The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-04-13
Justice Defeated by Law.


do not know of anything in our modern life
half so absurd as the administration of the
law. The statute laws are generally unam
biguous and ineligible, but judge law, ol
what is technically termed common law is
an unknown sea of precedents, on which the
voyaser has every prospect Of foundering
and going to the bottom with all his cargo
that the vultures may not carry off in their
comprehensive talons. But the great mis-
chief lies in the rules of legal practice as es-
tablished by the judges and lawyers. What
should be the plain and straight forward
business has become mere system of leser-
demain, and the resul: of any suit depends
more upon the skill and cunning of the law
yers who are engaged than upon the merits
of the case.
Perhaps the grossest absurdity and the
most common means of defeating the end :
of Justice in the courts, is the rule or tradi-
tional understanding that blunder vitiates
legal document or legal process, otherwise
correct. Shepard, the Boston defaulter and
forger, avoided conviction of forgery the 9TH
er day, by the lucky discovery of his counsel,
B. F. Butler, who is keen on the scent for
flaws, that there was a superIiuous word or
character "&' in the Indictment. Shepard
signed the note "Henry Taylor Co.," while
the indictment charged him with writing
"Henry Taylor & Co.," and on this ground
the judge ordered the jury to find him not
guilty, and they did. 1t is quite common for
business firms 70 omit the "&" in writing
and it is not held essential to the validity of
a note or any other paper. The placing of
it in the Indictment was clearly clerical O.
versight in the copying. II did not at ali al
feet the merits of the case. Shepard was
charged with forging the 81 iynature of the
firm to the note. That fact was all that was
material to just decision Of the case. and to
the true ends of justice it made no difference
whether in describing the forgery. the irdict-
ment inserted an extra comma. or an extra
''ampersand," or omitted one OF the other in
the copy or the original. Yet Oh that mere
clerkly error, not of fthe slightest consequence
in any aspect. the whole case was overthrown
and the ends Of justice defeated. This is
worse than ridicuous-it is monstrous. Il
is defeat of justice by trickery that ough
not to be tolerated.
The case of Shepard is not a peculiar or
exceptional one. Such cases are very COM
mon. Any criminal who has sharp LAWYER
to look out for flaws has reasonable cEanc.
tc escape justice by the mere technical bur-
ders of the prosecuting officers. About halt
the criminals tried in New York CITY do ac-
tually slip the meshes cf justice in prccisel,
this way, and those who undertake to ,iutli-
cate their rights to property by legal process
with ever so clear case are compelled to
feel that there is an even chance that they
shall lose, either by some inadvertence of
their own lawyers or the cunning Of opposing
counsel.
We should be glad 10 know, and the peo-
pie who spend their money in the law woul(!
be & lad to know what obstacle there is to in
PRODUCTION of little common sense Into the
routine Of the courts. 1T was essential to
the doing of exact justice in Shepard's case
for instance. that there should be no more
"ampersands' in the copy of the forged not,
than in the original, why could not the iuGs,
have ordered the erasure of the obaoxiou.
character by the clerk of the court or som,
other judicious and trustworthy individual
Or what necessity for bo;hering about it al
'ali, since it had no conceivable relation I,
the facts and merits of the case9 If Shepard
forged the name Of Henry TAYLOR Co.. h,
should have been found guilty and sentenced
whether the person who wrote the indie;
ment accused him of making an & or a com
ma more than he actually did make or not
We do not allude to this case because W
have any desire to see Shepard convicted a
bove the common run Of f6rserS and default
ers, but because it furnishes fresh and Sri
king instance of the defeat of justice by law
1t is species of abuse that has 70 jus,itica
ton, and We presume it exists and is tolera
ted because it has existed. The law. in it
practice, is full of just such absu.dities sue
tricks snd traps-to clear the guilty and Ell
snare the innocent. Just laws are of no pa,
ticular value to the people, if the courts ma
establish modes af administration which dt
feat their intent and make the procuring o
justice by an appeal to the courts one of tn
most doubtful Of human enterprises. Ther
is whole mass of this traditional law, coul
law, judge law, lawyers law, which lumber
up our courts and defeats and perverts ju
,, tice, that ought to be swept away and burie
forever. Where is the Hercules that ca
cleanse these Augean stabies.-Sprinyfe
Republican.
@ There is good story of one Of Il
D. hangers on at Washington, who get offic
: because they need them, and had been a
a pointed engineer, business of which he h;
, no knowledge. The dav after his appoi,