St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-06-09
The Court.

The opening of the Court last Tues
dlN Suggests Il few general remarks in
rrgard /" he judiciary. OF the three
Departments ot Government. this il bN
far the most Important. The Executive
Department i entirely dependent upon
ii rs the Interpreter of the laws passed
toy the Legislature. and as the final
arhiter of their cnu>titutIonalitN. And
each i perfectly independent 10y itself
and must ever Ice III Il popular Govern
ncnt. Our attention was lately called
10y Il lecturer L" the uniting of these
Departments in the large cities of the
United States. The speaker attrih-
uted halt the corruption of the munici-
pdlitic> to this fact, and urged the need
OF Il radical change. OF the cities would
Ice ruined H. Lord Macaulay predicted.
1t l. strange hat the necessity of their
entire separation should not long ago
have been recognized, for it il an axiom
of Government established 10y centuries
of experience. and in our own country
has been made the basis of the Con>ti-
tuition. Our judiciary i III most re-
>prct> Il copy of Englamd'>. and Il better
model could not Ice found. The elder
PIT called the night OF trial 10y jury
THE hulwark ct English liberty" and
al
the addition of liberty If the press.
Trial ny Jury Was one of the conce>-
Si"ns vIr>trd from King John 10y tn,
Mobiles in l2l1. and though repeated
/ Violations made lis r,-cnactmcmt nccrS-
>aIN Thirty three times. and the system
Was not Thoroughly perfected till tn,
time of William Ill. Vet in the end il
has m"Ic than anything else di>tin
/ gui>hcd the Anglo-SaNon race. The
''hl""d\ circuits of Jeffrey" wore tn,
last great stain upon the Judiciary %
/ England. and these occurred nearly 20,
at English law which We have not i'm.
/ irat,d and that Is the appointment a
Judges To hold office dining good he
ha,iu There are hrenty-tro Stdtes IL
/ the Union to-jay. that elect their .JuIges
! This il the most impoltic way which
could hr desired and i enough to max,
] the administration of Justice rotten il
any court. 1t l. sufficient to cite Judge,
/ Barnard and CaIdoZa of New York. t,
show what the elective system has don,
for that state. The idea of dragging
/ that which should he the purest an,
most inNiolate of government function
and upon which the honor and safety
of any nation must depend, into tn,
>cnm and slime of party politics. is re-
voting to ANY one the least acquainte,
with the history of jurisprudence
! Though we are accustomed to plac,
implicit reliance upon the Judgment q
their ability To select our Judges.
even the office should seek the man
this is cmphatically one of those cases
and sooner or later bitter experience,
will teach New York and her siSte
states the Truth.
There Is II" trust ;" sacred as tina
which the Judiciary assumes. and if i
is made the shuttle of politicians b,
placing iudgc>hipS upon political slate
a. Il.
"tfice->rekel> then look ont for
tainted and corrupt administration u
Justice. We know il is more. in ac
cnrdamcr with Democratic ideas to elec
10y popular ballot all officers of state
but this is Il case where experience an,
common sense and honor demand
different method.
y few words III regard to law as
profession We consider the legal pro
fr>>i"n with the exception of the min
i>trN as the n"ble>r and most respecte
which Il man can adopt. See what
has done for the country. Scan til
. Industrious men of all ages and cline.
= and ,"u will find that those who hay
led the world We're lawyers. They pre-
dominate III the halls of legislation an
- always will. for the law makes me,
/. Nothing 81 developes the reasonin