Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 06.pdf/328

 Ctje <&wtn 3&&SPublished Monthly, at $4.00 per Annum.

Single Numbers, 50 Cents.

Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, Horace W. Fuller, i514 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor tuill be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of inter est to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities or curiosities, facctia, anec dotes, ete. THE GREEN BAG. THE following seems to be a fair specimen of English geographical ideas regarding the United States : — Omaha, Neb., May 3, 1894. Editor " Green B.ag" Dear Sir, — The "Judicial Drama" in the April Green Bag, in which Lord Coleridge is represented to be innocent of the meaning of certain expressions in common use, suggests the following, which is an exact transcript of testimony taken October 27, 189 1, in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, England, in the case of Greenwell vs. Linton. The transcript was used in a case between the same parties, in which I was interested, in our District Court. "Baron Pollock. — Where is Omaha? "Witness. — It is in the United States of Amer ica. "Bingham, counsel. — It is in the State of Denver, somewhere near Denver City, I think. "Witness. — No, Nebraska is the State." Yours very truly, Charles A. Goss.

In regard to the prohibition against the election of lawyers to the House of Commons, Coke says (4th Inst. 48), " This prohibition was inserted in virtue of an ordinance of the Lords, made in the forty-sixth year of Edward III., and by reason of its insertion, this Parliament was fruitless, and never made a good law thereat, and therefore called Indoctttm parliamentum, or lack-learning Parliament." "Since this time," he adds, "lawyers (for the great and good service of the Commonwealth) have been eligible." Prynne, that "Voluminous Zealot," however, argues for the propriety of their exclusion, which he de clares shortened the duration of the session, facilitated the despatch of business, and had the desirable effect of " restoring laws to their primi tive Saxon simplicity, and making them most like God's Commandments."

FACETIÆ. Gilbert A' Beckett celebrated his elevation to the office of • magistrate at the Greenwich Police Court by a characteristic pun. A gentle man came before him to prefer a charge of robbery with violence, committed in the middle of the night. In stating his case he mentioned that the assault occurred while he was returning home from an evening party. The worthy magis trate interrupted him by observing : " Really, sir, I cannot make up my mind to accept any thing like an ex parte statement."

LEGAL ANTIQUITIES. "There be many who do not know how to defend their causes in judgment, and there be many who do, and therefore pleaders are neces sary so that that which the plaintiffs or actors cannot or know not how to do by themselves, they may do by their Serjeants, attornies, or friends. Countors are Serjeants skilful in the hws of the realm who serve the common people to declare and defend actions in judgment, for those who have need of them, for their fees."— The Mirrour ofJustice.

Sergeant Kelly, a celebrity of the Irish Bar, had a remarkable habit of drawing conclusions directly at variance with his premises, and was consequently nicknamed " Counsellor Therefore." In court, on one occasion, he thus addressed the jury : " The case is so clear, gentlemen, that you cannot possibly misunderstand it, and I should pay your understandings a very poor compliment if I dwelt upon it for another minute; therefore, I shall at once proceed to explain it to you as minutely as possible."