Page:The Wisconsin idea (IA cu31924032449252).pdf/293

 wisdom! The constitution has become discredited in the eyes of the people; is looked upon as an instrument to stop all progress toward regulation of what ought to be controlled, and yet such is far from the fact in many cases. It is the spurious decisions—the dead weights of precedent—which are in the way, not the constitution itself.

But the system is here; its menace is always present and legislation or the science of legislation cannot go forward until something is done to remedy these conditions. Something must be done for the safety of our courts because sooner or later the people will say, "If you legislate as well as interpret—if you are a legislative body, we cannot allow you to exist unless we have control over you." If the recall of judges is rampant in the land there is a reason for it, and, from a theoretical standpoint, a sound one; it simply means control of a legislative body. The constitutional initiative means the same thing. If the judges have rendered decisions which tie the legislature and the people hand and foot, a change in the constitution, rising from the people and eradicating the decisions which obstruct the way, can be effected through this new device. In either case, the fundamental reason is the same; the judges are usurping legislative functions, and a legislative body which is neither elected nor recalled is inconceivable in a republic. The writer is not sure but that a recall applied to a judge who has gone into the legislative field is a good thing and may be made prac-