The Better Chancery Practice Blog

Oh, for the lost, effulgent epoch of mellifluous legal prose when only the most grandiloquent curlicues and glittering flourishes of the language graced the solomonic decrees of our learned justices.

Take this for example: “It is a fact of common knowledge that when a dog has once acquired the habit of egg-sucking there is no available way by which he may be broken of it, and that there is no calculable limit to his appetite in the indulgence of the habitual propensity.”  How could this elemental principle underlying so much of our law be more succinctly and eloquently stated?

Thus Blogged Anderson offers his favorite from the 1900 MSSC decison in ICRR v. Johnson, which includes the memorable phrase: ” …  the icecold law, from which no friction will excite sparks … “

And Tom Freeland, on NMisscommentor weighs in with his favorites, where you can find the cite to the egg-sucking-dog reference above, and the surprising identity of its author, as well as the case that includes the incisive and insightful quote:  “It is not always conducive to domestic peace for a husband to contradict the statements of his wife … “

My bet is that the comments will produce at least a few more such gems.  You should check them out.

Tagged: egg-sucking dog, legal prose