Silent Witness

A slander case in Thailand was once settled by a witness who said nothing at all. The case, recounted in the memoirs of Justice Gerald Sparrow, a 20th century British barrister who served as a judge in Bangkok, involved two rival Chinese merchants: Swee Ho and Pu Lin. Pu Lin had stated sneeringly at a party that Swee Ho’s new wife, Li Bua, was merely a decoration to show how rich her husband was. Swee Ho, he said, could no longer “please the ladies”. Swee Ho sued Pu Lin for slander in the British consular court, claiming that Li Bua was his wife in every sense - and he won his case, along with substantial damages, without a word of evidence being taken. Swee Ho's lawyer simply put the blushing Li Bua in the witness box. She had long, gold-painted fingernails and she was quite obviously pregnant.