The Editor's Bag
47
men in New Jersey and I doubt not in
scientific terminology, the meaning of this
most of the states, but the reading of the Riot Act seems unnecessary in a time
term.
of profound quiet.”
tude, expressed himself as delighted to do so,
WE DON’T WANT WOMEN JUDGES AND WE NEVER DID WANT THEM HIGHLY esteemed legal con temporary did us the honor to
take our burlesque “Call to Arms” in the November Green Bag most seriously. So seriously, in fact, that it has devoted two or three columns to a refutation of our supposed argument for the admis
sion of women to positions at the bar and on the bench.
Mr. T——, who seemed glad to divulge his extraordinary wisdom to the gaping multi
Such views are by
our friends deemed unworthy of a law periodical like the Green Bag. It is intensely gratifying to find that our
flippant opinions receive as grave con sideration as some of the sober obser vations of our learned contemporaries.
VARIATION OF THE COMPASS R. GEORGE R. KLINE, of the
law firm of Shipp & Kline, Moul
and after many preliminaries, proceeded thus: “Variation of the compass is caused by the efiect of metallic substances upon the point of the needle—" Capt. H— interrupted him there, and said, "So far, so good, Mr. T——, now please
enumerate to the judge and jury the basic metals." Mr. T , not seeing the trap, gladly fell in, and among the metals called silver. Capt. H then warmed up, and said:— “Now, Mr. T let me see if I have your idea; the line at a certain point diverged, this
divergence was caused by variation of the compass, this variation was caused by the effect of metallic substances upon the point of the needle, and one of the metallic sub
stances is silver. Now, Mr. T please answer this hypothetical question. Just sup pose, for instance, you were surveying this line in a straight way, then the defendant in this case were to come along and place without your knowledge one hundred and fifty silver dollars in your right hand pants pocket, would this amount of silver cause suflicient variation of the needle to take in this land?" The question was answered by a verdict for the laintifi, the surveyor being so em barrassed that no answer would come.
trie, Ga., sends us the following story :— In a certain wiregrass county of southwest Georgia, a land case was slowly wending its way through the courts. The plaintiff claimed that he had been defrauded of one hundred acres of land, by a line run at an angle of forty-five degrees north of the line claimed by him to be the correct one. The fact that the county surveyor had been bribed was a matter of general rumor and sus picion; however, nothing to that effect had been proven. Captain H , counsel for the plaintiff, was cross-questioning the county surveyor, and asked him the cause of this change from the original line to the one in the northerly direction. Mr. T answered, "It was caused by variation of the compass." Captain H then asked Mr. T—— to explain to the court, the jury and himself, ordinary laymen who were ignorant of this
THE FORMAL OATH IN MANY LANDS
THE ceremony of formal oath taking has been known since earliest history, and in thousands of years the only changes in form have been due to the introduction of the Bible and the cross in Christian nations. As administered in most of the law courts of Europe, the form of oath is practically the same as in the United States, though some what more ceremonious. Of all witnesses, the French deponent has the least ordeal to pass through. A crucifix is placed above the Judge's seat, and this is supposed to obviate the necessity of each witness handling one, or a Bible. “You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" the Judge asks, and the witness, lifting up his right hand, answers, "I swear it."
