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The Causeway
The Monthly Newsletter for the Franklin County Bar Association
April 2020
"The law is a causeway upon which, so long as he keeps to it, a citizen may walk safely" Robert Bolt, playwright
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Press Releases, Memos and Important Notices
39th Judicial Memos and Information
The Pennsylvania Judiciary has provided updates at the link below regarding county-by-county court operations and proceedings. They continue to monitor developments regarding the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its impact on court operations. http://www.pacourts.us/ujs-coronavirus-information
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Updates to Franklin County Bar Association, Franklin County Law Library, and Franklin County Legal Journal
The Franklin County Bar Association office and Franklin County Law Library are now closed until further notice due to the pandemic. Amelia will be available by email. The voicemail in the office will not be checked everyday, however Amelia will be receiving forwarded calls from the office.
At this time we plan to continue publishing the Franklin County Legal Journal on a weekly basis. We now have a PO Box to streamline retrieval of mail. The Heritage Center building has also closed, which may interrupt mail delivery. (Our mail is being forwarded to the new PO Box.) Amelia will be in the office 1-2 days per week to process the legal journal.
You may continue to email notices using legaljournal@franklinbar.org
You may mail notices/checks to:
Franklin County Legal Journal
PO Box 189
Chambersburg, PA 17201
Members who normally receive their copy of the legal journal delivered to the Courthouse will receive a PDF via email. If you would like a member of your staff added to this distribution list please let us know. If you would prefer to receive your legal journal mailed to your office please let us know.
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FCBA YLD Blanket Drive - SUSPENDED
We are suspending our blanket drive until further notice. If you have blankets to donate, please keep them until we resume the drive.
Project Linus' mission:
Provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers."
Project Linus
accepts NEW, HANDMADE, WASHABLE, blankets and afghans for giving to children ages 0-18 years. Project Linus blankets are not donated to adults. Project Linus donates blankets to children, infants through teens. Many sizes are appropriate depending on chapter need. For example, blankets could be as small as 36" × 36." The majority of Project Linus blankets are about 40" × 60", or what is called "crib size." Blankets could be as large as twin size for teens. visit
www.projectlinus.org to learn more.
You may donate handmade blankets at the FCBA office until TBD.
The YLD will be making "no sew blankets" in March. We are accepting donations of fleece fabric, blanket kits and money until March 11th. Please drop your donation off at the FCBA office. Fleece fabric and blanket kits may be purchased at Joanne's Fabrics, Walmart, or from online retailers.
Join us in March to cut and knot our "no sew" handmade blankets. No crafting experience necessary! We will be making blankets at the FCBA office, date TBD.
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Book Drive - POSTPONED
DUE TO COVID-19, NO DONATIONS ARE BEING ACCEPTED AT THIS TIME AT ANY LOCATION.
The Franklin County Friends of Legal Services group has announced the book donation sites for its 36th Annual Book Sale. Books may be donated at the following locations, once the drive starts again:
Chambersburg
ACNB Bank, 850 Norland Avenue
Colony House Furniture, 4231 Philadelphia Avenue
LA Cameras, 1019 Wayne Avenue
Sunny Way Foods, 40 Warm Spring Road
United Way of Franklin County, 182 S. Second Street
Wolf's Furniture Store, 480 Gateway Avenue
Fayetteville
Pound's Automotive Service, 2083 Lincoln Way East
Gettysburg
ACNB Bank, Lincoln Square Office
Greencastle
BB&T Bank, 40 Center Square
Mercersburg
BB&T Bank, 316 N. Main Street
M&T Bank, 10 N. Main Street (on the square)
Mont Alto
F&M Trust, 8 Park Street
Orrstown
Orrstown Bank, 3580 Orrstown Road
Shippensburg
Shippensburg University, Ezra Lehman Library
Weis Markets, 1075 W. King Street
St. Thomas
Modnur Pharmacy, 4495 Lincoln Way West
Waynesboro
Kulla, Barkdoll & Stewart, 9 East Main Street
Donations will be accepted from TBD to TBD. The group solicits not only books, used and new, hardback and paperback, but also artwork, CDs (including audio books), DVDs, sheet music, puzzles, and board games. Encyclopedias, textbooks, cassettes, and VHS tapes (except Disney) are not accepted.
