Dominic Regan believes there are odd cases…& odd judges to boot
The oldest tales here (and all are true) relate to Sergeant Arabin who sat at the Old Bailey between 1827 and 1841. He uttered some of the strangest pronouncements ever known but, guiltily, I see what he was getting at for most of the time. My utter favourite was: “If ever there was a case of clearer evidence than this of persons acting together this case is that case”.
He also came up with “no man is fit to be a cheesemonger who cannot guess the length of a street”. Megarry J collected several gems in an obscure tome called Arabinesque at Law published in 1969.
Handful
Moving to more recent times Melford Stevenson J was a right handful and the poor Lord Chancellors must have dreaded each day that he sat. He had odd views about most things including where people lived. In a divorce case he said of the husband: “He chose to live in Manchester, a wholly incomprehensible choice for any free man to make.”
His greatest gaff ever, and
