OPENING THE CASE


The jury is chosen, sworn, and sitting in the jury-box. The judge
begins unfolding the papers of the case so that he may read the
pleadings. The actual trial of issues is about to begin. The court
attendant has taken the jurymen's hats and coats, another attendant
has shown spectators to their seats and politely as possible
suppressed the young law clerk who does not see why he could not go up
to the judge and ask him what became of the case of Jones against
Allen that was on the calendar last Thursday and should have been on
to-day, or ask if "His Honor decided that motion in the case of Meyer
against Cohen." The doors of the court-room are closed. The
attendants go about looking for whisperers and saying, "Cease all
conversation." The lady client is interrupted in telling her lawyer
that she thinks the judge has a kind face, but that she does not like
the looks of the man in uniform standing next to him, or vice versa.
Gradually the court-room quiets and a spirit of expectancy prevails.

But the actual taking of evidence and the hearing of testimony is not
yet. Now comes what is known as the opening. So in the tournament, the
armored knights entered with a blast of trumpets, their names and
titles having been called, and it was customary for them to ride once
or twice around the lists to let the judges see their armor, their
weapons, their mounts, their trappings and accoutrements, or they
might even try a tilt or two at one another. The introductory speech
of counsel is somewhat in the nature of a parade or a preliminary
skirmish. It may also be compared to the prologue spoken before the
beginning of a drama. The speech with the vivid brevity, so common in