WHAT IS A "TEAM !"

Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 1080, 21 January 1879, Page 5

WHAT IS A "TEAM !"

The Court of Queen's Bench were re«cently called upon to give a legal definition of the word .«? team." A tenant of an English Dake had agreed, as part of his rent payment, to furnish at sundry times " one day's team work with two hordes and one proper pei ion." On one occasion the Duke's manager deaiied the farmer to send a cart to fetch coals from a railway action to the ducal mansion. The fanner offered to furnish two horses and a man, but insisted that the duke should -surp'y 'he cart. " Ther* can't be a * team V without a cart or waggon," said the manager. " Oh, yes, the.c chu V replied the farmer, " the hones are the team." . Both parties were honest, and both were obstinate, and so law was asked to decide" wbich definition of a .'?? t. am " : was correct the duke's or farmer's . A jury aaid the dukes, but ti e farnv-r as*k<-d the Court of Queen's Bench if the jury were not quite as incorrect as was the duke. The Cotirt henrd learned 1 iwyetK argue, and aljiJ discussfd amongst themselves, " What is a team ?" Poetiy and lexicons were appeaU d <<■. One jnd«- quoted t ese lines tn show that the team issjperate from i he cart : "Giles Jelt wag bleppiug, in hi* cart by la^, Some wa).'i.i«h p'lf rers st -le Ira t« am away Giles wukes crk-8, * Odi* budkina, what its • h'-r*, 1!.: ■'■ ■■■ ! . : ' ' ' : ■ Why, hew now ; am T Oiles or not T If la-, I've lost six geldings to my smart ; If uoc, Ods bodkins, I've fouud a cart !'" Another judge quoted a line from Wordsworth : "My jolly team will work alone forme." 'Horses," said the learned judge,; " might be jolly," but a cart jannut " Whereupon, the counhel for the duke gave i ho judge "a Koland" for his "Oliver" by cuing Gray's lines : "O?t did the harvest to their sickle yield, Their furiow oft the stubborn glebe hath broke ; How jocund did they drive their team afield, (low bow'd the wood beneath their sturdy stroke!" But the Farmer's lawyer " capped " that quotation with several citations from the poets. From Spenser : " Thee a plou«hm m all nnmeeting f >und, As he his toilsome team that way did pnide, Aaii brought thee up a jlmghmau's state to bide." From Shakespeare: " We furies that do run, By the triple Hecate's tram, Fr--m the presfci cc of the bup, Following darkness Lk j a dream." From Dry den : " Any number, and parsing in a line, L<*« a Img team of snowy swans on high, Wai;b clap their wings aun cleave the 1 quid tky." The judges decided, two to one, that the farmer's definition of "team" was correct ; and then,. as if to add another to iho many illustrations of the 4< glorious uncertainty of the law," said they would hear the case o»er apain. The cane nhowe the importance of put ting in a written agreement just what i* agreed upon, and eschewing all ambiguous words — ' Pacific Rural Prea*.'