[28]
Much depends on the occasion on which a
jest is uttered. For in social gatherings and the intercourse of every day a certain freedom is not unseemly
in persons of humble rank, while liveliness is becoming to all. Our jests should never be designed
to wound, and we should never make it our ideal
to lose a friend sooner than lose a jest. Where the
battles of the courts are concerned I am always
better pleased when it is possible to indulge in
gentle raillery, although it is, of course, permissible
to be abusive or bitter in the words we use against
our opponents, just as it is permissible to accuse
them openly of crime, and to demand the last penalty
of the law. But in the courts as elsewhere it is
regarded as inhuman to hit a man when he is down,
either because he is the innocent victim of misfortune or because such attacks may recoil on those
who make them. Consequently, the first points to
be taken into consideration are who the speaker
is, what is the nature of the case, who is the judge,
who is the victim, and what is the character of
the remarks that are made.
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