Brewer's: Pantagruelion

The great Pantagruelion law case (Lord Busqueue v. Lord Suckfist). This case, having nonplussed all the judges in Paris, was referred to Lord Pantagruel for decision. The writs, etc., were as much as four asses could carry, but the arbiter determined to hear the plaintiff and defendant state their own cases. Lord Busqueue spoke first, and pleaded such a rigmarole that no one on earth could unravel its meaning; Lord Suckfist replied, and the bench declared “We have not understood one single circumstance of the defence.” Then Pantagruel gave sentence, but his judgment was as obscure and unintelligible as the case itself. So, as no one understood a single sentence of the whole affair, all were perfectly satisfied, a “thing unparalleled in the annals of the law.” (Rabelais: Pantagruel, book ii.)

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