- English translation
Right sides with whoever has horns.
- Literal wording
The right is a butting one.
- Meaning and lesson
A mocking verdict on justice that has been purchased. When rivals each bring something to the person judging them, the one whose offering is worth more wins the decision, and the saying dresses that sale up as if it were a principled ruling.
The butting creature is central to the joke: it stands for the bigger, costlier gift, a horned animal that easily outweighs a lesser present. Calling it the right is irony. The phrase exposes a corrupt outcome and laughs at it rather than claiming that fairness prevailed.
- When it is used
Use it with dry sarcasm when a judge, official or arbiter rules for the side that paid more, or when any contest seems settled by the richer gift. It is a jab at bribery and venality, never a sincere statement that justice triumphed.
Cite or copy proverb
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