
A LAW
CASE.

Court House, story which, if novel
list had told it, would have been voted
wild freak of the fancy.
An old couple, man and wife, owned
farm of 1922 acres in one of the Yves
tern counties of Georgia. 1t had no
special value so far as the record
shows.
There were several children of this
aged pair, and to one of these children
the old father gave, in writing, the
custody and control of all his property,
upon condition that the son should
comfortably support the old people
during their lives and after their death
divide the estate equally among all the
children.
Reasonable enough, one would say. .
Well, time passes, and the aged wife
dies. The old man is left alone He is
very inirm, needing nurse. It is
claimed that his mind was almost gone,
and that he was become the easy
prey of the designing.
At any rate, he marries again; and
to this new wife the old man deeds the
1872 acres of land.
Whereupon the son, who had been
put into possession by the former in
strument of writing, brings suit
against his father. his stepmother, and
third party who had concocted the
scheme of this second marriage, accord
ing to the sons accusation. The son
alleges that this third party, the
schemer, procticed upon the feeble
mind of the old father, and decoyed
him into the marriage in order that he,
the schemer, and the new wife might
get the old mans property.
The son alleges that thu said schemer
moved upon the land, after the mar
risge, and began to convert things to
his own use about as fast as he could
lay hands upon them.
These allegations were denied.
The old man contended that his son,
after getting possession of everything,
had neglected him, failed to provide
for him, &c.-the old story with which
we are so familiar, and which is so
often the staple truth.
Every member of the family, includ
ing the second wife, seems to have got
hold of at least one lawyer. The son
had his lawyer, thu father his, the wife
hers, the other children of the old man
theirs. Whatever else was lacking,
there was a Goods lavish" of lawyers
It may be that in war the more
troops there are the bigger the battle.
but it's not so in law.
Whenever the litigants are fools
enough to load down case with law
yers there's almost certain to be poor
fight.
The best way on earth to manage a
piece of litigation is to choose one good
honest lawyer, put the whole RESPONSE
bility on him, let him choose his own
local counsel-and then, if you've got a
case, you'll see fight
Too many lawyers divides the reRpon-
sibility, and lessons THE INTEREST
THEY TAKE III THE CASE.
By actual count, we find that nine
lawyers were in the skirmish over this
little piece of land.
There was no trial, no real contest,
no actual work in the case that one
hundred dollars would not have iber-
ally paid.
But the lawyers all got together and
prepared settlement. They took
consent verdict"
By the terms of this settlement both
the deeds which the old man had
made were to be cancelled. The land
was to be the old mans, just as it had
been before, and he was to use and
enjoy it during his life. and at his
death, it was to be divided equally be-
tween the widow and his children by
the former marriage.
All fair enough-but stop!
This Consent Verdict" goes further.
1t provides that the pay of all the law
yers shall come out of the land. The
old mans lawyers must get pay out of
land. The wife's lawyers ditto. Like
wise the lawyers of the children of the
former marriage!
And how much were these fees?
Fifteen hundred dollars
Think of it! The case had never
even reached jury. There had been
absolutely no adjudication of the issues
involved. The lawyers simply get to-
gether, put part of the title in each of
the litigants and then assess their own
fee at a sum which they must know
will sweep away every foot of the land.
And SO it proved. The lawyers lev
led on the land, sold it at public outcry,
and bought it in for themselves.
The old man had homeland it is
gone.
The wife had shelter-she has lost
it.
The children had herltage-it passes
away.
Nine lawyers came to the defense of
these family litigants, oath bound to
serve justice and do right; and when
they get through defending their eli
ents, every lawyer has colluded with
every other lawyer to strip every client
in the case OF every acre of land that
was in dispute.
What shall we say of q system under
which people can he robhed of thar