Today I was doing some research and came across the quotation at the end of this post. (Caveat: The lawyers who read this blog may appreciate this post a little more than the rest of you, but I honestly believe most of you will enjoy it! :)
Before you read it, you should be aware that there are different types of judges: some write in the most boring, drab, uninteresting style; they have no creativity and no imagination, and you fall asleep reading their opinions. Other judges are fascinating and entertaining to read; you still might not read their opinions for fun (though a few you might) but at least if you have to read them you find some enjoyment or amusement. Most opinions fall somewhere in the middle. As I do my research, it is always a joy to come across an opinion drafted by a judge in that second group, such as the following gem:
In tragedy, the dénouement “should arise out of the plot itself····” Poetics at 242. And so it does here: the sanctions imposed by this court on Mr. Messina arise naturally from his own errors of judgment. Like the ultimate fate of the great figures of literature, the spectacle of an experienced attorney brought so low by his own actions serves as a cautionary tale to others, and inspires the cathartic emotions of fear and pity recognized by Aristotle as the hallmarks of tragedy.
If you want to read the rest of the case (which probably isn’t quite as interesting – I didn’t read the whole thing), you can find it at this citation: Grove Fresh Distributors, Inc. v. John Labatt Ltd., 888 F.Supp. 1427, 1452 (N.D. Ill. 1995) (Zagel, J.).
1 comment:
I will preface this remark by clearly stating that I am not a lawyer which I'm fairly certain will not surprise anyone reading this. :) However, I am somewhat of a writer and I found the quote interesting. More interesting as in poetic than interesting as in my personal understanding.
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