Essex Quarterly Court Records |
Just for fun, I found this little mention of Walter Roper in The American Genealogist,
Volume 73, page 21 while I was researching a Surname Saturday post on the ROPER family. It is a quote from a lawsuit found in the Ipswich Quarterly
Court, March 1671 Tho. Wood v. Walter Roper from Records and Files of the Quarterly
Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 9
vols. (Salem, Mass., 1911- 74) 4: 336:
"Answer of Walter Roper and Edward Chapman to the appeal: If
the appellant had been as good a grammarian as his attorney would be thought to
be a lawyer, he would have foreborn his simple cavil, etc.; that he was sued
for transgressing a just and necessary order in cutting firewood contrary to
law, "What Greater things moued you to Appealle...Though you Express not,
wee may guess That either your Atturney wanted Imployment or had a mind to shew
his great cunning in managing a bad cause.""
The name of this brief article in TAG is “PLUS ÇA CHANGE… (Or “The first
thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”)"- a nod to Shakespeare’s Henry VI, written only eighty years
before this case came to court.
ROPER Surname Saturday:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/surname-saturday-roper-of-hampton-new.html
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, ""The more things change, the More they stay the same" ~ Friday Funny", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 11, 2014, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-more-things-change-more-they-stay.html: accessed [access date]).
Enjoyed this, thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, I always need some humor.
ReplyDeleteEven those uptight Puritans could have a good laugh at the expense of lawyers!
ReplyDeleteFunny, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete