Always Read the Contract
by Anthony G . Mowry , Esq . Mowry Law Office
As it turns out , your author ’ s schedule requires him to write his bar article while on vacation ; pity him not , however , because as these words are written , your author ’ s stomach is full of the finest Venetian cicchetti and his lips are touched with Aperol and prosecco . He sits in a nondescript campo ( square ) in a nondescript café , watching the Venetians go hither and thither . That ’ s right , not the Venice we all know , but the Venezia on which your author ’ s fair home city is based . In keeping with that spirit , Dear Reader , allow your author to tell you a tale — a legal tale — of the Venetian Republic .
This tale begins with your author taking a walking tour through the streets of Venezia and , simultaneously , fretting about the impending Docket article deadline and the wrath of the executive director should your author not deliver his words on time . Many eclectic subjects passed through the mind — should this be a legal article , a travel journal , a restaurant review ? Then , as luck would have it , fate ( in the form of the tour guide ) intervened and delivered the perfect subject on a platter . That subject is the tale of Bartolomeo Colleoni .
Bartolomeo Colleoni was born in approximately 1400 in Bergamo to an exiled noble family . Bartolomeo Colleoni ’ s family had some issues ; the primary one being that his father ’ s cousin assassinated his father .
As an aside , your author would ask that you not cite his work for authority . As much as your author would like to say that he leafed through the dusty archives of the Archivio di Stato di Venezia , readers are reminded that he is on vacation . Thus , the majority of the details of this fine tale come from the finest source of knowledge in human history : Wikipedia .
Getting back to our tale , Signor ( Mr .) Colleoni escaped his father ’ s fate and became a soldier . A quite successful soldier as it turned out . Details your author will spare you because they are not necessary to the story . The important thing to know is that he served the Venetian Republic and , while in that service , recaptured great amounts of territory from the Duchy of Milan . Why ? Perhaps he remembered that the Duke of Milan ordered the murder of Signor Colleoni ’ s father by the hand of his own cousin . But one never knows and his motivation is lost to history ( or at least to Wikipedia ). In any event , Signor Colleoni served the Venetian Republic off and on for many years . He briefly rejoined Milan but was imprisoned for a time due to suspicion from the Duke of Milan . Some people never learn their lesson .
Ultimately , Signor Colleoni was appointed captain-general of the Republic of Venice . As some things remain constant through time , Signor Colleoni made a fortune after his retirement from government service . This , Dear Reader , is the part of this tale where we discover the legal issue . But first , let your author describe the nature of the legal issue . This issue , as is common among our craft , centers on the meaning of words . It is a cautionary tale about precision of language . Therefore , although it generally concerns an area of the law central to your author ’ s practice — that being the terms associated with the passing of money and property after a client ’ s unfortunate demise — the principal will be applicable to all of you , whether concerning real property , business transactions , or disputes fought about in courts of law .
You see , as a term of granting his considerable estate to the Republic of Venice in order to fight some far-off war , Signor Colleoni entered into a contract with the Republic . The most important term of the said contract
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