LEGAL TOPICS: Legal Wit

Legal Wit — Like the Cheshire Cat

Having reviewed the relevant case law, and with great respect for all those who hold a contrary view, I am not at all satisfied that the Supreme Court of Canada has directly, or by necessary implication, overruled R.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — Straight from Lewis Carroll

I confess to finding the situation rather surreal — one, indeed, that would have excited the admiration of Lewis Carroll.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — Plant Psychiatrist?

In 1947 that irreverant sage George Bernard Shaw made this observation: To expect an average farmer to be not only a sower and a reaper, but an agricultural chemist, an accountant, a meteorologist, a veterinary expert, a merchant, a financier and a resident housekeeper all united in a single Admirable Crichton is ridiculous; yet this is our practice.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — New Career Options For Santa

I have reviewed the affidavit of service and I must say that I have grave doubts as to its accuracy.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — Brevity is the Soul of . . .

I do not regard the length or thickness of the evidentiary and rhetorical record as necessarily revealing much, because a great volume of material may actually indicate that the lawyers spent too little time preparing the matter.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — Unfortunately Prescient

Perhaps the persons involved in naming the Cranberry Village project were prescient in that cranberries grow naturally in bogs.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — What Lurks Behind the Fun

George Orwell warned that lurking behind the fun offered by competitive sports is the threat of the arousal of "the most savage combative instincts".

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — Moderately Controlled Bedlam

In the midst of legal proceedings respecting the division of family property, how the petitioner thought breaking and entering his estranged wife's home and removing a raft of chattels would assist the parties in reaching a property resolution is uncertain.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — Elephant v Turtle

This is a cautionary tale of an elephant and a turtle, in close quarter.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — The Cupboard is Bare

From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!1   …   This case requires the court to determine the meaning of the word "from" as used in s.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — If a Tree Falls . . .

If a tree is cut down in the forest, and a judge hears about it, who owns that tree? This is a contest, under s.

READ MORE »

Legal Wit — But Everybody Does It!

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt requires a high degree of proof, but it does not demand certainty.

READ MORE »