"How outrageous," thinks the defendant, "that I should be sued when
I've been over-generous for years. And the jury ought to know exactly
what these people are who said they'd call off the suit if I'd pay
them a hundred dollars." The lawyer is aware of these views, because
he has been told them more than once; he also knows that he cannot try
the case in that way.
The counteraction of emotions and feelings between the lawyer and the
client, the judge and the jury, the undercurrents that are constantly
moving from one to another, make up the drama of the court. The
characters are laid, the theme is selected, the actors are chosen, and
it remains for the play to be prepared.
VII
PROGRAMS AND PLEADINGS
Pleadings are the programs of the performance. They are printed
beforehand and everybody gets a copy. Preparation consists in the
rehearsal and the carpentry of setting the scene. Any lawyer knows how
important the pleadings are, but nobody else does. The judge does not
pay any more attention to them than he has to. Juries hardly ever see
them; if they did, they could not understand them. The witnesses never
hear of them, the clients have sworn they have read them and have
sworn that they are true.
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