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

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Thu Apr 25 09:36:45 UTC 2024


Here is another citation from the 1950s.

Year: 1957 (GB Snippet; year may be inaccurate)
Title: Proceedings of First Summer Conference on International Law
Location of Conference: Cornell University. School of Law
Quote Page 67 (Snippet does not show the quotation)
Database: Google Books snippet; verification with scans or hardcopy
required; a search match indicates that one day of the conference
occurred on June 29, 1957, but the quotation may be linked to another
day.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ngg0AAAAIAAJ&

[Begin excerpt]
Once I was in the Queen's Bench Division with a barrister who is a
very good friend of mine, and one of the judges asked a rather
unguarded question of his client. He said to the barrister," Hasn't
your client ever heard of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur?" I think
it was a rather unguarded question, since the client appeared to be
one of these Irishmen, aggressive, not a particularly academic type .
And my friend, the barrister, said: "Res ipsa loquitur! My Lord, in
the bogs of western Ireland where my client comes from, when the boys
are gathered together for a drink on Saturday night, they talk of
nothing else."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 3:47 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Peter and John. Here is a match circa 1956 that uses a
> different legal phrase: Res ipsa loquitur.
>
> Year: 1956 (GB snippet may be inaccurate)
> Title: Proceedings of a Mining & Quarrying Conference, School of Mines
> and Metallurgy, Otago University
> Volume 3
> Quote Page GB 20
> Database: Google Books snippet; requires verification with scans or
> hardcopy. Search for 1956 shows a match for a 1956 date; search for
> 1955 shows table ending with 1955; hence, 1956 is plausible
>
> https://books.google.com/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=el3xWSjD93UC&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=%22be+sure%22
>
> [Begin excerpt - please double check spelling]
> I am reminded of the saying of Serjeant Sullivan, an Irish lawyer, who
> when this point arose and the judge said, "I suppose, Serjeant
> Sullivan, that in the country you come from, they are acquainted with
> the doctrine of "Res ipsa loquitur"?" Serjent Sullivan replied, "To be
> sure, Your Lordship, in the little village in Ireland where I was
> brought up they talk of nothing else!"
> [End excerpt]
>
> "Serjeant" and "Serjent" occur in the visible snippet.
>
> Garson

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