Legal Horses for Courses

[firetto]

Who said "The Law is an Ass"? Why?

[vittoria]

This sentence is said by a character, Mr Bumble, in Dickens's Oliver Twist, Chapter 51. However, there is an earlier precedent, in George Chapman's play Revenge for Honour (1654) "I am ashamed the law is such an ass". Don't know why, though.

[bernardo]

Mr Bumble said it because the law at the time stated that he was legally responsible for the criminal actions of his wife, who had covered up the truth about the theft of a locket by the midwife from Oliver's natural mother on her deathbed, which would have provided the identification of Oliver's father and thereby assured him of his rightful inheritance, of which Oliver's half-brother was trying to defraud him.
Bearing in mind the convoluted twists of the plot, it is worth remembering that "Oliver Twist" was originally a soap-opera and was published in weekly instalments in a popular newspaper, rather than being published in one go in a novel. In other words, Dahl's Chickens made it up as he went along.

[Quizmonster]

What Mr Bumble actually said was: "The law is a ass, a idiot." (I'm mentioning this only because it's noticeable that he avoids the 'an' form before vowels.)

[Janetex]

Onya Quizzie re the "a ass".