Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/207

 legislature to overturn their rulings. It keeps them active and vigilant, for there is a wisdom in the multitude which is greater in the long run, than that of any body of experts or judges. In the legislature there is a certain wisdom and as a result, bulwarks have been built up for the liberty of the human race which no doctrinaire theory of law or no worn-out precedent can give. Our common law, in a broad sense, came from the customs of the people and it is significant that in the establishment of the modern machinery, which is really putting into practice the truest ideals of the common law, there has been more real virility and strength in legislative enactment than there has been in the wisdom of judges.

When one pauses to consider the long line of sufferers from accidents who have come into the courts of America and remained there for years, the long litigation over the trusts and almost every right which is possessed by the people to-day in theory and not in fact, can we say that the judges have been wise, or that the American legislature has been unwise? It is true that in thinking of the learning and ability of the judges we may be tempted to say "Here are men versed in the law; why not turn the matter over to them?" There are men in our legislative halls and our colleges who believe that the only legislation is that made by the judges. Upon looking over this whole situation it seems that we should