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The new lawyer
SECOND EDITION
Nickolas James
Rachael Field
Jackson Walkden-Brown
Second edition published 2019 by
John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall Street, Milton Qld 4064
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia.
The authors and publisher would like to thank the copyright holders, organisations and
individuals for their permission to reproduce copyright material in this book.
Every effort has been made to trace the ownership of copyright material. Information that will
enable the publisher to rectify any error or omission in subsequent editions will be welcome. In
such cases, please contact the Permissions Section of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
Printed in Singapore by
C.O.S. Printers Pte Ltd
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
BRIEF CONTENTS
Foreword viii
About the authors xiii
PART 1 Knowing 1
Index 526
CONTENTS
Foreword viii Private property 77
About the authors xiii Equality 81
Key terms 84
PART 1
Exercises 86
Knowing 1 Acknowledgements 86
CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 3
CONTENTS v
8.1 Legal reasoning 286 Reflective practice 376
What is ‘legal reasoning’? 286 Using feedback appropriately 380
The IRAC method 287 Resilience 384
Legal reasoning and logic 292 Hope and optimism 388
Legal reasoning and policy 302 Mindfulness 391
8.2 Critical thinking 304 Exercises 394
What is critical thinking? 304 Acknowledgements 394
Criteria-based judgement 305
Three types of critical thinking for law 306
PART 3
An act of thoughtful disobedience 308
Becoming a critical thinker 309 Being 395
8.3 Creative thinking 319
What is creative thinking? 319 CHAPTER 11
Creativity in law school and legal
practice 320
Being realistic 396
Becoming a creative thinker 321 Introduction 397
Key terms 323 11.1 Formalism vs realism 397
Exercises 324 Strict formalism 399
Acknowledgements 325 Moderate formalism 399
Legal realism 403
CHAPTER 9 Judicial activism 405
11.2 Law and power 407
Communication and Marxist legal theory 408
collaboration skills 326 Critical legal studies 409
Introduction 327 Postmodern legal theory 411
9.1 Communication skills 327 Feminist legal theory 417
The importance of effective communication Critical race theory 422
skills 327 Key terms 424
The objectives of legal communication 329 Exercises 424
Understanding the audience 335 Acknowledgements 425
9.2 Communicating effectively 338
CHAPTER 12
Written communication 338
Oral communication 346 Being committed to
Non-verbal communication 352
9.3 Collaboration skills 356
justice 426
The importance of effective collaboration Introduction 427
skills 356 12.1 The nature of justice 427
Collaborating effectively 358 Theories of justice 427
Key terms 364 Types of justice 429
Exercises 364 12.2 Access to justice 434
Acknowledgements 365 The problem 434
Some solutions 440
CHAPTER 10 12.3 Two social justice issues 448
Self-management Homelessness 448
Immigration detention 450
skills 366 Key terms 453
Introduction 367 Exercises 453
10.1 The importance of self-management 368 Acknowledgements 454
Mental health and wellbeing 368
10.2 Six self-management skills 371
Independent learning 372
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER 13 CHAPTER 14
Index 526
CONTENTS vii
FOREWORD
Professor Sally Kift wrote the foreword to the first edition in May 2012. We are reproducing it in the second
edition because many of the issues discussed are just as relevant now as they were back then. Professor
Kift’s foreword to this new edition follows immediately after as an addendum.
1 Sally Kift is President of the Australian Learning & Teaching Fellows, an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)
Senior Fellow, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and an ALTC Discipline Scholar: Law. She was formerly the Deputy
Vice Chancellor (Academic) James Cook University, a Professor of Law, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the inaugural
QUT Director, First Year Experience and an Assistant Dean (Teaching and Learning), QUT Faculty of Law.
2 Vincent Tinto, ‘Taking Student Retention Seriously: Rethinking the First Year of University’ (Paper presented at the FYE
Curriculum Design Symposium, Brisbane, 2009) <http://www.fyecd2009.qut.edu.au/resources/SPE_VincentTinto_5Feb09.pdf>.
3 Sally Kift, Mark Israel and Rachael Field, Bachelor of Laws Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Statement (ALTC
Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Project, 2010) <http://disciplinestandards.pbworks.com/w/page/52746378/Law>.
TLOs for the Juris Doctor (JD), a Masters Degree (Extended) level qualification under the Australian Qualifications Framework,
have also been developed over 2011?12. The JD TLOs have taken as their starting point the TLOs for the Bachelor of Laws.
