Legal Maxim Eight
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I’m sure there’s a story or two behind this maxim 🙂
Forty-one years worth of stories!
Several years ago I was called up for jury duty, and told to appear at the courthouse promptly at 9am. Myself and two dozen others in the jury pool cooled our heels for almost three hours before the judge finally showed up and things could get started. There were elderly folks in that pool, and I was feeling increasingly unwell because, it turned out, I was coming down with the flu. At one point the bailiff told us the judge had arrived, and now that she was in the building we were allowed to wait inside the courtroom instead of out in the hall.
Not a word of explanation from Her Honor, nor one word of apology for making two dozen people put their own lives on hold just to wait three hours outside her courtroom.
I don’t doubt that for some lawyers apotheosized to the judiciary, their every word is suddenly comic gold; just as for others becoming a judge means one needn’t bother to show mere mortals basic courtesy.