My Famous Case

In the Court o’ Session Outer House

May won the first crossing o’ swords

But efter Davie won at the Inner House

May appealed to the House o’ Lords

The case made its way doon to London

And the highest court in the lands

Five judges in the Palace o’ Westminster

Who would hold May’s fate in their hands

Because May hudnae purchased the float

The defense said she had no remedy in law

But Lord Atkin wisnae for buying either

And he vowed to fix this legal flaw

Deliberations called me a foreign body

And even ‘deleterious matter’

But I’m as Scottish as haggis and wouldnae harm a fly

Though I might stop it for a wee natter

Lord A argued if you injure yer neighbor

By what should reasonably be foreseen

You should be liable under the civil law

And suffer the penalties that would mean

Lords Tomlin and Buckmaster were dissenters

                                     Thereby showing they wurnae too bright                                      And by blindly following the existing law

They took a path that wisnae right

I rightly got all the fame frae the case

But it’s really to James Atkin we all owe

For it was he who persuaded Lord Macmillan

That to the final judge it should go

Auld Thankerton liked doing his knitting

Aye, even when sitting in court

But he still cited common sense and justice

As he purled Atkin and Mac his support

The three wise lords had won the vote

To state a maker owes a duty o’ reasonable care

That didnae just mean that I needed to be clean

It meant that I shouldnae have been there

Noo, a tort’s no’ a baby tortilla

                      But a wrong causing loss, suffering or harm                     

And through Davie’s negligent actions

He would pay for May’s injuries and alarm

END O’ CHUNK FIVE

So, the Lords had passed their judgment

By a margin o’ three against two

And even though it was that close

It was still a seismic legal breakthrough

It also proved to be the end o’ the legals

Even if it wasn’t meant to be that way

But you’ll see that there’s one character short

As we enter the last act o’ the play