On July 22, 1946, Dr. Friedrich Bergold, counsel for the absent Martin Bormann, argued that the court had no jurisdiction to try Bormann in absentia. Judge Lawrence reminded him that that decision had been made in the affirmative. Bergold tried to persuade the Tribunal to withhold judgment until either Bormann was declared dead or could appear. He concluded with an old Middle Ages adage used in Nuremberg: "The Nurembergers would never hang a man they did not hold."