4 The Australian Qualifications Framework — First Edition July 2011 <http://www.aqf.edu.au/>
5 See the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2011, a legislative instrument made under the TEQSA Act
2011, especially in this regard the Provider Course Accreditation Standards and the Provider Category Standards.
viii FOREWORD
As this book makes explicit, in accordance with the principles of transition pedagogy,6 law’s first year
must be designed carefully and intentionally to assist diverse student cohorts make the successful transition
to the nature and culture of legal learning, while also equipping them with the requisite knowledge, skills
and dispositions needed, not only to persist, but to be successful and independent over the course of their
degree, and for a lifetime of professional practice, the latter inevitably now characterised by challenges and
ideas unimaginable at the time of university study. For undergraduates new to higher education, especially
those from non-traditional backgrounds, the first-year experience of law may be exacerbated by the need
also to adjust to independent learning at the tertiary level, in all of its social, cultural, administrative and
academic facets. For graduates coming to law from other disciplines, a measure of guided ‘unlearning’
may need to be intentionally facilitated to aid transition from prior, and quite different, educational genres.
A great strength of this book is that it makes clear and explicit what is required for early learning success
in law by demystifying the often hidden rules, behaviours and habits that students require for success as
they strive for mastery of their new law student role.7 It does this by presenting and exampling fundamental
threshold concepts and foundational skills — including the skills of research, thinking, communication,
collaboration and study — in an engaging and accessible manner, while holding firm to uniformly high
expectations and standards of all students. This substance, together with the practical tips and guidance
provided, the pauses for reflection on learning, and the underlying requirement for students to engage
with an emergent sense of professional identity — what it is to think like a lawyer, to act responsibly and
ethically, and to promote the ideals of justice and public service — are everything that the academy, the
profession and society more broadly could wish for in a thoroughly modern legal education that better
prepares its students to take their place as ‘intellectually and morally responsible citizens’.8
But, as the marketers would say, ‘that’s not all’. Many other contemporary educational imperatives are
also addressed in this thoughtful and comprehensive first year treatise and, in its pages, both law teachers
and law students alike are provided with the tools required to respond and thrive in a crowded curriculum
landscape. Particularly, the more recent obligation to address well-founded and specific concerns around
the mental health of law students and the effect of law’s signature pedagogies on student wellbeing are
considered, while other, more perennial, issues regarding the assurance of deep learning engagement with
subject matter often perceived to be complex and dense are dealt with in the constructivist way through the
provision of opportunities to contextualise and make sense of learning by building on prior experiences
and establishing relevance through connection with contemporary issues and affairs. Law students’ and
graduates’ special obligations to our country’s Indigenous peoples, the desperately needed paradigm shift
to balance adversarial with alternative dispute resolution thinking and engagement with broad notions of
justice and global citizenry, round out this impressive first year curriculum roadmap.
As is obvious in the above, The New Lawyer is a learning-centred text written by three highly regarded
experts in legal education and the first year experience. It seeks to assure and enhance the quality of the
first-year student experience of law by explicitly engaging, motivating and supporting student learning.
It engages commencing law students through its dynamic writing style, appealing format, periodic
references to contemporary issues and events, and the use of flowcharts, checklists, diagrams, tables
and timelines. Acknowledging the diversity of career pathways open to law graduates, professional and
wider vocational relevance and opportunities are explored by providing explanations of how the material
canvassed relates, not only to the practice of law and broader professional responsibility, but also to the
acquisition of both generic and discipline-specific employability skills.
6 Sally Kift and Karen Nelson, ‘Beyond Curriculum Reform: Embedding the Transition Experience’ in Angela Brew, and Christine
Asmar (eds), Higher Education in a Changing World, Research and Development in Higher Education, (University of Sydney,
2005) 225 <http://conference.herdsa.org.au/2005/pdf/refereed/paper_294.pdf>; Sally Kift, Final Report for ALTC Senior Fellowship
Program (ALTC, 2009) <http://www.fyhe.qut.edu.au/transitionpedagogy/>.
7 PJ Collier and DL Morgan, ‘“Is that Paper Really Due Today?”: Differences in first-generation and traditional college students’
understandings of faculty expectations’ (2008) 55(4) Higher Education 425.
8 Margaret Davies, ‘University Culture or Intellectual Culture?’ in B Brecher, O Fleischmann and J Halliday (eds), The University
in a Liberal State (Ashgate Publishing (Avebury Series), 1996) 24.
