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young man, whose object was to disconcert the witness and discredit the testimony. "What did you say your name was?" was the first question. "Yahn " — very deliberately — " Peterson." "John Peterson, eh? Old man Peter's son, I suppose. Well, John, where do you live?" "Where Ah live? In Dulut'." "Now Peterson, answer this question carefully. Are you a married man? "Ah tank so. Ah was married." "So you think because you got married you are a married man do you? That's funny. Now, tell the gentlemen of this exceptionally intelli gent jury who you married." "Who Ah married? Ah married a woman." "See here, sir! Don't you know any better than to trifle with this court? What do you mean, sir? You married a woman? Of course you married a woman. Did you ever hear of any one marrying a man?" "Yes. Mah sister did."
caprice, or malignant temper of the testator, is a conception of our modern times, and was not familiar to the jurisprudence of primitive anti quity. In fact, ancient law regarded a will as a means of perpetuating the family in a succeeding generation by nominating a new chief on whom the headship was to be devolved. Little power of free testamentary alienation was recognized. The patriarch was more like a trustee or steward of common possessions belonging to the family than an original proprietor. He could not do as he saw fit with what seemed to be his. Often a son, on coming of age, could compel his father to make a partition of the family holdings, as suggested by Jesus' parable of the prodigal son.
NOTES.
Never, perhaps, in an Irish or an English court was a more startling conversation heard than the one that took place last week between Chief Baron Palles and Mr. Campbell, Q. C, M. P. The action was for damages for personal injuries sustained through the alleged negligence of a railway company. At a certain stage of the case, the chief baron announced that he would adjourn the hearing to enable the plaintiff to produce a map of the locality where the accident occurred. The conversation referred to was as follows : — Mr. Campbell objected to such an adjournment, as the case for the plaintiff had closed, and he asked his Lordship to take a note of the objection. His Lordship : " Indeed, I will not. There is a certain discretion allowed to the judge, and a worm must turn some time." Mr. Campbell : " Well, I saw in to-day's papers where a judge in America has been shot by a lawyer for refusing to comply with a re quest." His Lordship : " Let them try it on here. In America, however, a judge has a great advantage, for he sits with a revolver in each hand." — The Law Times.
The law of wills and inheritance is cited by Isaac F. Russell, in a paper on the Vendetta, as perhaps exhibiting more than any other body of justice doctrine the influence of kinship in legal evolution. In point of historical development intestate inheritance precedes testamentary suc cession. The conception of a will as a means of disinheriting children and devolving an estate in accordance with the excessive partiality, fleeting
A novelty in the way of a jail on wheels passed over the Missouri, Kansas & Texas road recently. It is coach No. 10, remodelled and heavily barred with iron on the interior, making it impossible for its inmates to escape. It is sent to the Indian Territory to be used in carry ing United States prisoners to the penitentiary.
There are times when a lawyer regrets the use of an illustration which a moment before has appeared especially felicitous. "The argument of my learned and brilliant brother," said the counsel for the plaintiff in a suit for damages from a street car corporation, "is like the snow now falling outside — it is scattered here, there and everywhere." "All I can say," remarked the opposing counsel when his opportunity came, "is that I think the gentleman who likened my argument to the snow now falling outside, may have neglected to observe one little point to which I flatter myself the similarity extends — it has covered all the ground in a very short time."
