Volume 20, No. 3 - July 2013
Young Lawyers’ Division
Tales and Words of Wisdom for Lawyers
Compiled by Jeffrey M. Minicucci
The Great Dissenter
“A dissent in a court of last resort is an appeal to the brooding spirit of the law, to the intelligence of a
future day, when a later decision may possibly correct the error
into which the dissenting judge believes the court to have been betrayed.”1
The Gladiator against the Lions
“Comparatively speaking at least, the dissenter is irresponsible. The spokesman of the court is cautious,
timid, fearful of the vivid word, the heightened phrase. He dreams of an unworthy brood of scions, the
spawn of careless dicta, disowned by the ratio decidendi, to which all legitimate offspring must be able to
trace their lineage. The result is to cramp and paralyze.
One fears to say anything when the peril of misunderstanding puts a warning finger to the lips. Not so,
however, the dissenter. He has laid aside the role of the hierophant, which he will be only too glad to
resume when the chances of war make him again the spokesman of the majority. For the moment, he is
the gladiator making a last stand against the lions.”2
Possession and the Law
“Is it not a saying in every one’s mouth, Possession is half of the law:
that is, regardless of how the thing came into possession?
But often possession is the whole of the law.”3
A Proud Privilege
“There can be few prouder privileges than that of being entitled
to be described as of Osgoode Hall, Barrister-at-law.”4
1
Charles Evans Hughes, The Supreme Court of the United States (New York: Garden City Publishing Co, Inc.,
1928) at 68.
2
Benjamin N. Cardozo, Law and Literature (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1931) at 34.
3
Herman Melville, Moby Dick; or, The Whale (Norwalk, Connecticut: The Easton Press, 1977) at 425 (c. 89).
4
Charles H. A. Armstrong, The Honourable Society of Osgoode Hall (Toronto: Hall Clarke, Irwin & Company
Limited, 1952) at 45.
1
Waiting for Justice
“I do not know a meaner and sadder portion of a man’s existence, or one more likely to be
full of impatient sorrow, than that which he spends waiting at the offices of lawyers.”5
The Lament of the Reasonable Man 6
Oh pity me, whose life is spent
Creating legal precedent!
Whatever I may choose to do
The Court will hold it proper to
In all the circumstances.
It’s not for me, like other chaps,
To step in holes or hidden traps,
Or else with little reckoning
Upon defective scaffolding
To climb and take my chances.
I’ve never suffered damage of
A falling object from above.
My dog has never had one bite
Although I’ve tried with all my might,
And on my neighbour sicked him.
When at the parting of the ways
Concerned with HANLEY versus HAYES
How can a fellow have much fun –
I never have hit anyone
Or been a willing victim.
The Judges love me and delight
To shew I’m always in the right
By cases with such funny names
As dear old INDERMAUR and DAMES,
With meanings just as twisted.
But to the many who would find
This marvel of all human kind
I really must remove the doubt –
Confessing now to fraud throughout –
I never have existed.
5
Arthur Helps, Companions of My Solitude (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1879) at 5.
Wilfrid Heighington, Whereas and Whatnot (Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada, Limited, 1934) at 31,
32.
6
2