THE SCENE: Complex legal proceedings are not exclusive to the modern age, as we can see in the passage below where Njal, considered the greatest lawyer of his age, proposes a legal defense that is utterly bewildering and seemingly illogical.
THE TEXT: Njal went off by himself to reflect on what advice to give. When he returned he said: ‘Now I have given some thought to the matter, and I should think that if we proceed with some daring and determination we might succeed. Thorgeir has gotten my kinswoman Thorfinna with child, and I am going to hand over to you the suit for seduction. I am also going to hand over to you another suit of outlawry against Starkad, because he cut wood on my property on Thrihyrning Ridge. You shall prosecute both these suits. Furthermore, you must go to the place where you fought, dig up the dead, name witnesses to the wounds, and declare all the slain outlawed, because they attacked you with the purpose and intention of inflicting wounds on you and your brothers and bringing about your sudden deaths. But if this suit is tried at the Assembly and an objection is raised on the score that you gave Thorgeir the first blow, and therefore may plead neither your own suit nor that of others, then I shall answer this point by saying that I declared you inviolable at the Thingskalar Assembly, so that you could plead not only your own suit but also that of others. That will answer that point. You must also go and look up Tyrfing in Berjaness, and he will hand over you a suit against Onund in Trollaskóg, on whom it devolves to press suit against you for the slaying of his brother Egil.’
– Njal’s Saga, 13th Century AD
