What's the strangest thing you've ever heard a judge say during proceedings?
“No man is fit to be a cheesemonger who cannot guess the length of a street.”
This is one of the many perplexing aphorisms from Judge William St. Julien Arabin, who served in the 1820s and 1830s as a criminal judge in the Old Bailey, the central criminal court of England and Wales. Black’s Law Dictionary editor Bryan Garner writes about Arabin in this month’s ABA Journal, listing many examples of non sequiturs he issued during 15 years on the bench.
This week, we’d like to ask you: What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever heard a judge say during proceedings? Not necessarily an “out of bounds” statement that had an impact on the case at hand—anything peculiar will do.
Answer in the comments.
Read the answers to last week’s question: What frequently misused—or misspelled—phrases annoy you?
Featured answer:
Posted by W.R.T.: “None of them. I have enough things to be upset about without adding grammar to the mix. As long as the intended meaning is clear from the context then it just does not matter. Now I know it begs the question and that there is a contingency of readers here who will think that I don’t talk good but frankly I could care less.”
Do you have an idea for a question of the week? If so, contact us.
