Law and Disorder: Absurdly Funny Moments from the Courts

by Charles M. Sevilla, Lee Lorenz (Illustrator)

Overview

More hilarious, unbelievable-but-true stories from our nation’s courts, from the author of Disorder in the Court and Disorderly Conduct.

Charles M. Sevilla finds comic gems in court transcripts—and now brings readers a delightful, all-new collection. Starting with a chapter on the defendants (one of whom, when asked his marital status, replies after a long pause, "Adequate") and following with sections on lawyers, experts, witnesses, evidence, and even one called "Malaprops" (DA: The status of the boat has no relevance to this case at all. This is a total fishing expedition). Stories from Sevilla's previous books have become viral Internet sensations, priming readers for more legal disorder, such as:

Clerk: Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to given in the cause now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Witness: Yes, I swear. I’ll say anything but the truth, nothing but the truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393349542
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	07/28/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	848,053
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Perennially on the “Best Lawyers in America” list, Charles M. Sevilla has a private law practice in San Diego. He is the author of Wilkes on Trial and Wilkes: His Life and Crimes and a columnist for Forum.

Editorial Reviews

08/01/2014
In 1926, The New Yorker observed that humor "is rarely the gift of the legal mind." Nine decades later, that is still true. This is the third of San Diego attorney Sevilla's legal humor books, following Disorderly Conduct and Disorder in the Court. "As with the last two," the author writes, "the reader will find the humor sophomoric, scatological, very profane, and overtly sexual." Talk about truth in labeling. But unlike, say, Boston Legal, which was also sophomoric, scatological, etc., this collection isn't really that funny. Most of it is a gallows humor of a sort "you had to be there" to appreciate. There is a law review article whose title asks: "Is Judicial Humor Judicious?" and the judges herein answer that in the negative. The judges come off quite badly—to again quote The New Yorker, "almost universally the joke from the bench is the joke of a bully." VERDICT Those who appreciate this sort of entertainment will be amused, while most will renew their conviction that lawyers are quirky and unusual people. Watch …And Justice for All or Denny Crane on Boston Legal instead.—Michael O. Eshleman, Kings Mills, OH

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