British Case Law, Great case!


A well-argued court case..... (An old tale retold!). British case law with
an appropriate judicial decision.


The beauty of a language and the art of constructing the words of the
language significantly lead to their meaning. This is not a case of
twisting, but of the refined manner of presentation by witty minds. A good
case for reference.


One evening, after attending the theatre, two gentlemen were walking down
the avenue when they observed a rather well dressed and attractive young
lady walking ahead of them. One of them turned to the other and remarked,
"I'd give $250 to spend the night with that woman."


Much to their surprise, the young lady overheard their remark, turned
around, and replied, "I'll take you up on that offer."

She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice, so after bidding his
companion good night, the man accompanied the young lady to her apartment.
The following morning, as he prepared to leave, the man gave her $125. She
demanded the rest of the money, stating, "If you don't give me the other
$125 I'll sue you for it."

He laughed, saying "I'd like to see you get it on these grounds." Within a
few days, he was surprised when he received a summons ordering his presence
in court as a defendant in a lawsuit. He hurried to his lawyer and explained
the details of the case. His lawyer said, "She can't possibly get a
judgement against you on such grounds, but it will be interesting to see how
her case will be presented."

After the usual preliminaries, the lady's Lawyer addressed the court as
follows:
"Your Honour, my client, this lady, is the owner of a piece of property, a
garden spot, surrounded by a profuse growth of shrubbery, which property she
agreed to rent to the defendant for a specified length of time for the sum
of $250. The defendant took possession of the property, used it extensively
for the purposes for which it was rented, but upon evacuating the premises,
he paid only $125, one-half of the amount agreed upon. The rent was not
excessive, since it is restricted property, and we ask judgement be granted
against the defendant to assure payment of the balance."

The defendant's Lawyer was not only surprised but also impressed AND amused
by the way his opponent had presented the case. Naturally, his defence was
somewhat different from the way he had originally planned to present it.
Like his client, he rose to the occasion!

'Your Honour," he said, "my client agrees that the lady has a fine piece of
property, that he did rent such property for a time, and a degree of
pleasure and satisfaction was derived from the transaction. However, my
client found a well on the property around which he placed his own stones,
sunk a shaft, and erected a pump, all labor performed personally by him. We
claim these improvements to the property were sufficient to offset the
unpaid amount, and that the plaintiff was adequately compensated for the
rental of said property. We, therefore, ask that judgment not be granted."

The young lady's lawyer answered, "Your Honour, my client agrees that the
defendant did find a well on her property. However, had the defendant not
known that the well existed, he would never have rented the property. Also,
upon evacuating the premises, the defendant removed the stones, pulled out
the shaft, and took the pump with him. In doing so, he not only dragged the
equipment through the shrubbery, but left the hole much larger than it was
prior to his occupancy, making the property much less desirable to others.
We, therefore, ask that judgement be granted."

In the Judge's decision, he provided for two options: "Pay the balance $125
to the plaintiff, or have the equipment detached from its current location
and provided to the plaintiff for damages."

The defendant wrote out a cheque immediately.