[Ads-l] (One for QI, perhaps) "Is your client aware of [legal maxim]" "In [location] they speak of little else"

Wed Apr 24 17:38:12 UTC 2024

Ballygullion is a fictional town appearing in a series of books  by
Lynn C. Doyle.  I can't find any real place with that name.  I
wonder if the story actually originated in that series.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_C._Doyle

Here's a 1972 reference to the same story.  The author seems to
assume the reader will already be familiar with the anecdote.
(article LANDSLIP ESSOIN, page 15 of the linked PDF, column 2)

http://library.victoria.ac.nz/databases/nzlawjournal/pubs/1972/1972-14-313.pdf

------ Original Message ------
From "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
To "American Dialect Society" <ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu>
Cc "Pete Morris" <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>
Date 24/04/2024 17:19:31
Subject Re: (One for QI, perhaps) "Is your client aware of [legal 
maxim]" "In [location] they speak of little else"

>Fred Shapiro is the top expert for legal quotations. He may have seen
>this family of quotations before.
>
>Here is the earliest match I saw. Apparently, this story is reprinted
>from the Courier newspaper of New Zealand.
>
>Date: July 19, 1949
>Periodical: The New Zealand Law Journal
>Volume 25, Number 13
>Column Title: In Your Armchair--And Mine
>Column Author: Scriblex
>Quote Page 223, Column 2
>Location: Wellington, New Zealand
>Database: Library of Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand;
>library.victoria.ac.nz
>
>https://library.victoria.ac.nz/databases/nzlawjournal/pubs/1949/1949-13-209.pdf
>
>[Begin excerpt - please double check for errors]
>Volenti non fit injuria.--Scriblex is indebted to Courier for this
>story of Sergeant A. M. Sullivan, K.C., last of the old
>Sergeants-at-Law of the Irish Bar, who at the age of seventy-eight has
>now decided to retire from active legal practice.
>
>The story, which will appeal at least to the common-law advocate,
>concerns his appearance for an Irish labourer injured at work and
>refused compensation. Unsuccessful in every Court, the plaintiff
>reached the House of Lords , where considerable argument centred round
>the Volenti non fit injuria doctrine. The appellant, a native of
>remote Ballygullion, had insisted upon being present, and had sat
>throughout "as expressionless as an Irish potato."
>
>During the third day, one of the Law Lords cut Sullivan short with:
>"But surely your client must be taken to have heard of the doctrine
>volenti non fit injuria?" "My Lord," replied Sullivan, gravely, "in
>Ballygullion they talk of little else."
>[End excerpt]
>
>Here is a snippet match from Google Books circa 1952.
>
>Year 1952 according to GB
>Periodical: World Review of Reviews
>Book review of: The Last Sergeant: The Memoirs of Sergeant A. M. Sullivan Q.C.
>Reviewer: F. H. Lawton
>GB Page 64
>Publisher: Chatto & Windus, London
>Database: Google Books snippet match. Metadata may be inaccurate.
>Citation must be verified with hardcopy or scans. Search within volume
>for 1952 indicates that the year is plausible.
>
>https://books.google.com/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=RvvPAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22little+else%22
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>According to one such story, which fits the Sergeant well, a
>desiccated Law Lord asked him whether his client hadn't considered the
>maxim volenti non fit injuria before starting out on the course of
>conduct which was under discussion. 'He did indeed, my Lord,' replied
>the Sergeant. 'In the mountain village from which he comes they talk
>of little else.'
>[End excerpt]
>
>The anecdote above might be from the book under review, or it might be
>a separate tale from the reviewer.
>
>Below is another match with an Irish setting.
>
>Date: April 14, 1955
>Title: Osgoode Hall Lore: Being an address given to The Lawyers Club
>in the Convocation Hall, Osgoode Hall, Toronto
>Author: George A. Johnston
>Quote Page 3
>Database: Internet Archive Full View
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>For some reason I am reminded of the story of a case from a little
>country town in Ireland, which had finally reached the highest court
>of appeal. One of the law lords at one stage interrupted counsel to
>suggest: "But surely, Mr. Sullivan, your client must be familiar with
>the maxim, Volenti non fit injuria". "My Lord", counsel replied, "in
>Ballygullion they talk of little else".
>[End excerpt]
>
>Garson
>
>On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 7:46 AM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com
><mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> wrote:
>>
>>  This anecdote came up today in an internet forum I frequent.
>>
>>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  Judge: “Mr Marshall Hall, is your client familiar with the doctrine
>>  res ipsa loquitur?
>>
>>  Marshall: “My Lord, in the remote hills of County Donegal from
>>  where my client hails they speak of little else.”
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  Anyone know the origin of this?
>>
>>  Researching, I've seen it attributed to Marshall Hall, F.E. Smith and
>>  Gilbert Grey,  with a variety of legal maxims, and locations including
>>  Barnsley, Scotland, Ireland and East Texas.
>>
>>  Earliest cite I can find is 1968
>>https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Denver_Law_Journal/-2ZNAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=judge+%22they+speak+of+little+else%22&dq=judge+%22they+speak+of+little+else%22&printsec=frontcover
>>
>>  And here's one from 1975.
>>https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Organized_Bar/QncHGP0O-7gC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22speak+of+little+else%22&pg=PA50&printsec=frontcover
>>
>>  And 1982
>>https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Mountain/Jm8jAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22legal+maxim%22+%22speak+of+little+else%22&dq=%22legal+maxim%22+%22speak+of+little+else%22&printsec=frontcover
>>
>>  Some discussion of it on Law Stack Exchange.
>>https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/21562/what-is-the-origin-of-this-legal-quote-in-barnsley-mlud-they-speak-of-l
>>
>>
>>  Can ADS and QI locate earlier cites ?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
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