The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-01
LAWSUITS LASTING CENTURIES.
Cases in which Generations Hav
Passed without settlement.


From Tit Bits
II, as the pr-verb says, Fools and OF
S mate men make the lawyers rich.
France may especially pride Itself on 20
ly and stubbornness. for three Frenc
lawsuits have together occupied perlc
many years longer than the Christie
G. ..
II is little more than fifty years "a
that France saw the conclusion OF a Law
SUIT which was begun in the early das
of the thirteenth century, when John Wa
King OF In land, and when the ''Msgu
C4arta" was still unsigned or even fran
ed The legal bail was started on its 81
e1tulies and more Of rolling by tt
Comte do Neve S, who had grievsnf
against the good cit zens Of Donzy, an
the teud thus arted was maintained e
no less than 63S years.
Forty-four years later, in 1854. two otf
er lawsuits saw light which betwee
them, have lasted nearly thirteen cent?
ries. In 10th cases the citizens OF Can
Pan, VINO must have a mania for liti9s
ZION, were the plaintiffs, and the defend
ants were the inhabi ants CT neighboriB
towns and villages. while the subject 4
dispute was the right 10 pasturage an
forests.
Conn artd with these forensic veteran
a lawsuit which has survived FIVE cent?
rles only is Comparatively callow you'll
but as It is sim furnishing there an
hopes that it may yet qualify for a plae
among legal Methuselahs" Russia is u
cere # tbs lawsuit, which was con
menced In The second year OF Henry /
"a. D. 400 The defendants are the II
habitants of a Russian city. and the claii
Is FIR the r storati n Of a certain value
BILE estate y hi h the city had wrongful
as is al eyed, included within its bouns
aries. a~
Some years before oliver Cromwell WI
born. when Good Queen Bess was still
the throne of England. the good people I
Burgs.an. In Bavaria. commenced an a.
lion against a neighboring Baron for n
recovery of a large forest which had, a.
cording TO their views, been wrongful
taken from them For more than thrt
CENTURIES this case has dragged Its wear
length through Bavar.an courts, and hs
brought grist to the Mills of ten genert
tons of lawyers. and stili II remains
unsettled as when IL began its centus
march. t..T @s
Just at the time when Cook was star
ing on his first journey round the wori
and while Wordsworth and Scott were m
even ready for the cradle Hunsaris
bishop died fntestAte, ana huf1dreds
clamorous relatives claimed his large q
tates. Litigation commenced. but was d.
layed for some years owing to the din
turbed condition of Hungary. which vi
invaded by the Turks. and when at ias
the coruts got chance the number 1
claimants for the Bishops property he
reached 900.
A century passed. and the family feg
was still being fought out in the court
until 1t was clear that II 1t lasted mue
longer there would be nothing TO divid'
In the end. after 100 years OF wrenglin
the pitiful remnant of f200o was divide
equally among the claimants nov nun
bering 2.00o), each plaintiff receiving
pound as his share. The eloquent NOR
of this case is that OF every fl2 OF 1t
original estate FL went to the lawyers an
Il only to the refatives--from which
would appear that IL Is better to be
lawyer than a lltigant. *
Stili. on the whole. the claimants ma
consider themselves fortunate In rescuip
even q sovereign apiece from the nant
OF the spoilers, for in one memorable cas-
Parker VS.. Dawkins,' which struggled o
for nearly half o century, the legal ma
chinery was only finally stopped when !
had absorbed the last penny of the dis
puted estate. So true It Is, as Lor
Brougham said that the lawyer IL a ger
tlemen who rescues your estate from yct
enemies and keeps 1t for, himself" d