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Show ' THE READER'S COURTROOM 1 Shooting Blanks No Defense ! i By Will Bernard, LL.B. 1 Is it a Crime to Shoot Blank Cartridges at Somebody? 1 A playful youth got very drunk one Christmas Eve, and decided to "have a little fun." Taking an old-fashioned shotgun from the at- !tic, he loaded it with powder and jwent down to the railroad station. As the next train rolled into the de- It was a title bout, and the champion cham-pion was taking a terrible beating. Sensing a knockout, the excited crowd stood up on the benches shouting and screaming. Suddenly one of the ringside benches caved in. One fan was seriously injured, and later sued the promoter for not providing sturdier seats. The promoter pro-moter argued that the spectators should not have stood up, but the court disagreed and held him liable. li-able. The judge said it was only natural for boxing fans to jump up onto the benches. Is an Engaged Man Presumed To Know His Own Mind? A young man and his fiancee each owned a vacant lot. However, his property was worth seven times as much as hers. One day, the girl coyly suggested that they trade lots with each other "even Stephen." When the . youth hesitated, hesi-tated, she threatened to break the engagement at once. In a panic, he agreed to the deal and the exchange ex-change was carried out. But soon afterward, the girl broke the engagement en-gagement anyhow. Disillusioned at last, the young man went to court to get his property back. And the court cancelled the whole deal on grounds of "undue influence." pot, the youth gleefully fired away at the engineer! Arrested for assault, as-sault, he protested that he wasn't guilty since there weren't any bullets in the gun. However, the court found him guilty anyhow, pointing out that the frightened engineer couldn't tell the gun wasn't loaded! The judge commented: com-mented: "Fun is too energetic, even for Christmas Eve, when it looks like a little free-and-easy homicide! Shooting blank cartridges car-tridges at a man is among the outdoor out-door sports that are forbidden!" A woman adopted a little boy, but soon decided that she didn't like the youngster after all. Late " one night she deposited him on somebody's doorstep, rang the bell, and fled. However, the woman was soon picked up by police and charged with violating the state's child-abandonment law. At the trial, she insisted that the law op-plied op-plied only to natural children, not to adopted ones. But the court found her guilty anyhow. The judge said that, when a person adopts a child, she is responsible for him. Said His Honor: "This young man was not well matched against this accomplished woman. She requests, re-quests, he demurs, she urges, he yields. The contest was unequal. A woman can always exercise an undue influence over the man she professes to love!" |