Judge — June 18, 1887 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "How Justice Slips Up" This June 1887 *Judge* cartoon satirizes judicial incompetence through the metaphor of a banana peel. The title—"The same old Banana Peel!"—suggests justice repeatedly stumbles through preventable foolishness. The scene depicts a courtroom where a figure (likely representing the judiciary or legal system) has slipped on a banana peel, sprawling undignified across the floor while a judge presides unmoved from the bench. Onlookers in formal dress observe the mishap. The satire mocks how the justice system fails through carelessness or avoidable errors rather than principled difficulty. By portraying justice's downfall as comedic and self-inflicted—slipping on something trivial—the cartoon criticizes the legal establishment's bungling and suggests systemic problems stem from negligence rather than circumstance.