Court Facts

In English and Commonwealth legal systems, the 'v' in court case names (like 'Smith v Jones') is traditionally pronounced 'and' in civil cases and 'against' in criminal cases, not 'versus' as commonly assumed.

Canada has "Apology Acts" in most provinces that prevent an apology from being used as evidence of fault in civil court proceedings, reflecting the cultural importance of saying sorry.

Virginia inmate Robert Lee Brock sued himself for $5 million. His argument: getting drunk violated his own civil rights and caused him to commit crimes. Since he could not work in prison, he asked the state to pay the judgment on his behalf. The judge praised the innovative approach, then dismissed the case as totally ludicrous. He sued the one person responsible for his problems and lost.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that a city could seize Susette Kelo's home and give the land to a private developer. The city spent $78 million demolishing the neighborhood. Pfizer left town. The developer couldn't get financing. 20 years later, the land is an empty lot.

A Virginia woman bought a napkin-sized landscape at a West Virginia flea market in 2009 for $7. She wanted the plastic cow and the doll in the same box. Two years later she learned the little painting was a genuine Renoir worth $100,000. Then the FBI showed up. The museum had reported it missing in 1951.

Medieval courts put animals on trial for real. A sow in Falaise, France was dressed in a jacket and breeches in 1386 and hanged in the market square for attacking a child. Rats, weevils, and beetles got court-appointed lawyers. One French jurist, Bartholomew Chassenée, built his whole career defending rodents.