The Book of Modern Legal Anecdotes: The Bar, Bench and WoolsackJohn Timbs |
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The Book of Modern Legal Anecdotes: The Bar, Bench, and Woolsack (1873) John Timbs No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
afterwards amusing appeared attorney Attorney-General Baron barrister Baxter Bishop brother brought called cause cellor Chan Chancery Charles Chief Justice Church client Coke counsel Court Cowper Curran death declared defendant dining dinner Edward England Erskine exclaimed gentleman George guilty Hall hear Henry honour horse House of Commons House of Lords humour Inner Temple Jefferies judge jury King King's Bench King's Counsel kingdom of England lady lawyer London Lord Brougham Lord Chancellor Lord Chief Lord Eldon Lord Ellenborough Lord Mansfield Lord Northington Lord Thurlow lordship matter ment ness never night observed occasion Old Bailey once opinion party person pillory plaintiff prisoner punishment reign replied Romilly says Seal sent Serjeant Serjeant-at-Law sheriff sion Sir John Sir Thomas sitting speech Statute of Mortmain story tion told took trial verdict wager Westminster William
Popular passages
Page 72 - He appeared very ambitious to learn to write; and one of the attorneys got a board knocked up at a window on the top of a staircase; and that was his desk where he sat and wrote after copies of court and other hands the clerks gave him. He made himself so expert a writer that he took in business and earned some pence by hackney-writing. And thus by degrees he pushed his faculties and fell to forms, and, by books that were lent him, became an exquisite entering clerk; and by the same course of improvement...
Page 73 - This hateful decay of his carcase came upon him by continual sottishness ; for, to say nothing of brandy, he was seldom without a pot of ale at his nose, or near him. That exercise was all he used ; the rest of his life was sitting at his desk, or piping at home, and that home was a...
Page 52 - Thames' broad, aged back do ride, Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers, There whilom wont the Templar Knights to bide Till they decayed through pride.
Page 65 - Majesties reign by the commissioners nominated on behalf of the kingdom of England under your Majesties...
Page 20 - But when they came to straights and interruptions, for want of gravity in the beasts, and too much in the riders, there happened some curvetting, which made no little disorder. Judge Twisden, to his great affright and the consternation of his grave brethren, was laid along in the dirt : but all, at length, arrived safe, without loss of life or limb in the service. This accident was enough to divert the like frolic for the future, and the very next term after, tney fell to their coaches as before.
Page 9 - Mr. Leach Made a speech, Angry, neat, but wrong : Mr. Hart, On the other part, Was heavy, dull, and long; Mr. Parker Made the case darker, Which was dark enough without : Mr. Cooke Cited his book, And the Chancellor said — I doubt.
Page 28 - You will probably tell me that you never had a thousand farthings of your own in the world ; but, prisoner, that makes no difference. Sitting here as a British judge, it is my duty to tell you that this is not a country in which there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.
Page 152 - I've read, And to heels is of service as well as the head : But the lodgers were shock'd such a noise we should make, And the ladies declar'd that we kept them awake ; Lord Ringbone, who lay in the parlour below, On account of the gout he had got in his toe, Began, on a sudden, to curse and to swear : I protest, my dear mother, 'twas shocking to hear The oaths of that reprobate gouty old peer...
Page 7 - He expressed himself to the same purpose concerning another law-lord, who, it seems, once took a fancy to associate with the wits of London; but with so little success, that Foote said, "What can he mean by coming among us ? He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dulness in others.
Page 126 - This was the fault or the misfortune of your excellent father ; he never knew the use of red tape, and was utterly unfit for the common business of life. That a guinea represented a quantity of shillings, and that it would barter for a quantity of cloth, he was well aware ; but the accurate number of the baser coin, or the just measurement of the manufactured article, to which he was entitled for his gold, he could never learn, and it was impossible to teach him. Hence his life was often an example...