DAUMIER, H. - Dites donc, confrère, vous allez soutenir aujourd'hui contre moi absolument ce que je plaidais il y a trois semaines, dans une cause identique... hé hé hé!.. c'est drôle!..

Second state (of 2), with text, numbered 14. From "Les Gens de Justice", published " Chez Auber & Cie, Pl. de la Bourse,29".
Translated text below image : Listen dear colleague, you will be pleading against me today the exact case I pleaded three weeks ago against you... isn't that funny....
- And I will reply to you in your own words, you .... this is really great... in case of need we can prompt each other... ha, ha, ha.

Around the mid-1840s Daumier started publishing his famous caricatures depicting members of the legal profession, known as 'Les Gens de Justice', a scathing satire about judges, defendants, attorneys and corrupt, greedy lawyers in general. A number of extremely rare albums appeared on white paper, covering 39 different legal themes, of which 37 had previously been published in the Charivari. It is said that Daumier's own experience as an employee in a bailiff's office during his youth may have influenced his rather negative attitude towards the legal profession.

Known chiefly as a political and social satirist, Honoré DAUMIER (1808-1879) used the printmaking process of lithography, still relatively new at the time, to contribute cartoons and caricatures to French news weeklies.