42
The Green Bag
He heard loud voices coming from the jury room nearby, and at last curiosity got the better of him, and without further thought, he climbed upon the back of a chair, and, balancing himself with difficulty and craning his neck, looked over the transom of the door of their room to see what was the matter. There he beheld the foreman, one of his oldest and stanchest friends, standing in their midst, making a vigor ous speech to the jury in deadly earnest against the court's instructions, and plainly heard this interruption of the speaker by a juror: — "But, Mr. Foreman, you are advis ing us to go against Judge 's positive instructions," and the foreman's reply, "Yes, I know I am; we all know Judge is a good fellow and that he knows the law, and that he is all right. But he is a d—d fool, he don't under stand this case." His Honor heard no more, but softly and quietly stepped from his unsteady position down to the floor. In a few minutes the jury brought in a verdict for the defendant instead of the plaintiff, in accordance with the views of the foreman, which the Judge re ceived without comment, dismissed them and proceeded to get his delayed lunch. He never mentioned to either the foreman or any member of the jury what he had heard. But he let the verdict stand.
AFRAID OF HIM? OU are not afraid of me, are Y you?" yelled the lawyer at the witness who had been scared speech less by his cross-examination. "N-o, n-o," muttered the witness, and the lawyer had saved the point in the record.
LAW WITHOUT LAWYERS WITH that unreasonable prejudice against lawyers that is frequently exhibited by miners, plainsmen, and other pioneers of civilization, the early miners of Pike's Peak region enacted this law : "Resolved, That no lawyer shall be permitted to practise law in any court in this district, under penalty of not more than fifty, nor less than twenty lashes, and be banished from the district." It is not known that any person suffered the penalty of this extraor dinary statute, but it shows the strong prejudice of the new community against lawyers. This prejudice sometimes ex tends to the technicalities of the law, and even to those whose observance is necessary to the proper administration of justice. An amusing illustration of this tendency occurred in the early history of California. The jurisdiction of justices of the peace was then limited to cases where the amount involved did not exceed two hundred dollars. One Watson sued a Mr. Dunham on a note for four hundred dollars. As the suit was brought in a justice's court, Dunham's lawyer proposed to dispose of it by pleading "no jurisdiction." But, as he was willing to see how far justice would go, he reserved his plea until "his honor" had entered judgment. "Ah, yes, just so," replied the justice. "The court has thought of that and discovered a remedy. The court enters judgment against your client for four hundred dollars, and issues two executions for two hundred dollars each!" And he did it. When Nevada allowed those who quarreled to settle their disputes in their own fashion, two men became angry
