Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-21
LAWSUITS WHICH LAST CENTURIES.
Generations Have Passed Away with
out n settlement Ever Being Made.
From Tit Bits

From Tit Bits
II, as the proverb says Fools and obsti-
nate men make lawyers rich" France NAV
especially pride itself on folly and stub
bornness. for three French law suits have
together occupied a period many years lon
ger than the Christian era
1t Is little more than fifty years ago that
France saw the conclusion of a lawsuit
which was begun in the early days of the
thirteenth century, when John was king Of
England and when the magma charta''
was still unsigned or even framed The
legal ball was started on its six centuries
and more of rolling by the Comte de Ne
Ners, who had grievance against the good
citizens of Donzy. and the feud thus start
ed was maintained no less than 6SS years
Forty-four years later, in 1854. two other
law suits saw light which between them,
have lasted nearly thirteen centuries In
both cases the citizens of Campan which
must have mania for litigation, were The.
plaintins, and the defendants were the in
habitants OF neighbor1ng towns and vii
iages while the subject of dispute was the
right TO pasturage and forests.
Compared with these forensic veterans a
lawsuit which has survived five centuries
only Is comparatively callow youth, but
as II Is still ftourishing, there are hopes
that IL may yet qualify for a place among
legal Methuselahs. Russia is the scene
OF this lawsuit, which was commenced in
the second year of Henry V 14V A d.
The defendants are the inhabitants Of a
Russian city, and the claim is for the res
torat.on of certain valuable estate which
the city had wrongfully, as is alleged in
cluded within its boundaries
Some years before oliver Cromwell was
Dorm when good Queen Bess was still on
lhe throne of England, the good people Of
Burgsian. in Bavaria commenced an action
against neighboring baron for the re-
coyery of a large forest which had &C.
cording to their views, been wrongfully
RI fhnr,
centuries this case has dragged its weary
length through Bavarian courts and has
brought grist to the mills of ten genera
uons OF lawyers, and still IT remains as I'M
settled as when II began its century march
Just at the time when Cook was starting
on his first journey round the world and
while w orcsworth and Scott were not even
ready for the cradle. a Hungarian bishop
died intestate, and hundreds of clamoro,is
relatives claimed his large estates Litiga-
ton commenced, but was DELAYED for soma
years owing to the disturbed condition Of
hungary, which was invaded by the Turks
and when at last the courts got chance
the number Of claimants for the bishops
property had reached 900
A century passed. and the family feud
was still being fought out in the courts.
until 1t was clear that if 1t lasted much
longer there would be nothing to divide.
In the end, after 40 years of wranglinE.
the pitiful remnant of f2.eO0 was divided
equally among the claimants (now num-
bering 2.epD- each plaintiff received n
pound as his share The eloquent moral Of
TINS case Is that of every f12 of the original
estate, I'll went to the lawyers and Il only
TO the relatives-from which Il would an
pear that 1t is better to be a lawyer than q
htigant.
Still, on the whole the claimants may co,-
slider themselves fortunate in rescuiuc even
a sovereign apiece from the hands Of the
spoilers, for in one memorable case Parker
VS. DaWkins which struggled on for n. arly
half a century, the legal machinery was
only finally stopped when it had absorbed
the last penny of the disputed estate So
true 1t is, as Lord Brougham said that
the lawyer Is a gentleman who rescues
your estate from your enemies and keeps in
for himself