Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 07.pdf/630

 Published Monthly, at $4.00 per Annum.

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Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, Horace W. Fuller, 15^ Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor will 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, facetia, anec dotes, etc. "THE GREEN BAG." FOR the coming year we are able to offer our readers a great number of choice legal tid bits and can promise them that The Green Bag for 1896 will not only be kept up to its standard of the past, but will be more readable and en joyable than ever before. The character of its contents will remain unchanged. Short articles upon topics of general interest to the profession will be contributed by well-known members of the Bar. Many of these will prove of more than ordinary interest. The series of Old World Trials will be con tinued and include many English and German causes celebrcs. The illustrated articles will be an especial feature. Among these may be mentioned a con tinuation of the series on The English Law Courts. These will include : — The Queen's Bench Division; The Ecclesiastical Courts; The Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Divisions; The County Courts; The Criminal Courts; The articles on The Supreme Courts of the several states will be continued. An extremely interesting description of The Law Courts of Belgium will appear in an early number. A series of articles entitled, Chapters in the English Law of Lunacy, will prove an interest ing feature. An article on The Bench and Bar ok New York will attract much attention. All the above named articles will be profusely illustrated. There will also be the usual supply of Facetiae and anecdote.

LEGAL ANTIQUITIES. The German laws refer to cases in which a a woman might demand justice of a man person ally in the lists, and not only are instances on rec ord in which this was done, as in a case at Berne, in 1228, in which the woman was the victor, but it was of sufficiently frequent occurrence to have an established mode of procedure, which is preserved to us in all its details by illuminated manuscripts of the period. The chances between such unequal adversaries were adjusted by placing the man up to navel in a pit three feet wide, tying his left hand behind his back, and arming him only with a club, while his fair opponent had the free use of her limbs, and was furnished with a stone as large as the fist, or weighing from one to five pounds, fastened in a piece of stuff. In certain cases the man was provided with three clubs. If in deliv ering a blow he touched the earth with hand or arm, he forfeited one of the clubs; if this hap pened thrice his last weapon was gone, he was adjudged defeated, and the woman could order his execution. On the other hand, the woman was similarly furnished with three weapons. If she struck the man while he was disarmed she forfeited one, and with the loss of the third she was at his mercy, and was liable to be buried alive. FACETIA. "I heard a report," said a witness in a cele brated case. " Never mind what reports you heard," interrupted the lawyer. " State only what you know." " But it was the report of a gun," remarked the witness, whereat Bench and Bar laughed without reproval. At a late term of Emanuel County court, Ga., a lawyer had been absent from the court-room, as he feared, beyond his leave. As he hastened back he inquired of an old negro who was leaning against the gate : " Uncle, can you tell me what case they are trying now?" Whereupon, the 587