Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/118

94 a specific unlawful act, and such act be afterwards committed by means of the aid so received, the lender is a particeps criminis, and the law will not aid him to recover money advanced for such a purpose, and much less would it assist him, if, as in this case he retained an interest in the result of the venture.”

It was very unusual for counsel to interrupt the judge in the delivery of his opinion, but at this point the attorney for Martin arose.

“If your honor please,” he said, “this court is taking away the remedy of the plaintiff, and permitting the wrong to stand. Does this court reverse the ancient doctrine upon which the theory of human justice has its eternal basis, the ancient doctrine that the law will always provide a remedy for a wrong?”

The faintest shadow of a smile flitted over the judicial face.

“That sage maxim: 'lex semper dabit remédium,'” answered the judge, “is a gigantic error couched in very good law Latin. The motion to exclude the evidence is sustained, and the jury will find a verdict for the defendants.”