Rare books and collector's items are welcome and are priced and displayed separately at the sale. The group will provide receipts for tax purposes on request. To make special arrangements to donate a large quantity of books, call Franklin County Legal Services at (717) 262-2326 or email gloria@fcls.net.
"The sale will take place on May 29 to May 31, and we invite everyone in the area to come to our new sale location-the Chambersburg Mall," said Carolyn Carter, a volunteer with the group. "It is easy to reach, plenty of parking will be available, the location within the Mall will be clearly marked, and we will have tens of thousands of wonderful books for sale at bargain prices." The sale will run from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM on Friday, May 29, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday, May 30, and from noon to 4:00 PM on Sunday, May 31. Proceeds support the provision of civil legal services for low-income individuals in the community.
Thank you to our sponsors
Gold
Orrstown Bank
Silver
ACNB Bank
Bronze
Printaway Inc.
Strickler Agency Inc.
Tip Top Cleaners
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Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers is fully operational during this time of uncertainty
I wanted to be sure to let all of you know that LCL is fully operational during this time of uncertainty. We have one staff rotating in the office each day to ensure every helpline call will be thoroughly handled. Our volunteer base of 295 law students, attorneys, and judges are ready, willing, and able to assist any lawyer or family member of a lawyer that may be struggling.
LCL is here and available to assist you during this difficult time. Our 24/7 helpline is 888-999-1941. Our experienced base of health care professionals are scheduling tele-health sessions. All of our services are free, confidential, safe, and supportive.
Our website is also a wealth of information www.lclpa.org . Under the resources tab on our website, there are 5 CLE programs that are available to be watched, free of charge, and will give the attorneys ethics credits.
I am sure you already know this but the April 30th CLE compliance period has been extended until August 31st.
You can find a comprehensive list of online mental health, recovery and professional resources related to COVID-19 as well as 5
free
CLE-eligible videos on our website!
www.lclpa.org
Laurie J. Besden, Esq.
Executive Director
Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania, Inc.
1-800-335-2572, ext. 101
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Coronavirus stressing you out? Here's how to cope
President Judge Meyers sent these links with information from Dr. Laura Murray. Judge Meyers said " I am sure we are all working through the myriad of challenges associated with this pandemic. I read Dr. Murray's Op/Ed in the paper yesterday and reached out to her. She has provided a free link to her article along with her Youtube video addressing the same topic of protecting our mental outlook during a pandemic. I found it to be useful."
Thank you, Judge Meyers for providing this to our Bar!
The Franklin County Bar Association is not responsible for the content of this information, nor do we endorse it, it is for informational purposes only.
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April CLE Compliance Period Extended to August 31st
The FCBA has been informed that, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has extended the April 30 compliance period to Aug. 31, 2020. At this time, the Supreme Court has left other compliance periods unchanged. Here is a link to the order.
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Vigil Against Violence - Cancelled
The annual Vigil Against Violence, hosted by Women In Need, scheduled Thursday, April 23 at Main Street Park in Waynesboro has been cancelled.
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Save the Date - Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, May 1st
On May 1, 2020, 5-7 p.m. Women in Need will host the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes fundraiser. More info to follow. Visit http://winservices.org/ for more information.
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Law Library After Hours Usage Policy
The Board of the Franklin County Law Library Association met on November 15, 2019 and implemented this After Hours Usage Policy. Franklin County Bar members may use the Law Library after hours (4:30 p.m. - 8:30 a.m. M-F and anytime on the weekends) for legal research only. Due to security and liability concerns, no clients or guests may be present in the Law Library after hours, except for FCBA sponsored events. Members are reminded to log their time spent in the Law Library after hours in the blue binder located at the front desk.
