Gray v. Gardner Limerick:

Corey Bean, a student in my Contracts II case this semester, submits a limerick in honor of the old Massachusetts case Gray v. Gardner, which turns on the issue of whether the “arrival” of a ship of whale oil by a certain date was a condition precednet or condition subsequent under the contract:

There once was a man from Nantucket

Who bought sperm oil by the bucket,

And tried to evade

A contract he made

But the court did not let him duck it.

Lady Adams’s arrival just might

Not have provoked such a fight

But the parties did wrestle

Over whether the vessel

Must be anchored or only in sight.

Update:

Whoops–sorry, I didn’t realize that the line formatting was originally off. I’ve tried to fix it.