The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1899-07-13
The Laws senility.

To a layman it is somewhat surpris-
ing how the legal profession clings to
absurd technicalities which have sur
vived their use, if they ever had any.
The man who stands at the door of the
English parliament house and calls out
che directions for the honorable mem
bers as they dispense, is an instance of
old custom existing long after it's occa-
sion has departed, In the early day
members went home in company so as
30 be secure against footpads who were
on the lookout for those who were IN
accompanied. The crier remains as
sign of conditions of the olden past.
TIE law, -criminal law particularly,
and practice in the courts are
studded with anachronisms. Circum-
locution in language to an extent that
is mystifying is preserved, with devo
ton fanatic in it's intensity, for the sake
Of Iucidity. A legal document must be |
accepted for what it purports to be
rather than from it's phraseOlogy which |
lie so involved, so burdened by repeti-
ton and clumsy in expression that to
gather it's sense from the text is next |
to impossible. Clearness is sought |
Ghrough the medium of repetition, end
less reference, ENHANCEMENT, obscurity, |
e0ncealment, inelegance and mass of
verbiage. The lawyers grow into it;
the courts approve it because they
have been lawyers, and antiquated ex-
preston and absurd forms are made
the cherished characteristics of pro-
fession which prides itself upon it's
progress and eruditjon.
The teacher who would require ex-
actness by the following statement
would be as lucid in his language as a
LAWYER in his: " If John had seven ap-
pies and gave four of these apples
which he had to James, how many ap-
pies did John have left if he had only
seven to begin with, that is at the pre-
else moment at which he gave the
aforesaid James the said four apples,
and if subsequent to the giving of the
saEd four apples to the aforesaid James
the laid John do not receive from any
peUson directly or indirectly, or in any
manner add to the number OF apples
he. the said John, had at the time he
gave the four apples to James as here
fnbefore stated nor reduced thenumber
of apples which he, the said John, had
in his possession, keeping and charge
subsequent to the transaction herein
before stated between the said John,
the donor, and the said James, the
donee, wherein the four apples were
then and there transferred from the
said John to the said James, with or
without valuable consideration, the
question of want of consideration not to
affect the validity of this transaction,
as affecting the determination of the
number OF apples III Cne' possession Vi
the said James after said transfer, by
purchase, gift, theft, inheritance or in
any other manner in which property is
acquired legally or otherwise, by the
operation of tariff, result of trade
combinations, conquest, treaty, barter,
spoil, industry, sagacity, toll or any
process known in the heavens above,
the earth below or the waters under
the earth"
That would be legal statement to
che small boy with bare shins suffering
from wind cracks. The answer no
doubt would be "hub?" and a fitting
one, toO.-ManitoWo Pilot.