* * * * Sir Francis Newbolt's Out of Court
(Philip Allan) is a very well written and very amusing collection of essays. The most notable of them is an article on " Legal Errors in Fiction." It is Anthony Trollope who comes out worst : Orley Farm is examined very minutely and the parts of it which deal with the law are thoroughly castigated. And perhaps Trollope deserved such treatment ; for he had a great animus against lawyers and attacked them whenever he found an opportunity. We have an explanation for his bias :- " In the performance of his (Trollope's) duties as a Post Office clerk he went to Ireland to investigate some losses by theft, and successfully caught a man who was found in possession of a marked half-crown. Prosecution followed, and Mr. Trollops gave evidence of the marking. He was cross-examined by no less a person than Isaac Butt, Nen() put it to him ' that he.had himself not only marked the. -coin but also slipped it into the prisoner's pocket ; and the
insult provoked him to attack all cross-examinations, and indeed all lawyers."
Previous page