FOREWORD ix
The book motivates student learning by promoting active and authentic learning. It does this by
modelling, and explicitly requiring students to practise, what they need to do with the knowledge they are
acquiring; all of the domains — knowledge, skills and dispositions and their practical applications — are
canvassed in the pages that follow, and no one domain is privileged to the detriment of another. The book
includes in each chapter regular self-directed learning exercises, practical exercises for the development
of important foundational legal skills, exercises that promote student collaboration, and prompts and tasks
that require students to apply their learning to practical situations.
Finally, the book supports student learning by encouraging both reflective and independent learning. It
does this by including specific material on how to be a reflective practitioner and an independent learner,
exercises that require students to engage in independent learning (for example, particularly in relation to
legal research skills development), prompts requiring students to reflect upon what they have learned, and
tasks requiring students to reflect upon their own views and beliefs.
As legal educators, we have a responsibility to ensure that the first-year experience of law is inclusive,
engaging, supportive, intentional, relevant and social. This book is an invaluable tool for ensuring
compliance with that responsibility. It is a fresh and innovative re-imagining of the contemporary first year
of legal education. I strongly commend this book and offer my warmest congratulations on a significant
accomplishment to both its authors and its publisher, John Wiley & Sons.
May 2012
9 Australasian Legal Practice Management Association, Preparing Australasian Law Firms for a Digital, Divergent, Differentiated
Future (2015) <https://www.alpma.com.au/Research/download-the-2015-alpma-lexisnexis-research-report
10 Juris Doctor Threshold Learning Outcomes, Endorsed by the Council of Australian Law Deans, March 2012 <http://
disciplinestandards.pbworks.com/w/file/57628366/JD%20TLOs%20(March%202012).pdf>.
11 World Economic Forum, The future of jobs: Employment, skills and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution (2016)
19. <http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs.pdf>.
x FOREWORD
challenges of a tech-enabled profession. In order for the new lawyer to thrive in the face of professional
disruption, they will need to be cognisant of technology’s capabilities, able to harness those affordances
appropriately, interpret and leverage the outputs delivered and, most critically, be predisposed and
ethically confident enough to challenge it all. It is interesting to observe, then, that frequently nominated
twenty-first century skills coalesce around many of those already commonplace in core Australian legal
curricula pursuant to Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) requirements,12 the TLO statement(s),13
and university articulations of graduate attributes. They include: communication (TLO 5), collaboration
(TLO 5), critical thinking (TLO 3), problem solving (TLO 3), creativity (TLO 3) and self-management
(TLO 6 in various of its behavioural aspects). Particularly, as regards the last of these, as encompassed in
TLO 6, self-agency, agentic career self-management, resilience, mental health and wellbeing are now more
critical than ever before for an uncertain world of future legal work. Any laundry list of other desirable
twenty-first century skills might include digital literacies, design thinking, entrepreneurship, enterprise,
innovation and interdisciplinarity — each of which, it is suggested, is underpinned by the core thinking
skills of problem solving, criticality and creativity (TLO 3), and enabled by well-developed interpersonal
competencies (TLOs 5 and 6) and the ‘the intellectual and practical skills needed to identify, research,
evaluate and synthesise relevant factual, legal and policy issues’ (TLO 4). The lawyering aspects that are
less automatable (for the time being at least) also come to the fore; for example, ethical judgement (TLO 2),
strategy and creativity (TLO 4), and empathy and social intelligence (TLO 5). It is reassuring that each
of these variously required twenty-first century skills finds nuanced and contemporary resonance in the
TLOs’ broad articulation and their treatment in this book.
When setting the context for educating the new lawyer, it is salient to recall that, underpinning the
quality of Australian legal education, sits the Higher Education Standards Framework 2015 (which has
been amended since its initial articulation in 2012). Those Standards explicitly require that both course
design and its legal educator proponents assure currency and contemporary relevance. In every respect —
course content, curriculum design, pedagogy and the purveying of it all — the requirement is to engage
with current knowledge, scholarship, research and ‘advances in practice’.14 The New Lawyer does this and
more.