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Amazon Smile for FCB Foundation
Did you know you could make a donation to the FCB Foundation when you shop at Amazon?
CLICK HERE to select FCB Foundation as your charity.
You shop. Amazon gives.
- Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice.
- AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service.
- Support your charitable organization by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com
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Coffee Corner
"Coffee Corner" is a periodic column in The Causeway by Bar members Annie Gómez Shockey, Brandon Copeland, Krystal MacIntyre, and Brendan Sullivan.
by Brandon Copeland
Trial by Combat: The Just Cause
The date is December 29, 1386, and thousands of Parisians have gathered to watch the last of what had become an increasingly rare event. King Charles VI of France and the flower of the French nobility preside over the gathering that has become the most anticipated event of the season. The excitement is palpable as two men enter a wooden arena created specifically for this day. Each man publicly repeats their accusations against the other. They swear to the King, God, the Virgin Mary, and Saint George that they speak the truth. One of the men is quickly knighted by the Marshal overseeing the ceremony, for it would be unseemly for a mere squire to vie against a knight. Each man is clad is splendid full plate armor, holds a shield, and is mounted on a fine destrier trained for war. The men are uniformly armed with lance, two-handed cavalry axe, sword, and dagger. This is the last sanctioned trial by combat ever fought in France and one of the men is about to die. Yet another life also hangs in the balance. The wife of one of the men prays for her husband's success. If he should die this day, she will be burned at the stake along with her unborn child. With a signal from the Marshal of the duel the fatal struggle begins.
Trail by combat had a long tradition stemming from the Germanic tribes that settled much of Northern and Western Europe. In principle it was simple; the Gods and later God would oversee the duel and aid the just cause. Victory was proof of the God's or God's favor and conclusively determined the issue. This was adopted whole cloth by the Catholic Church in the medieval period as an offshoot of trial by ordeal. A person would be set to a challenge or injured in some way and God's decision would be found in the outcome, usually decided by the local priest. This was a far cleaner if less pleasant way to settle early legal disputes while courts as we understand the today were nonexistent or in their infancy. Unlike the duels of later eras theses were legal sanctioned and a normal part of society. Elaborate ceremonies were performed at the end of which the two combatants would fight to the death. If one of the parties was unable to fight they could appoint a champion to defend their rights. By the time of our duel the law courts had largely taken over from trial by ordeal but they were still legal in most of Europe. Indeed a judicial duel would be fought more than 100 years later in England and were still technically legal there into the 19th century. Its novelty was one of the reasons so many esteemed personages and masses of common folk turned out on a cold December morning.
The participants in the duel were Sir Jean de Carrouges and Sir Jaques Le Gris (he was the man knighted moments before the duel began for propriety's sake). Marguerite de Thibouville watched helplessly as her husband Carrouges fought to save her life. The two men had long been rivals and were both being vassals of Count Pierre d'Alencon. Le Gris was a tall and powerfully built squire who was a favorite of the Count. Carrouges had sued Le Gris in court over what he viewed as the illegal sale of some of his wives dower lands to the Count who later gave them to Le Gris. In the winter of 1384, the men had met at a party and buried the hatchet at which point Carrouges introduced his new wife to Le Gris. This seemingly innocent encounter would begin the road to the bloody duel.
On January 18, 1386, Le Gris went to the chateau where Marguerite happened to be home alone. Le Gris's squire, Adam Louvel, banged on the door and demanded admittance. Louvel bore a message from Le Gris who claimed to be passionately in love with Marguerite and wanted to come into the home. Marguerite protested, but according to her account, Le Gris forced his way into the home. Once inside Le Gris offered Marguerite money if she would sleep with him. When she refused, Le Gris with the help of his squire, raped her. When he was done he threw a bag of coins on the bed and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She threw the coins back at him. Despite the Le Gris's threats when her husband returned home Marguerite told him of the attack.
