An Unstated Case

We gathered from a learned wight The lia-bil-i-tee Of two distinctive parties, hight, The Bailor and Bailee.

The speaker, as he spoke, referred With gusto to a case That forms for all like actions heard, The proved, unshaken base.

But as he failed to give a hint What this was all about, Seeing we're bound the news to print We sent to find it out.

To match the law, we must be brief, Likewise to fit this card, So hear this summary of grief, In Coggs versus Bernard.

Now Coggs he lived in London Town, In London Town lived he, And in his cellar had laid down Some casks of eau de vie.

When Barnard heard his friend desire To move from hence a cask, He offered, wholly without hire, To undertake the task.

We know that good intentions pave The pathway down to—well, Poor Bernard, clumsy, burst a stave, And then his spirits fell.

And men since seventeen o' four Holt's ruling still respect— The fact that Bernard charged no score Excused no gross neglect.