As we look to the future of legal education, as this book so ably demonstrates, ’The kids are alright’, to
channel the then President of the Law Council of Australia in 2017.15 We do need to be vigilant around
assuring a more diverse and representative profession, given recent research findings that law, in common
with medical studies, has poor participation rates for students from low socio-economic status and regional
backgrounds — this being particularly the case in the elite Group of 8 (Go8) universities.16 While much
has changed in law and legal education, the pressing need for a new approach to professional accreditation
remains unfinished business:17 the ‘dead hand of Priestley’,18 with its sole focus on the prescription of
FOREWORD xi
legal content knowledge, has long passed its use-by-date; the core/elective subject area designation is more
contentious than ever; NewLaw suggests specialisation rather than broad coverage; and there is serious talk
of the need to expand the mandatory curriculum beyond fields of substantive law, to develop, for example,
technology and business acumen and non-legal skills.
These last matters — assuring professional diversity and re-imagining accreditation — illustrate the
next great challenge for our profession. In a way that has not happened before, we need to ramp up our
full collective and creative effort, with all disciplinary arms working in concert — educators, government,
practicing profession, judiciary, accrediting bodies, regulators, students and graduates alike — to build a
shared vision for a sustainable, relevant, future professional state, with easy and routine access to lifelong
upskilling and retraining as further, inevitable, disruption will require. This is another demand of The New
Lawyer. This work is to be commended for the contribution it makes and will undoubtedly continue make
to that next exciting phase of our profession’s metamorphosis.
October 2018
xii FOREWORD
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nickolas James
Professor Nick James is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Law at Bond University. He is a former
commercial lawyer, and has been practicing as an academic since 1996. His areas of teaching expertise
include business and commercial law, ‘law in society’ and legal theory, company law, the law of succession
and property law. He has won numerous awards for his teaching including a National Citation for
Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning. He is the author of three texts: Business Law, Critical
Legal Thinking and The New Lawyer (with Rachael Field). He has written numerous journal articles, book
chapters and conference papers in the areas of legal education, critical thinking and critical legal theory.
Professor James is the Director of the Centre for Professional Legal Education, Executive Editor of the
Legal Education Review, and Chair of the Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA).
Rachael Field
Rachael is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at Bond University, and a member of the executive committee
of the Centre for Professional Legal Education. Her areas of research expertise include dispute resolution,
legal education, family law and domestic violence. Rachael has received a number of national teaching
awards including a national citation in 2008, a national teaching fellowship in 2010 (through which
she developed curriculum practices for the promotion of law student wellbeing) and a national teaching
excellence award in 2014. Rachael is an Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow, member of the Fellows
Executive and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She co-chairs the annual STARS
conference, which has a focus on student success in tertiary education. Rachael founded the Australian
Wellness Network for Law in 2010, and is now expanding it internationally. In 2010, Rachael contributed
significantly to the drafting of the Threshold Learning Outcomes for law, which have had national and
international impact. Rachael is also co-founder of the Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network.
She has a portfolio of more than 80 scholarly publications many of which are legal education focussed,
and is co-author of four books. Rachael has volunteered at Women’s Legal Service, Brisbane, since 1993,
and has been president of the Service since 2004. In 2013 Rachael was named Queensland Woman Lawyer
of the Year.
Jackson Walkden-Brown
Assistant Professor Jackson Walkden-Brown has been teaching law at Bond University since 2004. His
principal areas of teaching and research include legal foundations, animal law and entertainment law. He
has designed curricula for a significant number of compulsory, elective and clinical law subjects for both
traditional and online delivery. Jackson has been recognised for teaching excellence with awards in 2004,
2006, 2008, 2016 and 2018. For most of his academic career, Jackson has also maintained a part-time
practice as a legal practitioner, specialising in copyright and entertainment law. He has a keen interest in
exploring the digital disruption of legal services and embracing technological advances to develop new and
innovative ways to deliver cost-effective legal services to his clients. Jackson also has extensive practical
experience in the pro bono sector and an ongoing relationship with numerous community legal centres and
volunteer organisations.
KNOWING
In part 1, ‘Knowing’, we address the broad areas of knowledge that must be understood by every new
law student. On completing part 1 you will know about:
4 PART 1 Knowing
work can be challenging because it requires you to be able to empathise with clients in order to understand
their needs and concerns. It also requires you to be able to objectively analyse those needs and concerns
in order to identify the relevant legal issues that must be managed or dealt with, and to apply the relevant
law to those issues in order to develop a workable response within the confines of the law that is in the
client’s interests.
8 PART 1 Knowing
In this section we begin by explaining some of the important changes to the practice of law and the
delivery of legal services. We then examine the differences between the two traditional career paths
available to law graduates: becoming a solicitor and becoming a barrister. Finally, we describe the various
work sectors in which a law graduate may find employment: the private sector, the public sector, the
community sector, and alternative career options such as the academy. This list is certainly not exhaustive
in terms of identifying all of your options on graduation. There are many other job opportunities for
legal practitioners, and many law graduates end up using their knowledge of the law and their practical
legal skills in a range of non-legal careers including senior management, diplomacy, journalism, business
ownership and policy development.
A changing profession
The legal profession is undergoing significant change in Australia and abroad. The key drivers of change
are the internationalisation of legal practice, the increasing diversification of legal service delivery models
and the digital disruption of the legal practice.
Internationalisation is transforming the practice of law in numerous ways. The clients served by legal
practitioners are no longer restricted to the jurisdiction in which the legal practitioner happens to be
working. Lawyers and law firms advise and represent individual clients based in other countries and
organisations that themselves operate across multiple jurisdictions. Also, the transactions in which the
clients engage and the disputes in which the clients require advice and representation increasingly cross
borders and require the resolution and application of an array of different laws.
The last few years have seen the emergence of a wide range of new businesses that have identified ways
to deliver legal services in innovative new ways. These new business models are generally referred to
collectively as ‘NewLaw’, an expression intended to cover any model, process or tool that is designed to
provide legal services in a significantly different manner to the traditional means of delivery. There is no
doubt that it is an exciting time to be a lawyer for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit!
Recent advances in technology are significantly changing the way legal information is communicated,
authenticated, gathered and analysed. The so-called ‘digital disruption’ of legal practice has become the
subject of many conferences, law classes and water cooler discussions. At present, disruptive technologies
driving the automation of repetitive tasks are creating the biggest waves. The use of artificial intelligence
(AI) to provide legal services is also a hot topic in legal circles, and many law firms are already adopting
AI technologies to boost efficiency.
All of these changes to the legal profession have prompted some people to claim that legal professionals
may in fact become redundant at some point in the future. The majority of commentators, however,
continually emphasise those aspects of legal services delivery that can’t be replicated by technology —
delivery in an empathetic, commercially realistic and ethical manner in the context of a genuine human
connection between the lawyer and the client. We encourage you as a ‘new lawyer’ to remain positive and
embrace the opportunities that flow with the changing tides.
FLAMIANO A VASQUIRAN
No me contenta lo que dizes
porque no satisfaze a lo que digo;
yo te digo que ninguna cosa se
haze sin esperança de algun fin,
como vemos claramente.
Dexando agora lo de arriba que
no es razon que en ello
hablemos, pero en lo de acá;
¿porqué seruimos al rey a quien
deuida obligacion nos obliga? ¿no
le seruimos por lo que somos
obligados? Si. Si pues le somos
obligados, ¿porqué nos
quexamos si de nuestros
seruicios algun seruicio no nos
haze, e si de nuestros fauores
algun galardon no alcançamos? Y
por consiguiente de nuestros
mismos padres lo mismo
queremos e si no lo hazen lo
mismo quexamos, y aun como el
vulgo dize, a los santos no querria
seruir si galardon no esperasse,
pues para seruir a estos no nos
fallesce amor, pero si satisfecha
no es nuestra voluntad no nos
falta quexa, e quanto mal
nuestros seruicios e voluntad han
sido, tanto más nos da pena e
congoxa lo poco que nos es
agradecido. Luego ¿qué hare
qu'en satisfacion de lo que bien
quiero soy aborrecido que es el
mayor mal, en pago de mis
seruicios e passion no alcanço
mas de disfauores, menosprecios,
desdenes e mill ultrajes? Pues si
mi querer no puede mudarse, mi
passion no puede afloxar,
esperança de más no la espero,
remedio no le hay ni le hallo, qué
mayor mal quieres quel mio?
VASQUIRAN A FLAMIANO
Harto es poco tu mal si más razon
no tienes de la que dizes para él;
muy lexos van tus palabras e
razones de tus congoxas, pero o
hagamos que sea como dizes, o
llevemos las cosas por razon;
digamos lo que dizes que sea
razon, que sin la razon que nos
obliga seruir al rey deuamos
esperar mercedes e satisfacion
de nuestros seruicios e hagamos
ygual este seruir con lo que a
Belisena sirues; yo quiero que
assi sea como dizes e ansi te
mostraré como en una manera no
tienes razon de quexarte y en otra
te mostraré como eres satisfecho.
Digo que no has razon desta
manera. Los seruicios que tú al
rey hazes en que le sirues? O le
sirues en sus guerras y
conquistas en guarda e defension
de su persona y estado, o en
acrecentamiento de sus reynos
con peligro de la tuya, o le sirues
en la paz acompañandole e
siguiendo su corte con mucha
costa que te cuesta, de manera
que todos tus seruicios son
buenos e merecen hauer bien.
Pues veamos a Belisena si la
sirues en nada de esto. Digo que
no. ¿Pues en qué la sirues?
¿Sabes en qué? En apocar su
honrra, en alterar su fama, en
poner en juyzio de mal
sospechantes su bondad, en
todas las cosas que peor juyzio le
pueden hazer, en dessear por tu
bien su mal, o por tu voluntad su
mengua. Y quiereslo ver? El
mayor bien e mas honesto que en
tu desseo pudiesse hauer seria
que sin cargo alcanzasses lo que
de otra dama que ygual te fuesse
alcançar podrias; pues eso no se
podria hazer sin que ella de su
estado al tuyo baxase, luego mal
le desseas. Podrias dessear que
Dios te subiesse a tanto que
ygual le fuesses? La pena que
desto recibirias no te la da ella
sino lo que en ti falta. Luego sin
razon te quexarias. Tornando al
proposito digo que si al rey
siruiesses en cosa que le
perjudicasse, ni él te lo deueria
agradecer, ni tú quexarte de su
ingratitud. Pero aun de otra
manera digo que eres satisfecho
de lo que te quexas; bien sabes tú
que hay muchas maneras de
seruicios en las quales hay
algunas que en la misma obra
dellas está el galardon, estas son
aquellas de que obrandolas
ganamos honrra, pues que esta
es la cosa mas desseada como
sea señalarse el hombre en una
batalla de campo o de tierra, en
otra semejante afrenta hecha en
seruicio de señor o persona tal o
de que el que la haze, assi por
señalarse, como por la calidad de
aquel a quien sirue, queda
honrrado. Pues parecete a ti que
solo este nombre sea poca gloria
e fama e honrra? tú sabes que es
mucha ser seruidor de quien eres
siendo más publico que oculto, no
pueden tanto merecer tus
teruicios que esto no sea más; no
seran jamas tan grandes tus
passiones e tormentos que esta
gloria mayor no sea; ningun dia
puedes tanto penar que su vista
no te dé mas descanso, ninguna
congoxa te puede dar tu desseo
que tu pensamiento no te dé
mayor gloria. Mi mal es de doler
por que en él no hay remedio; en
los plazeres agenos yo peno; en
las passiones e males de los
otros, los mios se doblan, y esto
te basta para que esta question
baste, e acabo.
RESPUESTA DE FLAMIANO
Poco a poco me echarias de la
tierra con tus argumentos de
logico, ante que lo fagas quiero
tornar al comienço de nuestra
question e digo que nunca mis
males menos de grandes los
senti, ni nunca los tuyos más de
pequeños los juzgué; desta
manera que a mi se me figura
como nunca otra cosa conoci, que
mal es que ningun mal con el mio
se yguala.
La lengua es vn instrumento en
qu'el dolor del coraçon suena, e
desta manera la mia haze el son
que oyes. A ti como el plazer has
perdido figurasete que tienes
mucha raçon e que pues que la
raçon es mucha que la causa es
grande; assi que te quexas como
quien mucho bien ha perdido, yo
me quexo como quien mucho mal
ha passado e passa y el bien
nunca vió. Pues si tú has habido
bien e grande, yo mal e grande, tú
has sabido qué es bien, yo sé que
es mal; agora tú sabes qué es
bien e mal; yo mal e mal; claro
está qué más mal es el mio que el
tuyo. A mi me parece qu'es tanta
mi pena que con el más penado
trocaria, creyendo que no es tanta
la suya. Tú goçando tu bien tan
contento estauas, que con el más
gozoso no trocaras, creyendo que
no hauia más bien que goçar. Yo
querria saber a qué sabe por
juzgar tu perdida quanto es
grande, porque a mi se me figura
que el mayor daño mio es el mal
con que tú lo hazes menor,
diziendo que pues nunca tuve
bien, que no puedo sentir qué es
mal; yo digo que harto mal es
saber qué es bien, despues
passar mal, pero mayor es nunca
saber qué es sino mal, y aun te
digo vna cosa, pues los consuelos
que tú me das bastarian para vn
rustico que nunca de ningun bien
gozó e poco del le pareceria
mucho, o para un grosero que en
su entendimiento no entra ni lo
que dessear se deue, ni lo que
penar se puede, que este con
cualquier cosa que le acaeciesse
seria satisfecho como tú quieres
que yo haga, pero para mi que
desseo lo que dessearse puede
de bien e padezco lo que padecer
se puede de mal, no me parece
que yerro como dizes, ante que
tengo raçon de llorar de mis
males su dolor e de los bienes
agenos su enuidia. E assi estó
puesto en el estremo que vees
para no poder venir en
conocimiento de tu raçon, porque
todo lo que hablamos tiene dos
sentidos; tú les das el que te
parece ó sientes, yo les doy el
que parece o siento, e assi seria
insoluble nuestra porfia. Ponerla
en manos de quien la determine
no la consiente su causa, mejor
seria dexarla suspensa.
RESPUESTA DE VASQUIRAN
No quiero, Flamiano, que
suspensa quede, sino que se
determine e que tú seas el juez, e
no quiero sino en breve darte la
determinacion que has de hazer,
y es que juzgues qual de nosotros
más mal padece, que esto es
todo el fin desta question. Tu mal
no puede ser mucho sino siendo
grande el amor que a Belisena
tienes, e si tal no es, no es tal tu
mal como dizes. Si tal no es,
como dizes, fingido seria, e assi
seria mayor el mio. Pues si tú
quieres mucho como yo creo e
creo que tu passion es grande,
mas digo que la mia es mayor. Tú
dizes que querrias saber a qué
sabe mi mal por mejor juzgarlo;
bien sé que no lo dizes por lo que
agora yo padezco sino por lo que
he gozado. Mal has hablado,
porque no podrias saber lo vno e
lo otro sino passando por todo,
pero pues que dicho lo has,
sobr'esto quiero hazerte juez de la
causa. Hagamos agora que la
uentura te ayudasse para que de
Belisena gozasses ni mas ni
menos que yo de Violina; que tu
gozo y el tiempo e vuestras
voluntades conformes fuessen
tanto e con tanto contentamiento
como el nuestro fue, con tal
condicion que Dios dende agora
te contentasse, e que a cabo de
otro tanto tiempo tu señora en tu
poder muriesse en tu presencia y
tú sin ella quedasses como yo sin
la mia he quedado qual me vees,
aceptarlo yas? Di la verdad e
conoceras que si mi gozo fue
grande, que mi mal es grande, e
que si tú agora tan gran gozo
alcançabas que seria mayor tu
bien que agora es tu mal; pues
desta manera quando tan gran
bien perdiesses, quál seria mayor
mal, el que entonces sentirias en
perderlo, o el que agora sientes
en dessearlo? No te quiero mas
dezir; juzga lo que querras, que si
esto niegas, quanto has dicho
negarás e seria fengido de lo que
padeces.
RESPUESTA DE FLAMIANO
Mejor seria, Vasquiran, qu'esta
question no houiessemos
començado, que no que a este
paso houiessemos llegado,
porque temo que la ponçoña de
nuestras passiones nuestras
amistades alteren.
No puedo responderte a esta
partida porque en mi boca no
puede caber tal raçon, ni quisiera
que en la tuya houiera cabido; no
ha hecho Dios los dias de
Belisena para que en nuestras
lenguas termino les pongamos,
no por comparacion como agora
has hecho. Baste esto, que
todauia me parece segund lo que
siento que es verdad lo que digo;
creo que lo mismo hazes. El mal
de los infernados tenemos, qu'el
menos penado trocaria con el que
más pena, juzgando mayor la
suya que la del otro; yo me refiero
a lo que he dicho e tú no menos.
Dexemos nuestro processo
abierto, determinenlo los que lo
leyeren, pues que ya está
determinado que cada vno de
nosotros tiene tan poca alegria,
que no nos cabe llorar duelos
ajenos.
Mudemos la platica en otras
cosas, que pues que tan poco
plazer tenemos, pesar no nos
faltará sin que le busquemos.
Bien sé que sabes que tu mal
más que a nadie me duele, bien
sé que mi descanso mas que otro
lo desseas. El dia que fuymos a
casa de la señora duquesa me
parece que te vi hablar con la
señora Yssiana; no me soy
acordado agora de pedirte qué
passaste con ella; agora que me
acuerdo, te aviso que te guardes,
que tiene mala mano. Podria ser
que si mucho la mirasses, que
como agora de tu mal plañes que
del mio llorasses, e quiça
entonces juzgarias de nuestra
question lo que agora no
conosces.
RESPUESTA DE VASQUIRAN
Bien sabia que a tal estrecho te
hauia de traer como has llegado.
En tu alteracion conozco lo que
en mi passion conoces, hacerte
quiero contento, mudasme de
nuevas, quiero te responder a lo
que pides. Lo que con essa
señora passé, fue que
hallandome la señora Belisena,
ella se llegó con nosotros e
dixome que me esforçase e me
allegrase, que no juzgaba menos
discrecion en mi seso, que dolor
en mi pesar, e que la fortuna me
pudo quitar lo que pudo, pero no
la virtud que en mí quedaua que
era más. Yo le respondi que Dios
le diesse tanta parte del bien en la
tierra, quanto de su hermosura le
hauia dado de la del cielo, pues
que estaua en ella más aparejado
el merecer para ello, que en mí el
consuelo para ser alegre, e que
bien sabia yo que si possible
fuera que en mí pudiera haber de
remedio para mi tristeça
esperança, que della a solas la
esperaua, pero que no solo me
faltaua remedio, mas esperança
dél. Respondiome que no hauia
cosa sin remedio viniendo, e que
lo mucho que le dolia verme tal, y
el desseo que tenia de verme con
menos tristeça le offrecia a
consentirme que la siruiesse, e
que dello seria contenta, e que
assi me aceptaua por su seruidor
con prometimiento de
fauorecerme de manera que sin
perjuicio suyo que algo de mi
congoxa afloxaria. Yo le respondi
que lo hauia por impossible. E por
no poderle más responder al
presente, la enbié despues estas
coplas sobre el caso mesmo.
LO QUE SE CONCERTO
ACABADO LA HABLA
ENTRE ELLOS DOS
Assi pussieron silencio por
entonces en su contienda,
mudando en otras cosas su
passatiempo, e dende a pocos
dias, estando vn dia sobre tabla
razonando el vno con el otro,
Flamiano con muy ahincados
ruegos rogo a Vasquiran que
quissiese ser contento que los
dos tuviessen vna tela de justa
real, pues que avnque cosa de
fiesta e plazer fuesse para los
atribulados del mal que ellos lo
estauan, tanto para publicar sus
apassionados dolores daua
aparejo como a los alegres e
contentos de plazer les abria
camino. Porque no holgauan
menos los vnos en manifestar su
mal, que los otros en publicar su
bien con sus intenciones, e que
en esto no solo él haria señalada
gracia e merced, mas aun a todas
las damas haria gran seruicio. A
lo qual Vasquiran le respondio:
Verdaderamente, Flamiano, más
aparejo hay en mi para llorar
como vees, que no para justar
como quieres, pero pues que el
amistad nuestra me forço en tal
tiempo venir a verte, e el amor
que te tengo me obliga a
complazerte en todo lo que
possible me será. Assi que
ordena lo que te parecera, que de
aquello sere contento, no en esto
que es poca cosa, mas donde la
vida e honrra en todo peligro se
pussiese lo seria. En especial que
yo recibo tanta pena en ver la que
con la mia te doy, que desseo
hallar algo con que te pueda
complazer. Flamiano
agradeciendoselo mucho,
respondio: Si tan complido te
hiziera la fortuna de ventura como
de virtud, jamas viuieras
descontento. E assi los dos
caualgaron disfraçados e se
fueron a casa del cardenal de
Brujas que era vn notable
cauallero e mancebo, e tan
inclinado a las cosas de la
caualleria, aunque perlado,
quanto en el mundo lo houiesse,
e assi llegados a su posada,
retraydos todos tres a solas, su
pensamiento e a lo que eran
ydos, le hizieron saber, de lo qual
él holgo demasiadamente. Pues
en la misma hora, todos tres
vestidos de mascara, al palacio
del visorey se fueron. El qual con
mucho plazer los recibio, e assi
todos quatro en la camara de su
guarda ropa sentados a vna
ventana que sale sobre la mar,
hablaron todo el caso porque alli
eran venidos, e con mucho
contentamiento e plazer fue dello
contento. E hauiendo assi estado
vna gran pieça de la tarde, los
tres se tornaron a casa del
cardenal, donde cenaron con
muchos otros caualleros que alli
acostumbrauan venir a comer, y
en la cena se publicó la tela que
querian tener, lo qual puso en
mucho plazer e regocijo a todos.
E hauiendo cenado, en presencia
de todos, se ordenó el cartel con
las condiciones siguientes e
diosse a vn albardan que la
pregonasse.