Judgments in Vacation

A retired county‑court judge has turned his idle vacation hours into a surprisingly lively courtroom of his own making. In a series of short, tongue‑in‑cheek “judgments,” he tackles everything from a cat’s trespass into a pigeon loft to the oddities of folk‑law and the quirks of everyday education. The voice is unmistakably legal—full of formal phrasing and dry wit—yet it is applied to the most trivial of disputes, revealing how even the smallest quarrels can be rendered with grandiose authority.

The collection reads like a courtroom farce, where the solemnity of legal reasoning meets the absurdity of everyday life. Readers will hear the judge’s reflections on the pressures of delivering swift decisions, his admiration for the high court’s restraint, and his own philosophical musings on strength versus correctness. It’s a gentle satire that both celebrates and pokes fun at the machinery of justice.

Interwoven with essays on topics such as cookery, folklore, and the future of the county court, the work offers a charming glimpse into a world where legal minds find pleasure in the minutiae. Listeners are treated to a witty, thoughtful portrait of a judge who, even on holiday, cannot resist the call of the gavel.