The Criminal Law Journal of India Journal October 1919

If he would know something of the French Courts of Justice he should study the trial of Voltaire on the charge of slandering the character of Joan of Arc ; and of Joan of Arc on the charge of being a heretic and a sorceress. [...] It is the purpose of the writer to sketch g briefly some of these great trials and the first to be considered is that of Socrates who was perhaps not only the greatest philosopher of ancient or modern times but contributed in no 'small measure to the humanizing of the laws not only of Greece but of all nations that have borrowed so much from this the greatest of all our fountains of learning. [...] upon the stage a play entitled The Comedy of the Clouds." The clouds were represented as the divinities of Socrates who was introduced upon the stage suspended in a basket and engaged in conversation with many young men of Athens whom be advised concerning the best methods of evading the law and escaping prison. [...] MacKenzie argued his side of the case so skilfully however that he succeeded in convincing one of the three Judges that he was right and this Judge dissented from the decision of the rest of the Court. [...] "You will note that by clause 7 of the policy it was to be void if Benson was executed within one year from the date of the policy and you will note further that the policy was issued on the third day of August while the assured was not executed until the 28th day of August in the following year.