The Green Bag.
Published Monthly, at $3.00 per annum.Single numbers, 35 cents.
Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor,
Horace W. Fuller, 15½ Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
THE GREEN BAG.
REFERRING to the title of the "Green Bag" ("a useless but entertaining magazine for lawyers") the "Canadian Law Times" says:—
"It requires a good deal of ability to become absolutely useless; and if the editorial staff fails in its attempt, it may fall back upon the satisfactory argument that if it is not entirely useless it cannot be condemned for having proved somewhat useful. It is hinted in this title that it is useless to entertain lawyers. We should like to hear from the 'Green Bag' upon this."
Our esteemed contemporary seems to have taken a hint which was not intended, and certainly is not implied, in our title. If it were useless to entertain lawyers, the "Green Bag" would never have come into existence. That is the sole aim and object of its being. We propose, however, to do our entertaining with "useless" (so far as being of any practical value is concerned) material. If by eschewing everything in the shape of digests or reports of cases, throwing aside in fact all that would be useful to a lawyer in his practice, and presenting to our readers only light, interesting legal miscellany, we give an hour's pleasure to the profession, our mission is accomplished, and we have justified our claim to being, as our title asserts, "a useless but entertaining magazine for lawyers."
Speaking of the history of lawyer's bags, their colors and uses, the "Canadian Law Times" gives the following interesting facts:—
"As our custom in Ontario has varied a little from the English custom, it may not be out of place to allude to it. The black bag is generally carried by a solicitor; but as there are but few solicitors who are not barristers as well, the black bag is rarely seen, except with busy students who have within the past few years adopted it. The barrister carries a blue bag; and though he may carry a red bag if a Queen's Counsel presents him with one, such an event has never occurred, to the writer's knowledge, in this province; it would probably require a good deal of courage on the part of a barrister to accept a red bag under such circumstances. The Queen's Counsel carries a red bag, and the judges alone display the green bag. Finally, black leather bags have largely come into fashion, and are carried indiscriminately by all branches of the professions."
The "Chicago Law Journal" says: "Opinions may differ as to the origin of the 'Green Bag,' but as to the excellence of its contents the verdict must be unanimous. The names of some of the most popular writers on law, literature, and fiction are among its contributors. . . . In all candor the 'Green Bag' is a magazine which is replete with rich thought and racy reading, and ought to be patronized and read by lawyers and laymen."
LEGAL ANTIQUITIES.
An ordinance of Edward III., in 1336, prohibited any man having more than two courses at any meal. Each mess was to have only two sorts of victuals, and it was prescribed how far one could mix sauce with his pottage, except on certain feast-days, when three courses at most were allowable. The Statute of Diet of 1363 enjoined that servants of lords should have once a day flesh or fish, and remnants of milk, butter, and cheese; and above all, ploughmen were to eat moderately. And the proclamations of Edward IV. and Henry VIII. used to restrain excess in eating and drinking. All previous statutes as to abstaining from meat and fasting were repealed in the time of Edward VI.; but by new enactments, and in order that fishermen may live, all persons were bound under a penalty not to eat flesh on Fridays
