Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/249

Rh evidently most dangerous trades; effective regulation of the use of urban land; and the use of the powers of taxation and eminent domain for the purpose of furthering schemes to provide aid for the needy classes"

Current discussion during the last presidential campaign centered a good deal about the recall of judges and "the recall of judicial decisions." Many high-minded and conscientious men strenuously object to both of these proposals. But whether they mark so radical a departure from the present order as to be wholly out of the question is more than doubtful. Every advance in popular government has excited the fears of many God-fearing men. The abolishment of the property and religious qualifications for the suffrage meant to many the speedy downfall of our institutions. An electoral college merely registering the will of the people seemed the height of folly to most of the fathers. But a short time ago, the limitation of the veto power of the lords in England seemed impracticable. These facts suggest that the recall of judges and "the recall of judicial decisions" are matters which a rational being may at least dispassionately consider.

The recall of judges by legislative address already exists in several of the states, but it is rarely exercised. Moreover, in the states where the judges are elected and are subject to reelection at the end of their term of office, one would expect to find numerous and glaring examples of the evils like those which the judicial recall is supposed to invite, and yet I am not aware of a popular movement in any one of these states which looks towards electing judges for life or substituting an appointive for an elective judiciary. On the contrary, in some of these very states there is a formidable movement for the judicial recall. It is true that the public has now and then foolishly dispensed with the services of an eminent jurist for one that is grossly incompetent. The loss of Judge Cooley to the Supreme Court of Michigan is a conspicuous instance. But then again, Judge Gary who presided at the trial of the Chicago anarchists was repeatedly reelected. The disadvantages which attend an elective judiciary are apparently more than offset in the popular mind by the advantages. The actual working of the judicial recall would manifestly depend very largely upon the safeguards thrown around its. operation. After all, the stronghold of the judiciary does not lie in its technical independence, but in the traditional respect in which it is held. So great is this respect that it is probable the recall would rarely be applied to judges save on the ground of malfeasance in office. Probably no state can boast of a more independent and upright judiciary than Massachusetts, where judges can be removed by the governor and