Current Literature
JUDICIAL WISDOM OF MR. JUSTICE McCARDIE By Albert Crew
How very odd that the publishers should find so auspicious a moment for the appearance of their book Judicial Wisdom of Mr. Justice McCardie (Ivor Nicholson and Watson. 7s. Gd.)! Indirect disputes as to the propriety of legally expressed opinions upon underclothes and the rights of wives have brought Mr. Justice McCardie into the limelight even more than usual. In popular tradition he is the Brightener Up of the Law Courts. The blurb says that his judgements
read like stories." The preface says that he is outspoken and even provocative, but bubbles over with kindly humour and keen sympathy." The editor says he selected these thirty cases because they are " full of popular and human interest." Trustfully, then, we open this book in expectation of diversion. Ineffable dullness greets us. We read about wives pledging husbands' credit, about runaway wives and horses, engagement rings, slander and insurances. The judge feels for husbands with grossly extravagant wives, although " nothing is more charming than a charmingly dressed woman." An ox ran through the door of a shop in 1882, and a horse bolted through a shop window in 1923. It is illegal to let an insanitary house. All these things arc told at tediously legal length. If these judgements read like stories, stories had better be abolished. People with particular problems may perhaps find this book useful. If you share a bungalow with a man whom you wish to throw in the river, and tell him so, it is nice to know that he has no legal redress from you. If by your dangerous driving you have caused a splinter to enter a young woman's eye, you will be glad to know that you may avoid damages by marrying her before the case is heard. But the general public will find the newspapers cheaper and brighter reading. Mr. Justice McCardie's personality is done sadly less than justice, and the book is, it must be repeated, unpardonablY
Previous page
