Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-05-16


members Of the legal profession that
the bar association volunteered to fur
nish counsel for Jernegan's defense
and retained their most brilliant men,
Der for the purpose. Blackiston con-
Quoted his own case.
Your honor" he said in his opening
remarks, Il shall proceed to show by
competent witnesses that the defend
ant did with malice aforethought in
wade and trespaSs upon my grave, in
terfere with my repose. feloniously
steal my body, place it in a bag and
carry it to dissecting room. He then
and there was making preparations to
take apart my members for the pur-
pose OF study when l returned to con-
seriousness. This suit is brought with
a desire to learn the legal status Of
corpse. 1t is a principle of common
law that there are no property rights
in dead body. No one owns 1t but it.
self. That it has legal rights has been
established In the case Of the estate of
Swiback versus Oppenheim, wherein
it was decided that the body of Swi-
back was part of his estate. in which
he had the same interest as in his real
estate"
Your honor" replied counsel for de-
tense, this being a friendly suit to
establish a principle we admit without
the fact being established by witness
es that the defendant did remove the
body of the plaintiff from its grave,
but we claim that the plaintiff, being
orr nHi In
court"
81 propose" said Blackiston, "to try
the case on that very issue. l there
fore admit that in the eyes of the law
l am dead. Nevertheless in a sense a
corpse is living person. 1t being the
duty of the state under the law to pro-
tect the repose of the dead, it follows
that the dead have rights. Therefore
when a corpse is feloniously invaded
in its own domicile, the grave, it must
have a legal standing with the state
to protect itself. II 1t has a legal
standing against the state it must
have such standing in court against an
individual"
There is no question" replied coun-
sci for the defendant, that the plain
tiff is legally dead, nor is there any
question that he is really living. New
ertheless 1 am considering him as
corpse resurrected, returned to life and
with the right to establish his former
legal identity. Since we are endeavor-
ing to establish a principle of law let
us admit that Blackiston has estab-
lished such legal identity. In that case
think he would stand before the
court as a resurrected living corpse,
which, as was held in the case Of
Brickabat versus Cobbleston"-
At this point the court interrupted
| the learned counsel to say that the
brain wear and tear OF the case were
SO exhausting that he would adjourn
the court for one hour for refresh
ment, recommending phosphoric foods
calculated to restore the enormous eel
lular waste When the court convened
! again his honor remarked:
"In order to proceed with this trial
it must be admitted that the plaintiff
has a standing in this court, and so
the court holds"
VERY WELL" said BIackiston. my
having been admitted. i demand dam
ages against the plaintiff for invading
the six feet of ground in which 1 as
dead man had an inalienable right"
"Iour honor" quickly interposed
counsel for the defense. the plaintiff
cannot claim damages, though his
standing In court and the trespass Is
admitted, for since there Is no proper
ty right in a corpse the law does not
give right to recover in court for
violation of sculpture. II we admit
that the plaintiff suing as a corpse
has cause for action against man for
stealing himself-a corpse-the present
action falls TO the ground aud can
only be brought again as an action Of
one dead body against another. for
which there is no law of the land that
can compel an answer"
Blackiston now arose and delivered
an argument that has since been con
sdered a wonder by every member Of
the bar who heard it, But uufortu-
nately the reporters. who were not
skilled in legal lore and could not di-
gest the arguments. had been sinking
to slnmber. and when the phenomenon
arose TO speak the last journalist had
gone to sleep.
When the summing up had been con-
cluded the judge announced that he
would take a week to consider the
case and would hand down a decision
at the end OF that period
When the day came for him TO read
his decision the courtroom was crowd
ed TO overlooking. The judge looked
ten years older than before the trial.
He began to speak. in a feeble voice.
but gained strength as he proceeded
The lawyers and spectators listened
patiently though eagerly till the gist
OF the opinion came in the last few
words. There Is nothing IN the con
stitution to enable dead man tc
bring an action in a living court"
A mighty shout Of Recall him! Re
call the stupid bIundererg arose. And
straightway those adverse to the opin-
ion proceeded to unseat the Judge.
The movement was successful. but
the poor man died on the very day be
was unbenched.