Hotwashing

With 9-11 having been voted as 'America's Word of 2001' and other new words such as 'shoe-icide' bomber making an appearance, none other than our Subordinate Courts have now contributed to the local legal lingo. 'Hotwash of cases' made its debut in the latest Subordinate Court circular. Although the sub-title: 'Clearance of Outstanding Matters Pending in the Subordinate Courts' gives a clue as to its meaning, Obiter must humbly admit to not being able to find the word in the usual tomes. However, a search on the internet showed the term used in washing machine lingo. We can only suppose that it was coined to flush out the cases which have gone into cold storage, and which shall now be put into a different rinse cycle!

End of the Road

Fact is often stranger than fiction and in this particular case, rather morbid.

We wonder whether the mysterious disappearance of the relevant alphabets can be attributed to the human vandal or a supernatural one!

 

From the Witness-box: Winsome Witnesses

OK, OK, we've all seen or heard of that round of moronic cross-examination questions from lawyers, but the following will show that many a witness has provided answers which were no better:

Q: Were you acquainted with the deceased?
A: Before or after he died?

Q: Was it you or your brother who was killed in the war?
A: It must have been my brother. I wasn't in the war.

Q: Can you afford a lawyer?
A: No.
Q: Are you destitute?
A: No, I'm a Methodist.

Q: Could you see him from where you were standing?
A: I could see his head.
Q: And where was that?
A: Just above his shoulders.

From the Bench

Alleged to be a true-life exchange between a US judge and a rookie prosecutor:

Judge:  If you keep asking these idiotic questions, I'm going to send you some place you've never been.
Prosecutor: Do you mean jail, Your Honour?
Judge:  No, Law School.
From the Bar

Where were you when you weren't where you said you were?

No Mean Feat

Seen in an internal newsletter:

His friends will be sorry to learn that he had an operation last Wednesday and had his leg removed. All going well, he should be back on his feet by the end of November.