Mr. Justice Perrot was a servile political judge, whose power
of discrimination was well measured by the celebrated way
in which he summed up to the jury in a case of a disputed
watercourse, at Exeter Assizes. He concluded thus: “Gentlemen,
there are fifteen witnesses who swear that the watercourse used
to flow in a ditch on the north side of the hedge. On the other
hand, gentlemen, there are nine witnesses who swear that the
watercourse used to flow on the south side of the hedge. Now,
gentlemen, if you subtract nine from fifteen, there remain six
witnesses wholly uncontradicted, and I recommend you to give
your verdict accordingly, for the party who called those six
witnesses.”--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and
Lawyers.”
(1708)