(*With apologies to Fústar)
There is a long tradition of criticism of the law. Criminals disdain it, anarchists decry it. In Oliver Twist, Dickens famously had Mr. Bumble dub it an ass, but few can have expressed this criticism in terms as concise or as pithy as the author of the below maxim, found in a cubicle of the gents’ toilet in the Law Library. Is it the work of a disillisioned devil, beginning to wonder if he hasn’t made a terrible career choice, or of a secret anarchist, sworn to taking the system down from the inside? You be the, er, judge.
4 Comments
I’d just like to add “cox in hell”.
Having failed to turn ample free time into actual study, I am now reduced to a two day cram per subject in between exams.
Exams being a near useless method of assessment anyway, I feel massively aggrieved.
Tee hee. As it happens I was in the law library on Wednesday looking for a friend. T’wasn’t me though, honest guv.
On another note, anarchists’ position on the law is a tad more subtle than the simply decry-ment. It’s the class nature of the state that we have a problem with, which is manifested in the law and the legal system. We’re very fond of many aspects of the common law tradition (juries, rules of evidence, rights to silence, etc). We also derive some entertainment from the elaborate twists and turns that judges have to make from time to time to pretend that they’re just interpreting the law, when the law conflicts with the requirements of the ruling class (c.f. horgan judgement, mr A case, D case).
Perhaps I should have styled my graffitist a potential nihilist rather than an anarchist.
The twists and turns to which you refer chekov are all too often not very elaborate at all, and though the phrase “apalling vista” is, for obvious reasons, no longer en vogue, the reasoning (or lack of it) is still much employed. When a judge tells you he’s going to take a pragmatic/common-sense approach, you should immediately start drafting your appeal.
By the way, the graffito was taken not simply from the four courts building, but from the very library itself (the inner sanctum wherin we keep the bouncy castle and swing-ball), suggesting a deep disillusionment at the core of the profession.
No apologies necessary.
Please tell me there was a “Law Rules!!” graffito beside it.
Or “No dude, YOU Sux!!”
This would represent a classic “internet debate” style paradigm.
Also, Copernicus in last minute cramming shocker?! The more things change…