The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-12

| equity arising under the unwritten code,
which is in force wherever and whenever spe
oial legislation has not repealed its provisions.
But the Interpretation Of loosely y-worded sta
tutes and ambiguous phrases aud the recon
Cling of conflicting sections Of the same enact.
ment, come in for their full share of space,
and constitute the most dificult task Of the
judges who are worried and perplexed by
them. There is something enticing in the
study of the Common Law OF Eng
land and the United States. 1t
is one of the noblest legaoies which
has been bequeathed to us, despite its coca
sional uncertainties and conflicts. To unravel
these and arrive at the true state of the un-
written law is an employment which demands
at once the profoundest learning and the most
careful research, a task which has been enthu-
siasticaly welcomed by the brightest intelects
of both countries. But when it comes to the
wretched jargon which is thrust by our State
Legislatures upon the courts for interpreta-
tioD, judicial knowledge is found to be an en-
cumbrance, judicial ingenuity is put to its
severest test, and judicial patience is well nigh
exhausted.
If the judges of our courts were the only
ones who suffered in consequence of crude
and hasty legislation, we would be content to
let them bear their burdens without com.
plant, or resign their seats to the self-sacr-
GciDg attorneys who are always found willing
and anxious to retire from practice by taking
seat on the bench. But from this fruitful
source springs vast tide of vexatious litiga-
tion, which is disastrous to prosperity in bust
ness and to good feeling in the everyday rela-
tions of life. The "honorable gentleman
who pens an ambiguous and conflicting bill,
and then pushes it through legislative body,
is no better than common barrator and
should be prosecuted and punished as
such. He would do the State better service
at Cherry Hill than at Harrisburg. rascal
more deserving of punishment than this same
honorable gentleman" seldom goes unwhipt
of justice.
notable case, by way of illustrating the
vexations of hasty legislation, has been before
the public for long time. The amendatory
Internal Revenue Law enacted at the close of
the last session of Congress provides for the
appointment, by the Secretary of the Trea-
sury, on the recommendation of the Commits
sioner of the Bureau, of certain officials to be
known as Supervisors of Revenue. Mr.. Rol-
Inns is an ardent Republican; Mr.. McCulloch
trains with the Blair people. Hence there was
found great difficulty in selecting a sufficient
number of persons willing to serve the country
for consideration, who could impress both
these officials with sense of their entire fit
fnr tIa NJ, C,.no
entire control of an immense patronage which
he unhesitatingly wieldS in the interests of the
reactonists. For this reason Mr.. Rollins in
sisted that all the Supervisors should be of the
Republican faith, but was met by counter
demand on the part Of the Secretary for an
equal division of the spoils. So, in conse-
quence of this disagreement, but one of the
Supervisorships has been filed, and the inte-
rests of the country are obliged to stand the
consequences.
The slightest degree Of foresight the most
superficial knowledge of the exigencies of an
excited and warmly. contested Presidential
campaign, should have taught the framer of
the bill to avoid all such elements of con-
fiict. If it was the intention of Congress to
strengthen the hands and increase the patronage
of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Commis-
sioner of Internal Revenue should have been
kept away from these newly baked political
flesh pots; if Congress intended that the
Supervisorships should become the legitimate
spoil Of Mr.. Rollins, Mr.. McCulloch should
have been waved off by an explicit provision
in the bill. But since Parlisments, and Con-
crosses, and Legislatures, and City Councils
will persist in making themselves ridiculous,
either by not knowing what they mean, or by
not being capable of expressing their inten-
tions, their literary productions, crude and
conflicting as they are, should never be suf-
fered to go before the public without being
carefully revised, corrected, and FURNISHED up
by an editor whose individual knowledge ex-
ceeds their collective wisdom. Such a man
could easily be found. II given an opportu-
nifty, he would become public bsnefactor.