Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1874-02-24
For the Spirit of ,Jeferson.l
Expensive Courts.

ter will be thoroughly ventilated-for verify
our people are previously afflicted with courts.
Your correspondent 'ssk x x" falls into
some errors which are natural to one who has
not Investigated the subject; but we see from
his article that he is q man Of sense, and we
are confident that he will be the first to APP
preciate his mistake when the case is fairly
presented.
lie thinks the time of the County Court is
needlessly consumed by tie long speeches of
the lawyers. But don't it stand to reason,
the less the magistrate knows about law, the
longer the lawyer must talk? 1t is the
province of the court to declare the law and
when the judge don't know the law, it is the
duty of the lawyer to teach him. Give a
good lawyer plenty of time and he can edu-
cate any intelligent man up to the point at
which he will comprehend and properly apply
principle of law.
When sensible men are about to discuss q
question, they first find some common ground
from which to start, viz: pick out the propo-
sitious about which they agree. Is it not
evident the nearer home that common ground,
the greater the number of propositions about
which they agree, the shorter will be the die
cussion. Don't we have more troubleto ex>
plain matter to an ignorant man, than to one
who is we'll Informed. Can't you give direc-
tons about the crop to a practical farmer,
quicker than to a man from the city. Tell
me then, by what rule can you measure law
yer's speech to the County Court? His client
has ease which depends upon the iDtelligen
application of twenty or thirty different prin~
ciples of law; the magistrates don't know
those principles, and when they are enun~
ciated will not see their application to the facts
haEN han 70 h.
lawyer must explain each principles he must
show how they have been applied in other
cases, and then he and the court will begin to
find some common ground to stand upon but
even, after the most elaborate argument the
decision of the magistrates must be uusatis-
factory. There were men on the last court
as intelligent as any in the county, 90 ask
them if they understood single case they
tried. We are informed nearly every decision
was appealed from. a good judge not only
declares the law but gives the reasons for his
decision, and when that reason is satisfactory
there is no appeal.
But the fundamental mistake of '.* r 81
lies in the idea that man who has not
studied the law is able to deal with "the COM
mon sense which is the soul of the W.
The law of to- day is the accumulated wisdom
and experience of upwards of two Thousand
years; it has come down to US from Rome and
England, the only two nations that ever
" orked out a complete and perfect system OF
jurisprudence. The came rules of civil con-
duct which regulate our intercourse with our
neighbor today governed the intercourse be-
tween man and man long years ago, in the
times of which we have no written record
Law, is the phylosnrhv of human conduct in
state of society, and it takes long and pa
tient studv-aye and special aptitude for his
vocation, for one to qualify himself to apply
its maxims to the workings of civilization.
\ case must be decided today precisely as it
would hare been decided centuries ago. The
practice of law is simply the application
of custom to the different combinations of
events as they arise, wise man has said that
it is far more important that the law should
be settled and known than that it should be
right.
We cannot 90 "ecpcr into the inquiries in a
newspaper aTtIca', but. perhaps. We have said
enough to explain the growth Of that body OF
men who have eyer occupied most con-
spicuous position in every civilized community
who spend their lives reading books never
read by any other class in society. We have
said enough to suggest why it is. that we all
90 to a lawyer aud buy law knowledge pre-
cisely as VIC 90 to our doctor and purchase
physic.
Perhaps it is possible so to rovoIutionizc
society that this body fmen may he dispensed
with, but SO long a. society remains as it is,
so long will the lawyer be necessary con-
srituent Of the community; so long will their
neghbors require, and pay for the hmowiedgc,
that they-and they alone are able to supply.
\ shrewd business man understands that
the better his lawyer, the less money he has
to spend in litigation. 4 sensible man was
he, who quit his lawyer because he got into
law suit, J. NJ. NJ.