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Story
February 6, 1886
The Carbon Advocate
Lehighton, Carbon County, Pennsylvania
What is this article about?
Humorous dialogue between a lawyer and his imprisoned client, where the lawyer argues the client isn't legally in jail due to lack of statute, complicating his release despite obvious facts.
Clipping
OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
IN THE EYE OF THE LAW.
"But I tell you they can't put you in jail. They just can't, and that's the long and the short of it," said a lawyer to a client in prison.
"Well, ding it all, I'm here, ain't I?"
"Not according to law, you ain't."
"But I am according to the cold facts in the case, and I want to get out."
"Well, yes; it might seem to anybody not familiar with the statute that you were really incarcerated, but—"
"Seem, thunder! I'm locked up, and you know it."
"Not legally, my dear sir; not legally. In law you're as free as a thunder-gust."
"I don't care where I am in law, I know where I am myself, and I want to get out."
"According to the statute, you're out on the street at this minute."
"But according to common sense, I ain't anything of the kind. I'm in a box, as tight as though I was nailed in one, and I want to get out."
"In law you are out."
"In reality I'm in."
"You can't find a single scrap of law that allows 'em to lock you up."
"Heaven and earth man! I don't want to. I want to find law enough to get out."
"That'll be a hard thing to do, my friend."
"Hard thing to do! And yet you tell me there's no law for putting me in."
"So there isn't; but you've got in somehow, in defiance of all legal precedent, and that's where the blunder was. You've waived your legal rights by admitting that you are in jail, and it's going to take oceans of law and some little money to get you, as sure as you live. You should have come to me before you got in. Keeping you out then, when you had the law, was quite a different matter from getting you out now, when the law has you."
"But I tell you they can't put you in jail. They just can't, and that's the long and the short of it," said a lawyer to a client in prison.
"Well, ding it all, I'm here, ain't I?"
"Not according to law, you ain't."
"But I am according to the cold facts in the case, and I want to get out."
"Well, yes; it might seem to anybody not familiar with the statute that you were really incarcerated, but—"
"Seem, thunder! I'm locked up, and you know it."
"Not legally, my dear sir; not legally. In law you're as free as a thunder-gust."
"I don't care where I am in law, I know where I am myself, and I want to get out."
"According to the statute, you're out on the street at this minute."
"But according to common sense, I ain't anything of the kind. I'm in a box, as tight as though I was nailed in one, and I want to get out."
"In law you are out."
"In reality I'm in."
"You can't find a single scrap of law that allows 'em to lock you up."
"Heaven and earth man! I don't want to. I want to find law enough to get out."
"That'll be a hard thing to do, my friend."
"Hard thing to do! And yet you tell me there's no law for putting me in."
"So there isn't; but you've got in somehow, in defiance of all legal precedent, and that's where the blunder was. You've waived your legal rights by admitting that you are in jail, and it's going to take oceans of law and some little money to get you, as sure as you live. You should have come to me before you got in. Keeping you out then, when you had the law, was quite a different matter from getting you out now, when the law has you."
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
What themes does it cover?
Justice
Deception
What keywords are associated?
Legal Technicality
Lawyer Client
Prison Dialogue
Humorous Law
Incarceration Paradox
Where did it happen?
Prison
Story Details
Location
Prison
Story Details
A lawyer assures his frustrated client in jail that there is no legal basis for his incarceration, but this technicality has waived his rights, making release now difficult and costly.