, 1877-05-05

exile on the tomb. They seemed to hc
dying Many, who have faith in tn" re
formed Procedure aS n distinct aud rad.
icnlly independent system, say that they
did die, that they died II natural dcnE,
and that the new system has come IN
peacefully ms their cXpcctnnt and right
tul succcss0r-Ilowevcr that may be, |
see in tins supposed natural diSso luton
Il sentence and m cXccution-if with
grent reverence may draw a figure tronr
the sublime facts OF revelation. Justice
the eternal, invisible and omnipotcnt,
the author of these married organisms
has come in their persons MS their Judge,
and nking upon himself the doom he
visits upon them is become Savior and
sole Father of. and ever present Spirit in,
what might otherwise have been called
their progeny. "haviug abolished in his
flesh the eumty. even the law of com
mundments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself Of twain one new
man, so making peace"
Now proceeding to our second inqui-
ry. what WAS the end proposed to he al
fcctcd by the adoption Of the Codes!
1t was not proposed hy them, ms cure
for the existing mischief, to substitute
for the many rigid forms Of Inv and the
stiff and slow movement of aged equity,
one new rigid form. That would have
been to hy from service into scrvitude,
rather the object was to escape from all
that cramps Justice and restrNins its free
expression and outflow. That was its
aim and its end. And to this end, it
provided what il calls "One form, which
is not at all form in that sense of arbi-
trnriness and tyrany IN which the puri-
fed common law actions were forms.
This new form is one, which in all the
particulars in which those ancient actions
were telt to be punctlious and unyicld-
ing has absolutely no tiXcty at all. ln-
finite variety and elasticity and adapta-
ton characterize it, Formally is reduced
to the minimum. 4 course of action
stated,-a defence stated, and, II the
defence contain new matter, reply to
that's all there is Of form about it,.
Obviously, nothing at all of torn inhercs
or a6hercs save that which necessarily
pertains to logical and orderly express
sion.
The peaceful and vide revolution that
thus has taken place in pleading finds
its apt illustration in that which took
place in Astronomical science upon the
displacement of the dogmatic theory OF
Iippocmtcs by the true system Of Copper
nicus. Whereas under the old ideas,
Justice, which is the fountain oflight and
life in the ordering of society, was made
to resolve in purely arbitrary formal lines
around fact as its immoyahle and eternal
center, now fact is seen and understood
to be that which has the real orbit,
formal line, which is true instead OF Az
bitrary, drawn around fixed justice by u
determining power resident in justice
itself--the pivotal point in the old cases
was the cause OF action. 70 accomodate
the cause of action, justice was moved in
particular formal track.
Neither what should be a cause of ac-
tion, nor what should he its course, was
left for justice to Determines hut the
course of justice was determined by what
had beforehand been despotically defRed
to be course OF action. Since the relor-
nation, however, all is changed. Justice
decides henceiorth, both what shall he
deemed cause of action and what course
it shall pursue-as under the Copornican
theory an orbit is defined to be IA comic
curve" including within the definition
endless diversity Of elements; SO, under
the new practice, the tourse which
cause of action shall pursue in its prog
rcss through the Courts is defined to he
"a civil action" with boundless range of
possibilities of variation abundantly pro-
vided, as Justice itself may for each
cause suggest.
To be Continued
- -
The West Point graduating class
numbers II, this year.