es not
differ greatly from primitive man, whose conception of legality is that
of a collection of concessions for himself and prohibitions for others.
To be sure, a tendency to excessive litigation is occasionally met with
in what appear to be normal people. Such pursuits, however, become
pathological when they are based upon a delusional interpretation of
actual occurrences or upon actual delusions, and are not amenable to
reason.

According to Tanzi[3] the theme underlying the delusional system of
litigious paranoiacs is avarice, and the whole may be looked upon as the
slow and permanent triumph of a preconception. "The paranoiacal
preconception gradually conquers all evidence to the contrary, and in
spite of reality, public opinion and common sense, it becomes organized
into a cooerdinated system of errors which become the tyrants of the
intellectual personality and remove it by degrees outside the bounds of
normality." The litigant constantly busies himself with his grievances,
loses all interest in everything else, and begins to fight for his
rights. He stops at no means and is the bane of judges and court
officials. Naturally, he has to be refused all aid, either because he is
unjust or because the courts find no remedy for his troubles. He refuses
to settle actual grievances, carries the case from one court to another
and finally develops an insatiable desire to fight to the bitter end.
The statutes appear to him inadequate and even the fundamental
principles of law fail him. He cannot abide by the ultimate decision
after all the usual means of justice have been exhausted. In his
attempts to gain justice he writes to magistrates, legislators and
various other people in prominence. It is only after years of persistent
misfortune both to himself and the objects of his delusions, which only
serve to harden him against his fortunate opponents, his incapable
lawyers, the corrupt judges and his ignorant and craven-hearted
relatives, that this master of procedure is betrayed into the expression
of threats or the commitment of some other offense which conveys him
summarily from the civil to the criminal courts, and the unrepentant
pursuer becomes the defendant, unless, indeed, the insane asylum has
become his refuge. (Tanzi.)

This is precisely what happened with the patients whose histories are
here recorded. With all this the paranoiac remains plausible, converses
rationally and coherently, shows himself to be exceed