Your goal is not to win litigation but avoid it: Difference between revisions
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''An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,<br> | ''An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,<br> | ||
''For promis’d joy!<br> | ''For promis’d joy!<br> | ||
—Robert Burns, '' To a Mouse''}} | —Robert Burns, '' To a Mouse, On turning Up in Her Nest with the Plough'' (1785)}} | ||
Anglo Saxon lawyers are trained from their first day that the [[common law]] flows in a [[Golden thread|golden stream]] from the [[Doctrine of precedent|decided case law]]; that the mystic runes of their craft are therefore the literary by-product of [[litigation]]. It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that they should be tempted to regard litigation as the highest expression of their art, a kind of Sinai from which stone tablets are delivered. | Anglo Saxon lawyers are trained from their first day that the [[common law]] flows in a [[Golden thread|golden stream]] from the [[Doctrine of precedent|decided case law]]; that the mystic runes of their craft are therefore the literary by-product of [[litigation]]. It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that they should be tempted to regard litigation as the highest expression of their art, a kind of Sinai from which stone tablets are delivered. | ||
Revision as of 11:59, 22 February 2022
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But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley.
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
—Robert Burns, To a Mouse, On turning Up in Her Nest with the Plough (1785)
Anglo Saxon lawyers are trained from their first day that the common law flows in a golden stream from the decided case law; that the mystic runes of their craft are therefore the literary by-product of litigation. It is hardly a surprise, therefore, that they should be tempted to regard litigation as the highest expression of their art, a kind of Sinai from which stone tablets are delivered.
But a civil courtroom is a strange place, visited only by those who have demonstrably taken leave of their senses and representatives of the deranged who are happy enough to indulge their delusions at a suitable hourly rate. A courtroom is no better a place to distil the rules of decent human conduct than is a motorway pile-up a place to deduce principles of defensive driving.
Just as a prudent motorist will keep to the speed limit, on the inside lane and at safe braking distance from the car in front, indicating as needed and in plenty of time, cheerily giving way should that be the congenial thing to do — so will a sensible merchant perform her contract with a view not just to compliance with its letter but the maintaining her customer’s good grace and favourable regard should her name come into contemplation — which it will only do when the customer’s mind turns to more business.
You have heard the JC say it often before, and it is true, if trite: the future is an unknown place.
Yet, when their opinions are sought, how easily legal eagles fall into the mindset of remedies.