Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/61

 Rh

42

Island; William A. Richardson, Illinois; George F. Hoar, Charles Sumner, Massachusetts; James B. Kustis, Louisiana. We trust that Mr. Poole will favor us with lists of the distinguished alumni of our other law schools. A Philadelphia correspondent sends us the following : — To the Editor of the " Green Bag": Dear Sir, — Although not strictly "a good new or old legal story," the enclosed " record " (Heydon, Yorkshire) is certainly "enlivening," and may sug gest to the student of "descent" the awful possibility of "two hundred and fifty-one" lineal descendants inheriting the prolificness of the original stirpes. Here lyeth the body of William Stratton of 1'adrington : Buried the 18th May, 1734, Aged 97, Who had by his first wife, twenty-eight children, And by a second, seventeen; Own Father of forty-five, Grand-Father to eighty-six, Great-Grand-Father to ninety-seven, And great-great grand-father to twenty-three : In all, two hundred and fifty-one. — Collection of Epitaphs, etc., London, 1806. On and after Jan i, 189 1, the price of single numbers of the "'Green Bag," both for the cur rent year and past years (so far as they can be supplied), will be 50 cents. The subscription price remains unchanged; viz., $3.00 per annum.

LEGAL ANTIQUITIES. In one of the northern counties of England it used to be the custom at the quarter sessions, when the chairman had summed up, for him to conclude his address to the jury with the advice "to lay their heads together." No sooner were the words uttered from the Bench, " Now, gentle men, lay your heads together and consider your verdict," than down went every head in the box, and an official approached armed with a long wand. If any unlucky juror inadvertently raised his head, down came the stick upon his pate; and so they continued till the truth was struck out, in their vcredictum, — an excellent plan for expediting business.

At Henley-upon-Thames, in 1646, a woman speaking against the taxation imposed by Parlia ment, was by the committee then ordered " to have her tongue fastened by a nail to the body of a tree by the highway side, on a market-day;" which was accordingly done, and a paper in great letters, setting forth the heinousness of her fault, was fixed to her back. Some of the old laws once in force in Salem, Mass., sound just a bit singular at the present time. For instance, in 1631 it was ordered "that all persons that have cards, dice, or tables in their bowses, shall make away with them before the nexte court, under pain of punishment." It was also ordered, " that Philip Ratliffe shall be whipped, have his eares cut off, fined 40^ and banished out of the lymitts of this jurisdiction for uttering muni tions and scandalous speeches against the govern ment and the church of Salem."

In 1541 the Corporation of Chester ordered, under penalty of a fine of $s. /[</., that no unmar ried woman should wear' white or colored caps, and that none but sick or aged women should wear a hat unless riding or going abroad into the country.

FACETIÆ. Visitor (to prisoner). How long are you in for, my poor man? Prisoner. Dunno, ma'am. Visitor. How can that be? Prisoner. It 's a life-sentence. — Puck. A jury of six men heard the evidence in the Williamsburgh, Ky., police court against a citizen charged with keeping a nuisance, and retired to make up a verdict. After being absent quite a while, they came back into the court room and reported they could not agree upon a verdict. "But you must agree," said the judge. " Go back to your room and make a verdict." Thereupon a tall six-footer stepped forward and said, " Judge, five of us have already agreed. There 's no use of sending any of us back except that fellow over there, who won't agree."