Law and Laughter

Mr. Justice Darling, whose witty remarks from the Bench are so much appreciated by his audiences in Court, and, it is rumoured, are not always received with approval by his brot...

The Rev. H. R. Haweis has defined "humour as the electric atmosphere, wit as the flash. A situation provides atmospheric humour, and with the culminating point of it comes the f...

From the Institution of the Court of Session by James V of Scotland till well into the nineteenth century, it was the custom of Scottish judges when taking their seat on the Ben...

From the middle of the thirteenth century the senior rank to which a barrister could attain at the Bar was that of serjeant-at-law, and from that body, which existed until 1875,...

The Irish counsel like the occupants of the Bench were, in early times, eminent for their jolly carousing. Once, about 1687, a heavy argument coming on before Lord Chancellor Fi...

Since days when Sir Walter Scott gathered round him at the fireplace in the Parliament Hall of Edinburgh a company of young brother advocates to hear the latest of Lord Eskgrove...

In the days of Queen Anne corruption was rife among Irish judges, as it was also among members of the Scottish Bench at an earlier period, and it was not uncommon to find the fo...

"Ye Barristers of England Your triumphs idle are, Till ye can match the names that ring Round Caledonia's Bar. Your _John Doe_ and your Richard Roe Are but a paltry pair: Look a...

"The man resolv'd and steady to his trust, Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just, May the rude rabble's insolence despise, Their senseless clamours, and tumultuous cries; The...

"Ye lawyers who live upon litigants' fees, And who need a good many to live at your ease, Grave or gay, wise or witty, whate'er your degree, Plain stuff, or Queen's Counsel, tak...

"Hark the hour of ten is sounding! Hearts with anxious fears are bounding; Hall of Justice crowds surrounding, Breathing hope and fear. For to-day in this arena Summoned by a st...

"'Men that hire out their words and anger'; that are more or less passionate according as they are paid for it, and allow their client a quantity of wrath proportionable to the...