LEGAL WIT

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1928, Page 9

LEGAL WIT

SOME AUSTRALIAN STORIES. Some excellent examples of legal wit in Australia are given in Mr Wilfred Blackett’s book, “May it Please Your Honour..” Beginning with the men of old time, Mr Blackett carries his tales to a period short of that dominated by the men before whohi he must appear. The fact that Australia, even in its earliest days, has never known a period of lynch law, is due, he thinks to the strong personalities of her early judges.

“Judge Forbes, whose rulings were dictated by strong common sense, supported whenever possible by law; and the judges strong iu physique, in mind, and in legal knowledge—Fitzhardinge, Docker, Murray, Backhouse and Gibson.” “Jack” Want he re--gards as the greatest of early advocates. Of the several stories of him which have passed into his history, perhaps the best if that of Want publicly thanking members of his committee after being returned to Parliament for Gundagai. He said to me: “Then there is Jimmy Green A I don’t know how much of my total is due to his efforts, but I will say this —if you give Jimmy an electoral roll and a. cemetery he will raise more of the dead than the angel Gabriel ever will.”

David' Buchanan was a very rough diamond, innocent of law, anxious only to get to the jury and tell thejn all about it. Above all things, and in everything he undertook, he was a worker. One afternoon after court he was pacing the back balcony of the' Royal Hotel at Bathurst. A vine veiled the balcony, and, except for a pair of drill trousers, David was in his complexion only. A young barrister came along and David tagged him to the end of the balcony, and showed him a huge singlet, hanging on the vine. “Feel it, mon,” he said, wringing wet, see where it’s been dripping. That’s the way acquittals are won.” It was asserted that he went into Mudgee Gaol to see a man who was waiting trial for embezzlement. The prisoner said he could only pay £7 for his defence. David went on to describe the trial of Doctor Gould, who was hanged. “Hanged, mind ye, hanged for forgery.” But there was still no advance on £7. Then David made his final appeal: “Ye might e’en, nj;ak’ it eight poond ten; I ken weel that ye stole seventeen poonds, and hauves is a fair thing.” ( * ' Sir Julian Salomons, K.C., was a keen man off business. Lunching with junior and the instructing solicitor, he said: “Ah, now you can see how things qre in the profession. Mr Littleboy, the junior, has a lemonade shandy, I have ’ a whisky and soda, and the attorney instructing is 1 able to afford a small .bottle of champagne.” “Well," said the attorney, “you need not complain, fdr you have fifty on your brief and thirty a day, and your junior has thirty and twenty.” “Yes, yes,” said Sir Julian, “I know that, but you have the es- f tate, you see, you have the estate.” I “George. Reid as a lawyer would have been more, highly rated by the court if the gallery had been less crowded than it was*when he appeared in any case,” says Mr Blackett. “He was not a very deeply learned lawyer, and this was in part due to the fact that reading Jaw books in chambers was apt to induce in him sound and refreshing slumber.” /He triumphed in a libel ■. action brought , against a newspaper by k a lady who objected to the paper saying that she did not wear enough clothes on the stage. Mr Blackett gives him credit for arranging that the jury should attend the performance with their wives. He lost cases soonef than lose the chance of a joke even where it reduced his case to ridicule. Of strange verdicts Mr Blackett tells of a case wherein many certificates of character were handed* to . the bench. -It was a very strong . case of cattle stealing, and when the jury brought in a verdict of “not guilty,” Judge Meymott was ; considerably astonished. He kept the court waiting while he very carefully counted the certificates of character, checked them with his notes/ pinned them together, and neatly tied them with red tape. Then he said to the prisoner: “You are discharged, but you had better keep these certificates of acter very carefully, for you will probably need to use them again.” Many interesting points of legal etiquette are given. A K.C. . must not carry his bag (which must be red), into court, nor a book, or neVen a document. “Still he has other pockets than the one at the back qf .his gown. A junior may carry a blue bag mta court, but he must not rest it on the table. Wigs were originally, worn to. conceal the fact that advocates were “religious persons,” i.ej they wore a tonsure or. shaven crown. It is no longer necessary to conceal the fact, Mr Blackett says. One of his verdicts is that: “Federation has been a great boon to barristers, not only in respect of High Court work, but also for the briefs for opinions and matters arising out of Federal Acts. The blessedness of that phrase ‘ultra vires is known only to members of the legal profession. ‘Ultra vires’ has built many suburban cottages and purchased much purple and fine linen and many golf sticks. May.it live for eyer, and continue its annual. production of. much costs. The book is dedicated j to the memory of Mr Justice Bring,: whom Mr Blackett considers to have been the personal embodiment of . all that is fine in the Itegal profession. “His good deeds and good judgments live after him.” ' ■ .