Marguerite's husband believed her but in an all too common problem throughout history she found that few others did. Carrouges brought charges against Le Gris but form the outset there was problem. The arbiter of the case was Count Pierre who sided with his favorite Le Gris. Husband and wife knew they could never receive a fair judgment from him. But his decision was appealable to the Count's overlord, Charles VI of France. Carrouges filed the appeal and Le Gris filed two counter claims. First he charged Carrouges with liable for spreading the lie that he had raped Carrouges' wife. Second he charged Marguerite with perjury before the King. While accusations of sexual assault are often hard to prove into the modern day, the stakes in this case were infinitely higher. If the Court decided that Marguerite was not telling the truth the only sentence was death. The mere act of accusing her rapist imperiled her life. Likely with this in mind her husband threw down his literal gauntlet, in open court, challenging Le Gris to a duel. Le Gris perhaps unwisely accepted. It was considered unlikely that he would have been convicted on the appeal given the he said, she said, nature of the crime. The King at first decided that the appeal would progress through normal hearings, reserving the trial by combat in case a decision could not be reached. It may be some small comfort to know that since Adam Louvel was a commoner his testimony was required by law to be taken under torture. Medieval courts believed that commoners were incapable of telling the truth unless put to the question by torture. The court was impressed by Marguerite unwavering accusations with the full knowledge that she hazarded her life by merely accursing Le Gris. Le Gris's case was also hurt when one of his alibi witnesses was arrested for rape during the trial. However in the end the court was unwilling to believe Marguerite fully in absence of other witnesses and declared essentially a hung jury. In the absence of a clear outcome God would decide the contest of the field of honor.
The duel was conducted with the utmost solemnity. Before the duel begun, the King proclaimed that any one interfering win the duel would be killed and anyone yelling out in a way that could distract the combatants would lose a hand. At the Marshals signal both men spurred their warhorses forward. Three times they charged and their lancers rang off armor and shield, with thunderous impacts of steel on steel. On the last tilt both lances broke, their shields were thrown aside and their heavy axes drawn. Both men swung furiously at the other. Le Gris the bigger and stronger of the two, was able to gain the advantage by beheading Carrouges' warhorse. Carrouges leapt free of his dying mount and was able to nimbly avoid Le Gris while also mortally wounding his warhorse. Le Gris was thrown from his writhing warhorse but was able to draw his sword and the two met blade to blade.
Despite what Hollywood would tell you it is impossible for a sword to cut through full plate armor. Both men jockeyed for position attempting to find the gaps in the other's armor where a sword might find flesh. Le Gris used his superior strength to find a gap in Carrouges's thigh armor and plugged his sword in deep. Feeling triumph was at hand, Le Gris relaxed. At that moment Carrouges desperately lunged forward and tackled Le Gris. He knew he had to finish the duel before his wound left him unable to continue. Le Gris's size did him little good with the full weight of his and his opponent's armor pinning him to the ground. But still the fight was not over Carrouges could not find any gap in the magnificent armor with his sword while Le Gris struggled. Carrouges in desperation began beating at Le Gris' helmet's visor until it broke open. Carrouges threw away his sword and drawing his dagger, gave Le Gris one last chance to confess. Defiant to the end Le Gris shouted "in the name of God, and on the peril and damnation of my soul, I am innocent of the crime." This denial causing no miraculous reprieve, Carrouges plunged his dagger into Le Gris's throat, killing him instantly. With the fall of his dagger he had saved his life, his wife's life, and that of their unborn child.
Carrouges's victory was greeted with thunderous applause. He would survive his leg wound and was rewarded with many extravagant gifts by the King, including one thousand gold franks. He would live out his life as a rich and famous man. Le Gris' defeat was conclusive proof that he was a rapist in the eyes of the court. He was stripped of his armor and cloths, dragged through the streets of Paris, and his body hung from a gibbet among those of thieves and murders to rot in the sun. Carrouges hobbled along with Marguerite to Notre Dame Cathedral to thank God for aiding the just cause.
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Franklin County Bar Association
100 Lincoln Way East, Suite E, Chambersburg, PA 17201
director@franklinbar.org
717-267-2032
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