Green stimulated Lincoln’s interest in the law by inviting him to attend sessions of his court, where Green’s directness and informality could lead to humorous moments. When John Ferguson sued Green’s poetry-loving friend Jack Kelso for stealing a hog, Green ruled in Kelso’s favor, even though he had no proof and witnesses testified that the hog was Ferguson’s. Green announced that “the two witnesses we have heard have sworn to a—lie. I know this shoat, and I know it belongs to Jack Kelso. I therefore decide this case in his favor.” When Lincoln queried him about the verdict, Green explained that “the first duty of a court is to decide cases justly and in accordance with the truth.” Green displayed a similarly casual approach to the niceties of the law when he asked attorney Edward D. Baker if a justice of the peace could preside over slander suits. After Baker replied that only courts of general jurisdiction could hear a slander case, Green expostulated: “Well, think again; you have not read law very well, or very long; try it again; now, have I not jurisdiction; can I not do it?” Once again Baker responded in the negative. After another round of such questioning, Green finally said: “I know I can; for, by Heaven, I have done it.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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