STORIES OF PARIS COURTS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10783, 3 June 1911, Page 3 (Supplement)

STORIES OF PARIS COURTS.

The centenary of the Paris Bar, =oceiitlv held at the Palais de Justice, has recalled numerous anecdotes which are the rounds on tlie humors of tho Lar." Courts. Among others it is told how a wellhoivn lawyer, M- Aleni Rousseau, was clr.Kiing a" rather tiresome case, and, Mtiring that the Judges were paying no attention to liim, said: "As the President is falling asleep, I suspend ray ipeech." But the Judge had just woke cp and cried: "And I suspend you from crai-tising for six months." Nothing •hunted, the lawyer retorted: "Well, I ; i;.-pfiid myself for ever and ever," and, -Vi.- nn'j; up his brief and cap. lie left ie C'eurt and never appeared again. A Paris barrister, M. Clery, however, fas more vigorous. Seeing that the President and the assessors were all

»kp. he stopped, and dealing a trc~■:•.'!i:;!s blow on the desk in front of ::a; that woke everybody up with a he cried: "Yesterday, at this iiffik hour, I was saying—;—" and the Bench rubbed their eyes and "■jif'i each other if they had really slept oni - h twenty-four hours. The same counsel was pleading at failles on a cold day. and remarked -iu tlie Judges were all turning more ■ ' *. n:oro around towards a stove that eiit a welcome heat. "The tribu"a! behind which I have the honor of v-.;k : :r brought them all "right taee" at once. . On another occasion the Judge asked te cut his speech short, as the Ccrr liad made up its mind. As.suinih" air of a childlike native, M. f -ry retorted: "Ale right, you good him innocent," and sat down. not intended humorously, '•rated criminal advocate Alaitre Robert made a hit the other n defending the matricide, de 1100. He produced an act r- I 'Mieiation signed hy the prisoner ncfit from the will of the mother 17 '■ ■■•"! murdered and added to the " So if you acquit liim he will go ; iserable and poor, perhaps to " -ear, to recent of an act which »'•-v have committed in a moment of tie.ssncss!" _ . Am; the verdict of the jury was typ l " They found that- he had com- •;:"' i murder but that he had not 5 h. s mother, although the unforh'.dy was the only person who ;■! i., ri killed. This was in-order to ' -•• th. - prisoner from ten years' penal which is the minimum penalty parrieide. whereas manslaughter • x;. rmating circumstances can be '"■' it ;th mere confinement. F"'!:!, beyond doubt fhe country murder can be committed with t-' fear of serious consequences '" 7,4, ,1 j] ia t a „y sentimental element :! introduced. In-the case of ,/■"! '• do Roo he cried and sobbed during the whole proceedings ss-.'-med when being interrogated, " was noticed that as sobn as the was passed he seemed to reh - self-possession altogether. It r -'"t :: theatres alone that the most : ' comedies are often to be seen.