Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 23.pdf/197

 The Indiscretions of a Juror the wise and gentle hand of now erase the sordid story of yesteryear." Mu ras ‘0 on Making Men, page 77. And now let us allow the poet to sum up in a sonnet: —

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batch of statutes for formal ratiﬁcation by the Legislature, something be done for the lawyer. For example, there might be a provi sion that each member of the bar might correct two records a year by an order

NON FUIT. ED EST ET FUIT mmc pro tune. Out from the storehouse vast of legal junk, Vhere maxim jostles against dictum old; Where ancient axioms of worth untold Are mixed with myths as ran it as Chinese punk, Where jargon grim of mediEBval monk, Queer French, the heritage from Normans bold, And quaintest Saxon, redolent of mold, Are mixed in one inextricable hunk,

Comes that queer collocation: Nimc pro lunc, An onomatopteia brave and strong Yet gentle as a Kentish maiden’s mien. Just speak it, and you hear the plectrum's plunk, On golden lyre that sounds to sombre song, The deﬁnition, "Ah, it might have been." From "Law, Leech and Lute," by Dr. Edward Robeson Taylor. ‘1

So much for the deﬁnition of my subject. Upon the application of the rule I have but little to say. I would, how ever, mildly suggest that when the Commonwealth Club prepares our next “See note 4 supra. "Dr. Edward Robeson Taylor, formerly Mayor of San Francisco, is entitled to write M.D. as well as LL.D. after his name. and is the author of sev eral volumes of excellent verse. —Ed.

Wouldn't it be lovely to insert in the record of that proceeding wherein the Judge icily remarked that he should have credit for at least ordinary com mon sense, the reply of counsel, thought of next day, that he never gave such credit except upon some showing of mental solvency!

How wonderful it would be to recon struct cases from the viewpoint of after thought, correcting mistakes, smiting opposing counsel, whacking the Court without danger of punishment, and generally roaming in the realm of poetic justice! It would change history, per haps, but what is history except the visions of egotists? Let us enjoy the good fellowship of this evening with all the vim and enthusiasm that each of us possessed when ﬁrst he faced a jury. Gentlemen of the Jury, the case of

the Bar Association v. Dull Care is in your hands —— and stomachs.

The Indiscretions of a Juror REFLECTIONS OF A VICTIM TO A THREE MONTHS SIEGE BY Joan MACY [Note — While Mr. Macy says that in his town any journalist is a “literary man," we can assure our readers that he is himself to be considered a literary man in the higher sense. We take an especial satisfaction, therefore, in presenting views on the law written by some one besides a lawyer — the views of a layman whose perception of life's values, grave and gay, undoubtedly measure up to the standard of professional acumen, and we would add that it possibly excels it, were it not for the fact that our lawyers are universally so witty and accomplished. The disguise of place names which the author adopts is a thin one; it is quite evident that he is writing of the home county of the