Not P but Moby-Dick (73)

[Mark Kohut]

I would suggest that it means only that he agreed with the other side. Seems
that Melville would have made it more exact in description if he was
actually counsel...

On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 3:22 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> From Chapter 89:
>
> Mr. Erskine was counsel for the defendants; Lord Ellenborough was the
> judge. In the course of the defence, the witty Erskine went on to
> illustrate his position, by alluding to a recent crim. con. case, wherein a
> gentleman, after in vain trying to bridle his wife’s viciousness, had at
> last abandoned her upon the seas of life; but in the course of years,
> repenting of that step, he instituted an action to recover possession of
> her. Erskine was on the other side; and he then supported it by saying,
> that though the gentleman had originally harpooned the lady, and had once
> had her fast, and only by reason of the great stress of her plunging
> viciousness, had at last abandoned her; yet abandon her he did, so that she
> became a loose-fish; and therefore when a subsequent gentleman re-harpooned
> her, the lady then became that subsequent gentleman’s property, along with
> whatever harpoon might have been found sticking in her.
>
> In saying "Erskine was on the other side", does it mean Erskine was
> actually the defending lawyer in that other case, or only that he supported
> the position of the other side?
> --
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>