Here and there you come across echoes of famous law suits—of the Tichborne trial, the Parnell Commission; here and there you have reminders of Bradlaugh’s fight to get into Parliament without taking the oath; of the days when London was agitated by the Fenian scare and valorous householders were sworn in as special constables, and again when everybody passing into the law courts had to open his bag that the policeman on duty might be assured that he was not carrying a bomb inside it.
The reading matter is particularly apt and good; not a little of it was written by barristers in the intervals of waiting for briefs, and the writers were thus intimately acquainted with the grievances they ventilated, and were often suffering the hardships of the briefless themselves when they sat down to make fun of them.
MR. PUNCH IN WIG AND GOWN
OUR LEGAL CORRESPONDENCE
Novice.—(a) Don’t, unless you want penal servitude for life. (b) Any respectable burglar. (c) We do not answer questions on chiropody in this column.
Hard Up.—Brougham on Conveyances will explain whether your contract to purchase the motor-car is binding or not.
Farmer.—It is either an “escrow” or a scarecrow; impossible to state definitely without further information.
B. and S.—There is no reduction (of the fine) in taking a quantity—generally the reverse.