Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 22.pdf/369

 Review of Periodicals and secondary to deciding cases;

a court

whose ingenuity would not be taxed to find ﬂaws in the ﬁrst trial; a court in which a new trial should not be granted on the ground of mis-direction or the 1m roper admission or rejection of evidence, uness in its opinion some substantial wron or miscarriage has been thereb occasion. Let this court be designated ‘ Hi h Court of Justice.’ and in it let substance an not form prevail." "Where the Law Fails." By Hon. Robert L. Stout, of the Kentucky bar. 3 Lawyer and

Banker 102 (Apr.). "Juries are pro rly the sole judges of fact. When presented fy the living witness, it is a different proposition from that same proﬁt: sition presented b the written record. e

347

for attempting to murder Kamegag' instead of Komegay, the real name. (10 . W. Re porter, p. 890.)” “The Municipal Court of Chicago." By J. Kent Greene, Assistant to the Chief Justice, 58 Univ. of Pa. Law Review 335 (Man). "The court has been particularly fortunate in having an able and progressive body of men as judges and a chief justice of untrrin ene in whom the qualities of unusua administrative and hi h judicial ability are peculiarly combined. gl‘o these, more than to anythin else, may be attributed the phe nomena success of the court." "A Dangerous Parting of the Legal Ways." By Judge Alfred Emden. Nineteenth Century and After, v. 67, p. 676 (Apr.).

court cannot see t e witness, his bearing, his

hysiognomy and his conduct; it cannot hear his voice, nor observe his manner. A look, a tone, an accent, a movement, impossible to put on paper, may and often does compel a jury in its 0 inion. So I say the appellate court should loath to dip into the facts as presented to it by the record in a criminal case. For after an excursion into the mazes of record facts, an appellate court, if con vinced that wrong has been done, is mighty likely to go mouse-tracking through the more intricate mazes of technicality in order to ﬁndbamlboozle a retext aforjury freeing a criminal unable to of his fellow citizens. Let the shoemaker stick to his last. The courts are the best jud s of law, the juries are the best judgs 0

facts, and for this

reason I am in vor of letting juries try criminal cases." ‘ “Some Follies in Our Criminal Procedure." By Charles B.

Brewer.

McClura's,

v.

34,

p. 677 (Apr.). Mr. Brewer shows the many ways in which the criminal in this country may ﬁnd a ha py refu e from the hardships of the penal w. Inci entall he cites some of the examples which led resident Taft to declare that "the administration of the criminal law is a dis .grace to civilization." Of these we quote only a few :— ‘ Because the stolen shoes were not a ‘pair,’ as charged in the indictment.

(The thief,

in his haste, had picked up two ‘rights.') (3d Harring, Del., p. 559.)

“Because one member of a ﬁrm of three names from whom oods had been stolen was dead, and the in ictment had named all three. (110 S. W. Reporter, p. 909.)

“Because the indictment had charged the burglar with intent to commit a ‘theft’ in stead of intent to commit a ‘felony.’ (108 S. W. Reporter, p. 371.) "Bemuse the indictment charged that the thief had entered the house of one Wyatt with intent to steal from him, and the defense was able to prove that Lamb also occupied the house, and it was Lamb's pvroirty the thief was looking for. (101 S. . porter, p. 800.) "Because the accused had been indicted

"Every one must be anxious to preserve

dignity and position of the High Court; that is to say, in the public estimation, for dignity and position can be nothing without it. Put an end, therefore, to the present and only mode that is left to our legislators of carry in? out the public requirements by sending a the business the can to the County Courts. Stop the ‘tug-o -war' between the bar stru gling on one side to keep work in the Hig Court, and solicitors on the other to t it to the Count Court. Bring the work ack to the Hi h urt b meeting theCpJub lic's demand. iet there be one great urt of Civil Jurisdiction, divided into an Upper Division with Central Provincial Courts, and a Lower Division, taking the place of the County Courts. Let the system of the County Court be the foundation upon which to build the practice and procedure for our one judicial s stem, and thus bring the work of the High urt into line with sim licity. This can be done as surely as the day ollows mg t." See Administration of Criminal Law.

Professional lthica. "Legal Ethics." By James B. Brooks. 19 Yale Law journal 441 (Apr.). "The law school catalogues show a too

great indifference to the subject of professional ethics. In a large percentage of the schools there seems to be no provision for it what ever. ._ . . Instruction in professional ethics, to be eﬁective and to accomplish the results desired, must be of the same quality as in struction in an other course in college. . . . "The law 0 cc of a practising attorney is

a powerful adjunct in the education of the student. In no res ct is this agency more effective thanin the e artment of professional ethics. It is well un erstood that each law office maintains an atmosphere in morals peculiar to itself. This atmosphere pervades everything in and about the office and its work. The student takes on more or less completely, the professional moral character maintained in the office where he takes his ﬁrst lessons. This is natural and must be expected, and must be reckoned with as an element in the educational problem."