New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-12-17
THE TICHBORNE CASE.

THE TICHBORNE CASE,
This remarkable trial which has occu
pied several weeks before the Lord Chic
Justice Borill, and is still undetermined
Is presenting to the English people til.
question, whether their judicial system is
not a failure. This system, which it has
taken centuries to mould, form and per.
feet. and was believed to be the perfection
OF human wisdom, is suddenly discovered
to be as frail as many another work before
it has proved.
The essential characteristic of the En-
glish judicature is the employment for all
important cases. of a very small number
ofjudges, very highly trained very highly
paid, and very hardly worked They have
not increased their judges in proportion
to the increase Of population, and the
varied and miscellaneous wants of society.
The old machine which answered the
purpose for which it was created hundreds
Of years since, is worn out, and new one
must be made which will do the work of
the present day.
There was a time in the history of this
country when our people believed, as the
English people did, that that the institu-
tions which the fathers made would al
ways stand But experience of the past
few years has taught us a different lesson,
and the epidemic Of change of laws and
institutions is affecting other nations as
we'll as our own.
Modern society, and specially society
where the AngloSaxon race predominates.
is growing more various and miscellane-
Gus than ever. What some people call
individualism is getting more and more
to distinguished it. Men are growing
more and more unlike one another, and
it IS more and more difficult to predict in
a given case what they viii do, and after
they have acted to ascertain the truth as
to their actions This can only be tested
and determined through a long and
tedious examination, which is consequent
upon the investigation of some claim or
transaction involving large pecuniary in
terests.
Such is the Tichborne case. and the
story of this mans actions in his life and
wanderings, as elected on the trial of his
claim to the Tichborne estate, has shown
the necessity of reforming the judicial
system Of England. The time already oc-
cupied in the trial of this case has wearied
the patience of court, jury and the
public, and Yet the Judicial system
as now prevailing entirely sustains the
course pursued by the lawyers engaged in
it. The paucity of the judiciary under
the English laws no donbt is one great
cause OF complaint, and the manner Of
conducting the trials before an English |
court is another, and third is the fixed |
periods at which courts hold their ses-
sions. and their short duration, all of |
which are evils which must be remedieG.
The courts there are not like our own,
held continuously but at long intervals
known as terms, and this produces accum-
ulatlon of business, especially when inter-
rupted by one such case as the Tichborne.
The innovation which was made a few
years since by the admitting of parties to
suits and proceedings to testify in their
own behalf, has become to the English a
source of bewilderment, from which they
hardly know how to eXtricate themselves.
In the Tichborne trial it is asserted that
no amount Of law reform could have
shortened or simplified it. Not single
point Of law has arisen, and the questions
IF admissibilty of evidence has been ex-
remedy tritiing: indeed the improvement
which is conceded in the admission of the
testimony of parties to the cause has
Helped to lengthen out that trial, however
much 1t Is likely to contribute to its salts
actory close. With the increase Of litiga-
ion before English courts the present has
proved too entirely Inadequate to meet
he eXigencies of the time. On this sub
ect, and referring to the Ticnborne case.
me OF the prominent London Journals
avs:
There is little hardihool in saving that
hat the English Judicial system runs great
lsk OF Il total collapse. We have The most
il!hcult and extensive body Of law known
% the worlC: we live in society which
ially throws of questions of fact of incrcdi-
DE c"mplrXity and muIt;iariou,ne>S. ana
We nave judicial machinery of which ,b.
ihciencN is limited by the ply steal and
helltai powers OF ii small number of men.
worked always to the verge OF ply steal ami
mental exhaustion.
When this great English institution
inown as the Judicial system. which wa,
to be lnlpregnable, is in danger
" collapse, what may not be expected
n regard to those other governmental
organizations OF that country when sub
ected to the crucible process Of free dis.
ussion aud the expression Of the popular
ill.
The New Bedford NGcu1y having found
he following III an exchange. thinks that +
uch as live III glass houses should ,yt .
brow stones: ,
There was fair ma de; OF Medtori I
mo was smashed on youth ia New Bedford; ;
Bot he sin 1T 50 Of Oh,
That h 5 suit il did spoil.
oleaginous chap OF New Bedford
he Wercuiy furnishes the second volume |
this epic as follows: /
Tl,xr. J., ,