My Day in Court

I had waited for this day all my life. Finally I had graduated with a degree in Law. It brought to me a sense of joy and relief which all exploded with a vast amount of feelings. This was all for the simple reasons of completing four years of intense studying and going to start work.

It all seemed very jolly and my expectations were completely opposite to what my first case would actually be. I hadn’t yet worked on any case individually, therefore the anxiety in my heart kept pumping vigorously. When I unlocked the case file with my crippled hands, the first words I seen was ‘DEBT’.

The bases of the case were simply defending a Christian merchant against a Jew. It never bothered me ever about conflict between religions especially Christian and Jew, thinking it was a new South Africa. The merchant had borrowed a sum of R100 000 and agreed on paying it on a certain date. The date had expired and the Jew had sued him. The men had, had a punishment stipulated before hand. The agreement was that the merchant would make his wife a slave to the Jew. To me it sounded like a joke, I really wonder what was going through their minds when agreeing to such a punishment. The problem arouse when the merchant and his wife had gotten divorced and the Jew insists on double the sum.

The first time I had met with my client, we had a very tense conversation. I had tried to extract every grain of the case from he’s perspective. The same day we went to court. Walking in to a full room of serious faces brought a shiver down my spine. I looked around and realised I was the only women in court. It sounded impossible but it was true, I walked sternly. So no man would undermine my abilities. A few faces smirked which grew anger in my soul.

We all sat. I glanced to my left to have a vision of the plaintiff. The case officially started. I cross-examined the plaintiff to figure weather he was a soft or hard hearted man. From what I could draw he insisted on double the sum and was not going to reason. This situation placed me in a difficult spot and I wouldn’t want to lose my first case or let down a broken hearted man. Finally, with all my courage and might I leapt up and said “have you no heart for a brother, he who is in difficulty of paying you. Your heart is filled with pride and no kindness. What do you have against a soul of a Christian? Is it that you a Jew and him of another faith?” This speech had brought a wide discussion. The discussion lasted a while until the judge grew impatient and decided on giving his verdict. My eyes stared at the judge, he then said, “what the lady has said is true, it is impossible to demand such a large sum. But there will be a punishment; the Christian will have to pay 20% interest of the sum. It is inhuman of asking for something as making a wife a slave. “Case Closed”

My brain froze. I could not believe that I had just won against men. I looked at my client he said he was pleased, this made me smile. I might have not won the entire case but I felt I did. It was an experience.