The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-02-26

stake, and is neither apt nor called upon
to consider other interests. His aim aud
end is to win his cause, and all his ener-
gies, all his attention, and his thought, is
absorbed in that. To him verdict of one
cent damages, won for his client, would
outweigh in Importance an outlay of thou
sands of dollars of the peoples money
spent in support Of the tribunal whose at
tention he may have unnecessarily en-.
crossed. True, all disputants are entitled
to fair hearing Of their grievances, but
surely there must be limit to the means
they may seek to employ to compass that
hearing A man who deems himself
wronsed ont of single cent, may, as an
act Of abstract Justice, be entitled to as pa
tent an investigation of his cause as one
who brings to issue contest invoking a
million of dollars but arc the practical
workers, the taxpayers of the State, to
submit to the imposition of thousands of
dollars of taxes to sustain a Court for
weeks, and, il may be, for months, IN de-
Gliding whether the one cent in dispute
rightfully belongs to Aor to B? Justice,
thus administered, becomes mockery of
justice. Instead of guarding the greatest
good Of the greatest number, it virtually
swindles the many for the mere gratifca.
ton of pique on the part of two litigants,
who drag before the Court matter un.
worthy Of its attention. Courts are costly
Injuries at best and, when the good they
do is ovcrbalanced by the resultant ills,
their utility may well be questioned. No
man in the Court House has any higher
or more sacred rights than the taxpayer
outside of it, and the very natural claim
Of lawyer, laboring for the interests of
his client, that he ought to have all the
time to advocate his cause that his duty
to his client may demand, ought to be.
and, if Courts are to be equal to-the oeea.
sion of their creation, must be, received
cum grdne sails. If such claim were al.
lowed, all the time Of the Court might Be
taken up with one case, and what then
would become of other suitors and their
rights 7 They must fail to obtain even a
portion Of justice, or Courts must be mul.
tiplied indefinitely. There must, there
fore, be a limit, and practical limit, to
the course of litigation, or the scheme Of
Judicial investigation becomes a failure.
The argument has thus far proceeded
upon the concession that the counsel is
honest, conscientious, and simply devoted
to the interests Of his, client. If the pos.
sibilities be considered, with that unfortu.
nately not rare specimen of the profess.
ional man, a lawyer, unscrupulous; peryerse
or yinaietive, occupying The valuable time
of judicial tribunal with peccadioes and
puerilities, or, quite as bad for practical
purposes, an attorney with one brief seek.
ing to make the most Of il, there is no
need to unfold the roll Of ills in store,
Enough has been said, to demonstrate that,
in matter involving the diverse interests
incident to judicial system, with SO many
conflicting rights to be consulted, the de.
cisiop Of how much that is valuable to all
may be accorded to Or absorbed By one,
should be lodged in breast the most
nearly impartial; and that impartial arbi-
ter will hardly be declared to be him. by
universal consent conceded to be the most
devoted of all partisaus, the lawyer en-
ployed on the one side or the other Of q
cause in litigation.
And where shall this impartial afbiter
be found, if not on the bench? The Judge
Is BY his Office romanded from the influ.
ences that beset the bar, BY his VOW.
sworn to do justly between man and man
and BY his habit impartial.
All the Courts over the land have such
rules restricting counsel, and, unless they
are to degenerate into mere gladiatorial
arena for forensic display, without regard
to thedendsfor which Courts are ordained
they must have such rules. Even the Su.
preme Court Of the Unitsd States. where
rights involving millions arc ! constantly d
determined, and the most vital principles
of law habitually settled, counsellors have
but limited time to discuss the matters
in issue The spme rule Of action governs
there as in inferior tribunals. They have
to consider the work before them and tho
time in which to do Il, and must make the
one conform .1r 70 che other Il FgiigklM