The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-03-23
work Fon THE SUPREME COURT.
let it Obliterate the judicial Infanises
of the Last Decade,
from the Shreveport Times.


We have reason to congratulate our
selves on having Q Supreme Court COM
posed of men Of high personal character,
and learned In the law which they are
called on to administer. The court has
gone regularly to work, and daily hears
and determines causes regardless OF any
fears that It's authority will ever be call
ed in question. In fact there is no
ground for any such fears.
The court has q vast amount OF work
before it. That work does not consist
alone in deciding between the conflict
ing claims of John Doe and Richard
Boe, and the numerous other litigantts
who compose its heavy docket. This
work it will. Of course, perform faith
fully and perform we'll. But it has q
greater and far more important task to
perform. E muet bring back the law to
what it was before the reign OF that i'm
becility and corruption which have char
acterized the judiciary, as well as every
other department OF the State govern
ment, since the dawn Of the era Of re-
construction. For nearly twelve years
the judiciary Of Louisiana has been such
as would disgrace any civilized country
under the sun. The men, charged with
studiously avoided the leading members
of the bar, who are qualified for the po-
sition, and have elevated to the bench
men whose moral and Intellectual in
competency Is notorious to the veriest
pettffogger at the bar. Legal learning
and Integrity OF character have been
left out Of view altogether, and judges
have been appointed because OF their
ability to prove their loyalty" or be-
cause of their services in building up
the party which has brought the State
into ruin and disgrace.
These men, as a matter Of course,
could not administer the law as it was
administered under Matthews and Mar.
tin and Eustis. They set up a law unto
themselves. They had willing coadju-
tors In corrupt legislature, which, at
an enormous outlay, changed the or
ganie law by legislative enactment.
Hence it is that we doubt whether any
ten octave volumes on the face Of the
earth contain such q mass OF stupidity
and senseless presumption as the last
ten volumes of the Louisiana reports,
which are the repository OF the decisions
Of these men. Hence it is that litigants
in many cases have given up their
tribunal so weak and SO corrupt.
Now the people demand Of the Su-
preme Court that this thing shall be
changed. They demand that the civil
law Of Louisiana be restored to its pris-
tine purity. AlLof our able judges prae-
ticed before the old time courts, before
carpet baggery had shed it's disastrous
light on the body OF the law Of Louisi.
ana. The tasks SO far as knowledge OF
the law Is concerned, will be compare
lively an easy one. The bar will be
found a ready adjunct, although many
of the younger members, commencing
practice within the last twelve years,
may find some little difficulty in chan
| ging from carpet bag law to the law OF
| the Code and of the ancient courts.
AS for that costly legacy OF carpet
bag jurisprudence. Rays Codes and the
| Louisiana Annual Reports, from the
18th to the 9th volume, they ought to
be gathered together in a mass and
burned on the court housesgreen by the
common hangman. Any lawyer, who
should presume to quote from these de-
cisions as authority in any case, should
be fined and imprisoned by the judge
as for contempt of court. No aepro-
priation should be made to publish the
9th volume, or to reprint it's ten imme-
date predecessors. Every facility
should be offered the bar and the PEG.
pie to obliterate the judicial infamies OF
the last dozen years.