[2]
To those, however, who are brought into
court in cases where no contract has been made, the law gives the right to have
recourse to a special plea, that no one may bring a baseless or malicious suit,
but that actions may be confined to those among the merchants and shipowners who
are really wronged. Many defendants in mercantile suits have before now entered
special pleas in accordance with this law, and have come before you and proved
that their adversaries were making unjust charges and bringing baseless suits
under pretence of being engaged in commerce.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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