Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-19
MEMPHIS APPEAL
THURSDAY MORNING, DEC. 10, 1872
sUGGEsTIONs To Our LEGISLATORS

SUGG ESTIONS To OUR LEGIhLATOkS
There are but few men lucky enough
to pass through life without an entangle,
ment in some one Of the many meshes
which our common-lsw system has ar
tistically spread before the feet Of the
unwary. There was blessed age when
a mans personal property stood upon its
own legs, while he occupied his real es-
tate-when an action consisted mainly
of broken heads, and writ of replevin
for COW would have probably found
her, or most Of her, playing the unfor-
tunate role Of " Jonah in the whale
scene-in the bellies Of the defendants
family. Then every man was his own
lawyer without the aid of a form
book--s happy state, in which the thiei
was not to divide the spOils. But as the
various articles of use became more
common, and, in some measure, neces-
sity grew into luxury, the increasing
numbers Of men made exchange too ire
quent for convenience, and barter too
tedious for profit. Then it was arose
two things together to seal and bind the
growing structure of society; they were
calculated st once to increase mans pos
sessions and protect his consequent tim
idity; they destroyed the supremacy of
muscle and labor, and instead Of the
natural distinctions Of strong and weak,
produced new powers and new
combinations by these new and
wonderful resources-by the might
Of law and money. Such has been the
experience of all races-sueh the origin
CT all systems. The rudest coins indi-
cate the rudest 1aws-for the coin itself
Is but q custom springing from the pos
session Of the property. The laws are
made to protect. There can be no pos
session without law. Property made
law, labor made property, money repre-
sents labor. They are united by the in
cidents of their being, and the same in
fuences which have elevated man from
the barbarity of the cave era to refine
ment and civilization, have impelleo
h n to substitute law for might, and ex-
change the brutality Of combat for
the peaceable arbitration Of the commu-
nifty. The system upon which we do
this is one which has descended to u
from early Saxon ancestors, mixed and
mingled with a thousand incOnsisten-
-ies and conventions drawn from the
ezuding contact with other laws and
people. These, Of course, have affected
II either for good or evil, according to |
their innate properties or fitness Of as
snciation. In some of its main features
il has charged but little, in other |
much; and, indeed, this is one Of the |
boasts, as it is a weakness, Of the COM |
mon law, that it should make that law,
which current custom should make uni
versal; that it should accommodate it.
elf to the changing condition of the /
people and society. This is, however,
like most general rules, more specious
than true. If one applies TO the crea
ton of rights, remedies are slowly and
rarely changed, and most Of the cum
brous machinery of forms which made
the laws delay one of the arguments for
death, still crushes in its slow folds the
hearts Of anxious suitors. We might
mention many such, which however
proper in the dark days of semi-barbar-
ism, have been rendered useless by the
advance Of education and the rapid dis
semination of news. The boosted trial
by jug has been found only fit now Tor
sitting through the jury box the intelli-
gence and honesty of the country,
while depravity and ignorance remain
TO Judge the awful issues of life or death.
It is no longer, 1.-THE link which binds the
integrity of man to the throne OF
eternal Justice" but remains only be-
cause it is the stamp Of past ages upon
that sublime fossil, the constitution; and
for the first time in its history secures to
the thief or villain, "a trial by his
peers" Again, the practice Of allowing
the successful litigant only the petty
fees Of the clerks and sheriffs, under
the sarcastic name Of "costsw when
il is notorious that such fees are only
drop in the bucket of the enormous cost
Of law suit. The poor man whose life 1
are involved must, even sohen
successful, pay at least ten per cent. of ,
them TO his counsel; and while all wit I
nesses are paid, and an ignorant lout on {
Inc jury is allowed several dollars q day
for his time, a skilled mechanic,
II sutton, must lose days Of valuable la
11r without cent as pay, to say moth d
ng Of the sweat and agony Of his sus- e
5ense. And as this affects all who may d
rave to seek legal redress, we are in ia a
-or Of making the party who willfully o
.auses a lawsuit bear the entire expense. b
Let US have proper counsel fees taxed in a
ne bill Of costs and paid by the losing a
Iarty, so the reproach may be taken p
rom US, which is expressed by the prov b
srh, "a man is ruined twice in his life: >,
,nce when he loses a lawsuit, and once "
when he wins one" Further, and es- d
'ecially interesting to us in city, is {,
he vexatiOus delay attendant upon all
aw proceedings in our courts. Litiga- | e.
ion is not a thing to be fostered nor
yloated over. According TO a maxim OF o.
his system, "it is the interest OF the re- &,
.ublic there should be an end to litiga- y
ION, " and yet years elapse before a case a.
, brought to trial under its rules, while i,
il rolled as a sweet morsel under | 2
he legal tongue. Now, as our il-paid m
ldges are honest and zealous-the -,
1urts open, and at least half the coun- n,
Il anxiOus-the existence of such a :,
ate Of facts shows unmistakably some i,
adical defect in the system under which =
icy act. 1t is the system, and not its r.,
xecution which is at fault. These :,
1urts have three terms yesr-a suit -,
commenced at one term is only set for n
-ial at the next, and if it misses trial o.
len for any cause, it is delayed four ~
lonths longer, till the next. So it is :.
18th each term. COntinuances are COM -,
aratively easy with cunning defend !,
1t, and 50 term after term passes, until n,
ears roll by the anxious sutton, leaving
i'm heartsick and wnetched-tO wonder n.
ny Hamlet should have hesitated. =
ow what is the necessity for these -
ng intervals between trials. The n
me, when tedious journeys were re- -
lired 70 procure witnesses, and many ~
avs required TO notify suitOrs, is gone s.
rever. Witnesses can now be here in r,
lirty days from Asia, and parties mott -
ed in half an hour by telegraph. There -
e no acute and technical pleadinQs to