Comments on: Disrespectful Cockalorum

Disrespectful Cockalorum

amyms — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:46:37 -0800

Blackburn makes manifest a propensity for turgid language. Not content with foisting "cockalorum" (meaning, boastful talk), "froward" (willfully disobedient) and "mordaciously" (bitingly) on the reader, he may be the first judge to use both "contumelious" (scornful) and "contumacious" (pigheaded) in the same opinion. Judge Robert E. Blackburn's ruling [pdf] granting a motion for a new trial based on attorney misconduct is an interesting read for those who enjoy the use of uncommon, flowery and "big" words.

The site where I found the above story, is full of interesting legal cases, both serious and offbeat, and those that fall somewhere in between, like the case of a man who sued 1-800-FLOWERS, the online florist, for causing him "anguish" by revealing his extramarital affair to his wife.

By: amyms

amyms — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:51:04 -0800

Ugh, there's at least one superfluous comma in my "more inside." My apologies to the comma pedants.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:52:50 -0800

I am pretty sure this guy has been brought up here before. Regardless, he is a giant asshole and does not have the temperament to be on the bench.

By: YoBananaBoy

YoBananaBoy — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:16:05 -0800

A pedantic martinet with deep-seated issues and barely-concealed hostility toward plaintiffs. A total disaster as a judge. Huh, wonder which side of the ruling that person came out on?

By: growabrain

growabrain — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:33:32 -0800

yea, language is a virus

By: bruce

bruce — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:40:44 -0800

6000 holes in blackburn, lancashire...

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 22:49:20 -0800

My apologies to the comma pedants. Don't worry all of their names are on a list of those who'll be first against the wall when the revolution, comes. Good site, I've sent this to a friend in law school.

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:10:15 -0800

Huh, wonder which side of the ruling that person came out on? Always a problem with feedback systems. :/ AAA +++ FAIR JUDGE, SWIFT TRILE, WOULD LITIGATE AGAIN!!1!

By: robcorr

robcorr — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 01:07:48 -0800

Contumelious and contumacious are not that uncommon in legal writing. They are technical terms that carry technical meanings. And he's certainly not the first to use both in a single opinion. Having said that, it doesn't look like Blackburn J was using them in their technical senses. His thesaurus is certainly well-thumbed.

By: rhymer

rhymer — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 01:19:53 -0800

I rather approve: the average Joe is so willfully ignorant these days, they may as well learn something en route to the pen. In fact, I'd offer a six month sentence reduction if they could define any of the words in question.

By: aeschenkarnos

aeschenkarnos — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:37:59 -0800

Those seeking further reading of this nature may enjoy Judge Samuel B Kent's opinion in Bradshaw v Unity ("But at the end of the day, even if you put a calico dress on it and call it Florence, a pig is still a pig.")

By: rokusan

rokusan — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 02:51:00 -0800

My apologies to the comma pedants. Don't worry all of their names are on a list.... The problem with that list is that you can't tell the last two pedants apart.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:04:55 -0800

That was fun to read. Sometimes I think of doing the law thing, but maybe I'll just stick to reading the occasional opinion and chuckling at the vocabulary.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 04:55:39 -0800

What they don't tell you is that for every contumelious or contumacious there are a hundred aforementioned clauses and numerous falses.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:17:55 -0800

Not enough perspicuity for the perspicacity.