Year: 1876

boundaries were covered. Case contin


u ed


1874 September term-Motion L


postpone on the ground that the defend


ants attorney wished to be absent, hunt


ing for few days. Motion prevailed


! demonstrated, but my counsel said tn


lawyers were very accommodating gen
tlemen, and the courtesies of the bar re
quired it.


"lSI5. March term-One Of the Juror.
taken sick. Motion to 90 on with tn,
trial with eleven jurors. Defendant,
counsel objected with great strength o.
voice, and demanded full jury trial
pure and simple think he called il
the palladium Of our liberties. Case
| postponed.


September term-Received bill for
retainers, term fees, clerks fees, and ex
penses. One item was for the amount OF
a retainer which my lawyer had declined
from the defendant. offered him the
farm. provided / gained the case. He
said this would not be deemed honora-
ble practice, but he would take it, and
give me credit as far as it went


Took the cars for the West, coming
mostly on freight trains and after night
fall


"Mem.-Don't forget inscription for
tombstone: Here lies one who died Of a
lawsuit bequeathed by his father"


The above, from the Hartford Courant,
we find copied into the Shoe and Leath-
er Reporter, to which the facetious edi-
tor of the latter journal adds his expe-
rience as follows:


Lest any reader should question the
genuineness of the foregoing leaf from
the experience Of one unfortunate vic
tim Of litigation, we feel bound to say. as
fact within our knowledge, that in all
but its denoueHeHt il is faithful and ac-
curate narrative of what most people
must undergo who are unlucky enough
to become involved in a lawsuit. We
speak feelingly on the subject, for we
have been for two years knocking at the
door of the Supreme Court of the State
of New York, praying for judgment on a
claim so obviously valid that we are ut
terly at a loss to conceive any tenable
ground upon which it can be defended
The debtor is anxious for delay, and the
excuses by which he slaves off a trial
have been a great deal more numerous
and far less cogent than many OF those
which are cited above. The other day
we received notice from our counsel that
the trial was positively to be reached
We smiled incredulously, but neyerthe-
less performed our customary journey to
the courtroom, with q cartload of books
and a cloud OF witnesses. To our great
surprise the case 1cds actually called a
stage of progress far ahead of any that it
had previously attained, and for q mo
ment we were caioled into the belief
that the end was approaching, o: one Of
the chief miseries of our existence. Vain
delusion! The defendants lawyer had
case to ;try in another court, and ours
went over the judge and counsel on
both sides acquiescing with as much
readiness as If they considered il a mat
ter of course. Not the slightest consid-
Grafton was given to the circumstance
that a dozen witnesses or more were
waiting, as they had waited many n time
before Our own advocate smiled bland
ly while the adverse party mentioned
that he was otherwise engaged, said new
er a word, but took up his hat and pa
pers and left the room, very much with
the air of a man who felt that he had
been practising the recognized courtesy
which the gentlemen of the bar are so
fond of displaying towards each other,
when they have clients who are able TO
foot the bills.


However, we were told to keep com
ing until these little hindrances were
got out Of the way, and we did. Sure
enough, after several days of expectancy,
it happened that there was no other case
ready, and ours really did begin. The
jury was impaneled, and our attorney
rose to commence his opening lie had
not got a sentence before his alert oppo-
nent interposed some objection. Then
ensued a sort OF conference between the
two lawyers and the judge, and it turned
out, as near as we could get at il, that
our counsel hadn't put in the right sort
of complaint-that it was not in such
form as would admit OF his getting his
evidence in, and that everything must
be done over again. And so here we are,
with nothing to show for our two years
Of anxiety but keen realization of the
eccentricity of law and the shadow Of an
impending bill OF costs of sufficient mag
nitude to convince US that our system Of
judicature is the dearest Of all human
institutions.


lit may be said that our adviser was
at fault. That may be. We are not
well enough versed in the tortuosities of
the profession to deny or affirm it, But
he is eminent in his vocation, and quite
as capable, we have no doubt, of protect
ing the interests of a client as the aver
age Of lawyers. We see by the frequency
with which suits are determined, first
one way and then another, until they
practically come to nGught in the final
tribunal, through the discovery of some
technical error that had been overlooked
for years by astute aud watchful practi-
tioners, what an intricate, ambiguous.
and inextricable paradox the law is, and
how questions that seem perfectly simple
in the light of common sense become be-
wildering mysteries when thrown into
the judicial crucible.


"But, after all, our grievance is slight
compared with several others by which
our friends and neighbOrs have suffered
incalculable annoyance and loss. IL we
were to enter into a history OF the
wrongs we know to have been endured
through the mischances Of judicial pro-
cedure, we should awaken in the minds
of our readers something of the aversion
with which the very name Of a lawsuit
inspires US.


MANY, to our knowledge have suffered,
by the laws delay, similarly TO our
friend Bailey, and the mysterious action
of counsel in conducting the cases also
has been incomprehensible to the clients.
But it is seldom that we have read, from
the pen OF the litigant, SO felicitous an
account of his trials as the above.-EDs.


From the Independent.l


The Coming Contest.