New-York tribune., 1875-02-27
WHAT NAY BE LEARNED FROM m

The minor judicial proceedings are usually
reported to the public in succinct and cur
sorry way, something as follows "Court of
"Oyer and Terminer Higgs, j. Smith "
Thompson. TrOver for horse. Jones for
" the plaintiff; White for the defendant. The
Court took the papers and reserved its de-
csiOn." Then we are told that ;" Nos. 32S,
1853, 4O5 991, &C., &c." are in Order-and so an
end. What the decision in Smith and ThOmp-
son was we never know and we never care
to know. To us this is of less than TOOtsian
no consequence. But as the law, its princi-
pies, its methods and tho laws which govern
law itself. are of Importance to every member
of society, to every human being who can sue
or can be sued;" as we cannot get along in
this world for single day without making
contracts express or implied; as we are all
liable to torts and equally liable to inict them;
as we may buy or sell, propose marriage, hire
house, or enter into any agreement to do
or not to do; as we may be summoned as
witnesses, as we may be drawn as jurors, as
we may be asked to act as arbitratOrs, there
is certain knowledge of the general princi-
pies of law, and specially of the law of evil
dence, which any one of us may at some time
find it handy to have in his head. The care
full study, therefore, of prolonged but accu-
rately reported trial is not merely interesting
as a narrative of unusual facts. and if we
please to make it so, as logical exercise, but
it contains valuable information concerning
the whole science of evidence which we may
find useful in our everyday affairs in our
studies and in our dealings with our fellow
men. From it we may learn to discriminate
between the pertinent and the impertinent,
the competent and tho incompetent to weigh
facts and documents, the parol and the writ
ten and by attentive observation and perusal
Of a reall good report, we may acquire some
thing of the faculty of discriminating and de-
Gliding. This kind of skill, necessary and in
valuable as it is, is by no means
so common as it should be. We are
all of us greatly given to snap judS-
ments. We make up our mind" as
we absurdly enough say, according to our
whim, our prejudice, our notion; and we
"express an opinion" without having anything
worthy of the name to express. The world
runs upon hearsays. Half the verdicts of tea
table juries are based upon nothing better
and it is really serious consideration that
character may be DETAINED the prospects of
others darkened, their enterprises thwarted,
their comfort destroyed, their families made
wretched by social decisions based upon the
merest and emptest gossip, and by credit
given with culpable carelessness to tho wick
eldest and most bottOmless scandals. Every
man and woman with an intellect should use
it, and being capable of deciding between the
probable and the improbable, as we'll as be-
tween the true and the false, should under
stand that there is moral obliquity involved
in the ready credence which we may extend
to some idle tale against an innocent person.
Apart from this, there is hardly any study,
whether of history or of science, which does
not demand an accurate manipulation of facts
and of evidence which often may be contra
dictory or obscure.
The rules which govern evidence in our
courts are much fewer than they formerly
were; and, especially in the cross examination
a great deal is left to the good sense and the
good faith of counsel. Every good lawyer In
handling witness proceeds according to some
theory in his own mind; and it is extremely
interesting, when there is marked ability en-
listed upon either side, to watch the course Of
the questioning and to observe the relation of
ono interTogatOry " aaothag. Ths truth u