The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-07-20
Our New York Letter.
MIR. O'Conor on the iCourt OF Appeals
Laws delay and its uncertanity-Tbe
status of Tweed-Does il pay to stealr
NEW YORK. July 19. 1875

NEW YORK, July 19, 1875.
Mr.. Charles O'Conor irreverently criticises
the Court of Appeals. There is an audacity
about the performance which amazes the Law
public and bewiders the lawyers. Couits are
nothing II not infallible. To believe that they
can err is sin against the state, an assault
upon the strongest bulwark of government.
And how Mr.. OConor, of all the men In the
world, should have sought to disturb the popu-
lar superstition is incomprehensible. He
is indisputably the foremost man in his
profession. 1t has brought him great fame
| and abundant material rewards. Always o
conservative, now that he has become septua-
gen arian one would suppose he would be more
discreet than ever And yet he reviews the
recent decision in the Tweed case with caustic
severity and avows his opinion that it was an
outra ge upon justice and stimulant to pecula-
ton.
Upon little reflection the sense of surprise
at Mr. OConors publication diminisbes. In
this case the indignation of the citizen prevails
over the warness of the lawyer. He remem-
bers how constantly the efforts to bring the
municipal robbers to justice, have been baffied ,
through what labyrinth of sinuosities,
technicalities and statutory barriers the pursu-
ers of these rascals have been led, and what
wearisome, disheartening task it is to defend
the rights OF million against the tricks of one
rich rogue, with body guard of we'll paid
counsel to protect him.
| 1t is misfortune that the people should lose
their faith in the judiciary. But how can they
| help it? There is such continual contradic-
| ton among the various tribunals, sach re-
| peated reversals of judgment, such irrecon-
cilable differences of opinion, that it is estab-
| lished in a vast number of cases that somebody
wearing the ermine is wrong and all that is
left to us is the conjecture who it is OF course
| it is the proper thing to say that the fnal
| oracle is the unerring one, but when we con-
slider that all judges are elective, and nominat-
| ing conventions capricious, it requires an i'm
mense stretch of confidence to arrive at so
comforting a conclusion. Take the case of
Judge Davis for example. He was held to be
| an exceptionally able jurist. recollect well
that on the day after he was nominated in
| 1871, leading Democratic lawyer spoke of
him as ''a born judge" doubt whether any
member of the bar would bave classed him as
inferior to single one of the six estimabls
| gentlemen who sit on the Appeals Bench.
| And yet it turns out that either he or they are
| ignorant of the true intent and Interpretation
of law on vital point, affecting personal lib
| erty As a matter of patriotism it is safer to
conclude that the court of last resort is right.
| As matter of fact it is more natural to form
| the idea, that there was no sufficient cause
either in law or equity for remitting the PEN
| atty imposed upon Tweed. That is Mr.. O'Con-
| or's view, and he is the most eminent su-
i ifv 70 ha for nd In o;ro IL &.
belief of Judge Davis, who is learned aud
gifted in high degree, and is accepted by the
general term" of the Supreme Court, which
is also respected tribunal.
1t is astonishing men ever go to law. Be
sides being the most tedious of all processes
| known to civilization, it is the most eccentric
and uncertain. The toss of copper, besides
being inexpensive and expeditions, is quite as
likely to effect an equitable settlement of any
| dispute in which are involved questions
about which differences of opinion are possible.
1 have known of two cases in which the plain.
tiffs forced to litigation by the fagrant dshon-
esty of their debtors, carried their suits from
| court to court one for six and the other for
eight and half years, winning every time till
they reached the court of appeal and there de-
feated onIa mere technical point losing time, pa
thence, enormous costs; and having left to them
the alternative of sacrificing everything or
entering upon rev trial with the prospect Of
| six or eight and a half more years of doubt,
uncertainty. expense and incessant annoyance,
with the chances of losing in the end through
some flaw that counsel and the courts below
were incapable of detecting. One of these par
ties compromised with his debtor and got
/ oh To 11u o;y,,h i
the suit; the other, in consequence of his
debtors having become bankrupt had no choice
but to abandon the claim and the eight thous-
and dollars he had spent in prosecuting it.
These people did not plunge into law suits hap
hazard. They took legal advice at the outset
and through every stage of their fateful jour-
ney. 1t was what was called good advice too.
1t came from distinguished source and cost
considerable money. But it proved utterly
worthless for the court of appeals decided that
their lawyer was not fit for his business, that
the three judges in general term were equally
uninformed, and the whole proceedings were
null through the stupidity and incapacity Of
| these functonaries.
These little defects in our judiciary system
are by no means confined to New York, Why,
even that august tribunal, the Supreme Court
of the United States make such drafts upon
our faith in its infalibility that it gets in dan
ger of depletion. 1t requires blind and un-
reasoning trust to feel sure that body which
decides that the legal tender act is unconstitu-
tional and year afterwards that it is consti-
tutional was at both times lifted to that exalta-
tion OF wisdom, that it could not possibly make
a mistake. There are other things done by the
Supreme Court which if they were done by any
less imposing concave would provoke very
sharp comment opinions hastily drawn; i'm
portant points overlooked or mistated; decis.
ions rendered and afterwards altered and
amended materially without notice to the
suitors; these are some of the doings which
indicate grevous declension in the tone and
strength of this branch of the government
which has always been the object of jealous So
lcitude and honorable pride among all loyal
Americans
Coming back to the pronunciamento of Mr..
| OConor. am inclined; to think he has given
expression in it to the popular sentiment
among the best folk among US. There has
been such an amount of quibbling and hugger-
mugger with reference to the Ring frauds, that
public impatience begins to manifest itself
even in this stolid community. And it certain
ly is not to be wondered at that Mr.. o. Conor
who has gratuitously given great deal of time
and professional research to the prosecution Of
the culprits should be vexed to find his pro-
gress barricaded on every hand.
Even reverence for the judicial robe will not
blind the despoiled taxpayer to the spectacle
of these plunderers slipping out of the meshes
of the law, through the vaguensss and uncer-
tainty that makes it susceptible of several in
terpretations. If our statutes are so obscured
and indefinite that nobody can arrive at their
meaning and intent with any degree of ac-
curacy the necessity for their revision is iE-
slant and pressing. And then again it is not
pleasant thing that in their final rendering
they almost always serve to give immunity to
criminals. 1t is somewhat difficult to eradl-
cate the impression that they are assisted to
this purpose by ingenuity in expounding and
laxity in constituting them.
T.