, 1877-07-29

the degree of perfection with which it eau be
removed from the region Of discretion III the
Judge and b. made 4 *'writ OF right" The
writ mud the right to have it existed for ages in
England without being OF any use to the sub
jet, because itwas :'scrctiouary with the Judges
whether they woulu issue it. But this upper
fection was remcded by the Habeas Corpus act
passed BY Parliament in 1919, In the reign OF
equivalent to revolution, and had a much
greater effect on the happiness Of ncu than any
batTle Of modern times. And yet it accom-
ptishcd nothing more than to compel Judges to
grant tae writ, III 4 large number Of cases,
uaatfhtr they aeoMfd or not
But The subject Of habeas corpus is regulated
il all Of our States by special statutes, aud in
Illinois the whole process has been cmascu-
1atcd by the following provision:
Any Judge. empowered to issuc writs Of had<0s
corpus, who shall eg,7up'ly refuse 70 lssae any
snch wit, wlien legally applied for in 2 case
where it may lawfully issue. or who shall {or ne
purpose 0f oppression. unreaSona6fy delay the
Issuing OF such writ, shall for every such onensc;
forfeit to the prisoner or party aggricved sum not
exceeding 81, 0oo Rev. ;Stat Chap. Us, Sec. j. ]
1t is easy to see that the sufferer, in many
cases Il poor man, will never he able to prove
against the digniicd and influential Judge tho
charge OF corruption or ronpression. even ii 1t were
true The Judge. therefore, can do as he likes
aDout granting tho writ, without lear OF un-
pleasant results. And if any one replies to this
That Judges are always too honorable to refuse
this writ whenever it can be lawfully granted,
then all have to say is that Iapplicd to our
Criminal Court for writ OF liabeas corpus, AM!
was refused on the ground that my client had
better .edt until the Grand Jury should era,niHe his
ca$t.'' No fault was found with the petition, but
the Court, on grounds Of secret expcdiency,
coolly denied the writ. The petition was
then altered and presented to tue
Judge Of another Court, who said that
he "ncver attended to habeas corpus matters
in criminal matters" Tic petition was altered
again aud presented to Judge Of still another
court Of the county, who reluctantly and Us a
personal favor granted tho writ. The client
was not able to meet the expenses, anu tue witt
weeks longer, was then bailed out, anu the
charge against him was ignored by the Grand
Jury.
But the case is made still worse by practice
which has grown up in the Cook
County courts Of compelling every man
nrucs wao seeSs on the at his
own cost, all the witnesses against him as well
as all the witnesses for him. This is in direct
contempt OF the Constitution, which SAYS that
10 man shall be compelled to accuse himself.
But it is also contradictory to the plainest die
many eases it is utterly impossible for the prs-
oaer to say who the witnesses are who are
against him. Granting that he knows who they
are, it is often impossible for him to procure
them. