The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit

Richard Harris turns a farmer's lawsuit into a comic argument for reforming legal procedure. His prefaces describe a system whose expense and delay can overwhelm ordinary people while giving wealthy litigants an advantage. The chapter headings take Mr. Bumpkin from country life into London, where court business sits alongside encounters with the city's people and institutions. Harris writes as a barrister, using fiction to bring professional grievances before a wider public.

The humour extends beyond legal machinery. In a playful exchange, the narrator and his wife debate whether fictional characters obey their author, while Sergeant Goodtale's company trades songs and drinks. Joe contributes a sermon retold in rustic verse, adding another voice to the prose narrative. Readers interested in courtroom satire will find a book that connects questions of access to justice with conversation, provincial speech and comic social observation.