- [last lines]
- Paladin: Now, on the contempt charge against the prosecutor, I'd appreciate it if you'd fine him exactly one thousand dollars.
- Judge Bryant: Are you charging us for killing Beech?
- Paladin: No sir, for defending him.
- Paladin: Sir, this will be a legally constituted court, won't it?
- Judge Bryant: Tablerock District Territorial Circuit Court. Informal but legal.
- Paladin: Are you aware, sir, that the murder charges against the defendant are completely fraudulent?
- Judge Bryant: I'm a believer in reason and law. I felt the same way once. Until the good citizens of my home state impeached me for actually dispensing justice, logically and lawfully
- Paladin: And what does his Honour believe in now?
- Judge Bryant: What every honest man ultimately admits, my belly full, my skin intact.
- Paladin: Reason and law.
- Paladin: Now it is a remarkable facet of our system of jurisprudence. We take a perfectly ordinary chair, just like that one there, we put a supposed thoroughbred in it, and he immediately betrays himself by braying like a jackass.
- Paladin: If it please the court, may I call your attention to the fact that defence has no counsel.
- Judge Bryant: $25 fine for interrupting the proceedings.
- District Prosecutor Adams: All we need is one person to corroborate the Sherif's testimony.
- Paladin: You mean, tell the same story?
- District Prosecutor Adams: I don't need your help!
- Judge Bryant: Mr Paladin, this is not an elocution platform. The purpose of a trial is simply to determine whether or not the defendant is guilty.
- Paladin: Yes, sir, your Honour. And any other reason for holding a trial would be hypocrisy. I apologise for wasting the court's time on a matter so obvious.