Page:Ricarte v. State.pdf/5

104 testimony of the other. The point has been ruled upon in six or more jurisdictions, with all the courts enforcing the particular statute as it was written. See Wigmore on Evidence, § 2230 (1961).

We have been concerned about the topsyturvy condition that would come about if the Uniform Rules were abruptly cast out. There would be great confusion. Judges and lawyers would have to relearn the older, inferior rules of evidence. Many trial errors would occur. A host of new trials would follow. And costly timeconsuming appeals would prolong the difficulties.

[4] We think our best course is to avoid all those unfortunate possibilities, simply and quickly. Under our own rulemaking power and under existing statutory authority, as of this date we adopt the Uniform Rules of Evidence as the law in Arkansas. We have no misgivings about either the validity of our action or its wisdom, but a few comments are appropriate.

For more than fifty years there has been a steady trend in favor of committing to the courts the regulation of practice and procedure. Dean Wigmore took a strong stand in the matter as early as 1928. Editorial, 23 Ill. L. Rev. 276. Many others agreed. In 1940 the American Bar Association chose as the subject for its annual Ross essay contest: "To What Extent May Courts under the Rule-Making Power Prescribe Rules of Evidence?" the winning essay by Prof. Thomas F. Green, Jr., argued persuasively that all rules of evidence are properly subject to the courts' rulemaking power. 26 A.B.A.J. 482 (1940). Other pertinent articles include another Ross essay submitted by Charles A. Riedly, 26 A.B.A.J. 601 (1940); Morgan, "Rules of Evidence—Substantive or Procedural?," 10 Vanderbilt L. Rev. 467 (1957); and Joiner and Miller, "Rules of Practice and Procedure: A Study of Judicial Rule Making," 55 Mich. L. Rev. 623 (1957).

[5] Arkansas has kept step with the progress made elsewhere. Our Constitution of 1874 confers upon the Supreme Court "a general superintending control over all inferior courts of law and equity." Art. 7, § 4. We note in passing that the Supreme Court of New Mexico relied on almost that identical language in the New Mexico constitution as authority for the court's action in adopting the Uniform Rules of Evidence as the law in that state. Ainmerman v. Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc., 89 N.M. 307, 551