“Well, then, the moment there is a patent case one can see it before the case is opened, or called in the list. How can we see it? We can see it by a pile of books as high as this invariably… Now, what is the result of all this? Why that a man had better have his patent infringed, or have anything happen to him in this world, short of losing all his family by influenza, than have a dispute about a patent. His patent is swallowed up, and he is ruined. Whose fault is it? It is really not the fault of the law; it is the fault of the mode of conducting the law in a patent case. This is what causes all this mischief.”

—  William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher

Ungar, v. Sugg (1892) 9 RPC 113, at 116

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William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher 16
British lawyer, judge and politician 1815–1899

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