“A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers”
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) wrote in his magazine The Smart Set in June 1913:
“A JUDGE is a law student who marks his own examination papers.”
“A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers” was in Mencken’s A Little Book in C Major (1916) and “Judge — A law student who marks his own examination-papers” was in A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949). Mencken also gave this advice to federal judge John Biggs, Jr. (1895-1979) as Biggs was appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1930s.
Wikiquote: H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken (12 September 1880 – 29 January 1956), better known as H. L. Mencken, was a twentieth-century journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic, and freethinker, known as the “Sage of Baltimore” and the “American Nietzsche”. He is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century.
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A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
Judge — A law student who marks his own examination-papers.
HathiTrust Digital Library
June 1913, The Smart Set, pg. 44:
A JUDGE is a law student who marks his own examination papers.
7 June 1913, Newport (RI) Mercury, “All Sorts,” pg. 7, col. 6:
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.—June Smart Set.
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A Little Book in C Major
By H. L. Mencken
New York, NY: John Lane Co.
1916
Pg. 40:
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.
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The Benchwarmers:
The Private World of the Powerful Federal Judges
By Joseph C. Goulden
New York, NY: Ballantine Books
1976
Pg. 103:
Judge John J. Biggs, Jr., of Wilmington, Delaware, relates that when he was appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1930s his friend H. L. Mencken told him, “John, I want you to remember that a judge is a law student who corrects his own papers.”
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Quote Unquote
By Lloyd Cory
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books
1977
Pg. 169:
JUDGE
A judge is a law student who grades his own papers. (H. L. Mencken)
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A Judge Uncommon:
A Life of John Biggs, Jr.
By Seymour I. Toll
Philadelphia, PA: Legal Communications
1993
Pg. 241:
Mencken told him, “John, I want you to remember that a judge is a law student who corrects his own papers.”
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Return of the Portable Curmudgeon
By Jon Winokur
New York, NY: Plume
1995, ©1992
Pg. 189:
JUDGES.
Judge: a law student who marks his own papers.
H. L. Mencken