, 1872-03-20

I
make q few ordinary remarks in connec-
ton with the matter treated of by ct"
We cannot see that his observations about
a defendant being permitted to appear per-
sonally in the Upper Court to plead his
cause, are of any moment in the question.
He says himself that there is no legal
prohibition against the defendants per-
sonal appearance when he IS on the spot, i.
e. in the place where the Court holds its
sittings but how will it be with delin-
quents from st. Thomas, St Johns, FIRE.
deriksted and the whole Country District ?
Must they be transported to this place?
1t the personal appearance should afford
any real benefit to a defendant, certainly
1t ought to have been prescribed by Law
as q rule to be always observed. But it is
not so the very first initiatory step in a
criminal suit of appeal almost ignores the
defendant, and so it is throughout the
whole subsequent proceedings. The Chief
Magistrate issues a writ Of appeal on the
L0wer-Court Sentence that writ is served
on the delinquent; from that he gets to
learn that the judgement is appealed,
either at his own request or by the will of
the Chief Magistrate; but when the case
is to come on, what his " lawyer advances
in his behalf, and how his Interests are
looked after, he never gets to know. Tho
Actor Tor Plaintiffs Council or Prose
cutting lawyer draws up the citation he
summonses the defendants l0Wyer to hear
sentence; but the citation is not even
served on defendant. Perhaps his lawyer
may by chance take it into his head to in
form him of the day the suit is to come on,
and if the defendant wish to appear per-
sonally in the Upper Court, he is at liberty
to do so. The term permitted made use of
by us can scarcely be misunderstood by a
%jurist Wo mont to imply that the public
makes no provision, in fact does not
even anticipate the possibility of a
defendant, appearing personally in the Up
per Court-But his appearance would be of
something in his defence, provided he is
able to write (and all what he writes must
be composed in Danish or be rendered into
Danish, as the Upper Court requires all
proceedings to be il that language for the
event of the case coming before the Su-
preme Court),-he can even address the
Court, aud he may for a quarter Of an
hour be allowed through his lawyer to
enter remarks in the Official Protocol;
but the contents of the Lower-Court's
process yerbale will not be laid be-
fore him !; no witness in the case will be
examined by the Upper Court-This leads
us to another side Of the question, viz
what can the lawyer do for the defendant
in a case of appeal ?-When the lawyer
or counsel for defendant gets the Lower
Courts proceedings, he may Of course go
through them he may read their contents
to the defendant, and even where this lat
ter is in prison, the lawyer can have ac-
cess to him, and can speak with him pri-
vately the lawyer may do all what ct"
describes, and he may even do more, he
may request new Investigations to be made
in the lower court-but the lawyer is ex-
cluded from being present in those %investi-
cations, as criminal examinations are with
US conducted in a secret form. We admit
that the defendants lawyer can do all of
this and in fact such is his duty /; at least
so do you and I believe, but the lawyer
himself might think differently. And what
sort of duty is it7 at best only a moral
duty. But the Judge in the Lower-Court
(the criminal Magistrate) IS by Laa0 required
to do all this for the defendant that
1vL;cb nov, he o.I. . ~.n~al drtv of tho law