Thursday, August 14, 2008

Alice, the Judge and the Constitution

How do Lewis Carroll, Humpty Dumpty, and Alice relate to the law? Check this piece out, by a "rogue" juror who refused to take an oath selected by the trial judge. Excerpt:

The scene in the judge’s robing chambers that day reminded me of a passage in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, where Alice is talking with Humpty Dumpty, the latter having just taken words out of context. In other words, Humpty Dumpty was lying:

"When I use the word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I chose it to mean – neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, " whether you can make words mean so many different things."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be the master – that’s all."

Judge Young’s court presumed a world without an objective reality, just like Humpty Dumpty’s worldview.

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