Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/713

 674 CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (England). "Criminal Appeal in England," by W. F. Croies, The Journal of the Society of Com parative Legislation (N. S., V. vii, p. 93). Expounding the present provisions of the law of England in regard to criminal appeal and the new bill which is considered as likely to pass. The author criticises as follows: "The draftsman of the bill, in combining the system of review by appeal and review on reference, indicates the weak point of the bill. The new court is to be on the one hand an ordinary court of justice and on the other a sort of judicial committee to advise the Crown on petitions to admit appeals for clemency. In exercising the prerogative of mercy, the Crown may refuse to avail itself of the con sequences of conviction by verdict, but where a court of justice is called on to take up the position of the Crown on a criminal appeal, it is invited to depart from its proper sphere. Under the bill it is empowered, nay required, to take upon itself the final appreciation of the facts of a criminal case upon a perusal of the shorthand notes taken at the trial, and upon evidence never submitted to a jury and which might produce upon that lay tribunal a very different impression from that produced on the judicial mind. Experience and the precedents already given point to the conclusion that, if criminal appeal in the modern sense is to be allowed, it would be better to allow it on precisely the same lines as in civil cases, i.e., substantially on the grounds on which it is now allowed in criminal cases in the King's Bench Division, but subject to the rule, now applied in civil cases, that no new trial is to be ordered except for a substantial miscarriage of justice. Under the new bill the judges will either be too shy of interfering with the jury, which will cause further appeals to the Home Office, or too ready to interfere, which will impair the position of the jury in criminal trials." DAMAGES. "Allowance of Special Damages in Actions for Wrongful Dismissal of Servants," by C. B. Labalt, Canada Law Journal (V. xliii, p. 593) . DIVORCE. "Foreign Divorce Decrees in New York," by Raymond D. Thurber, Bench and Bar (V. x, p. 81).

EDUCATION. "The Dwight Method of Legal Instruction," by Prof. George Clark, American Lawyer (V. xv, p. 419). EDUCATION. "The Lawyer's Educa tion," by Prof. Lester J. Tompkins, American Lawyer (V. xv, p. 423). EDUCATION. "The Preliminary Edu cation of the Law Student, by E. A. Gilmore, American Lawyer (V. xv, p. 428). EQUITY. "Injunctions Against Strikes, Boycotts, and Similar Unlawful Acts," by F. C. Donnell, Central Law Journal (V. 65, P- 273)EVIDENCE. " The Alienists in the Courts of Law," by R. W. Shufelt, Albany Law Journal (V. lxix, p. 277). EVIDENCE. "Dying Declarations " by Wilbur Larremore. American Law Review (V. xli, p. 660). A plea " for the passage of statutes entirely precluding the admission of dying declarations, and, until this radical re form be accomplished, for a strict application of existing law by the courts, to the end that the exception be narrowed, or at least held stationary, in scope." Mr. Larremore thinks the guaranties of veracity insufficient to overcome the objec tions to hearsay testimony. "As a matter of fact the preponderating and overshadowing justification of the admis sion of dying declarations was the assumption of a practically universal belief in a system of rewards and punishments to follow mortal dissolution. Whether this justification ever was adequate it is unnecessary to inquire; cer tainly since the great awakening and per meation of scientific thought during the latter half of the nineteenth century this obligation to veracity has lost most of what ever strength it had. "It is of course true that thousands of persons—principally of the uneducated class— still accept theological dogma literally, even believing in a physical hell. But nowadays people of devout faith are very moral people; they are not the stuff of which criminals are made. It would be impossible now for any church to stand for theology or religion, except as blended with high ideals of conduct.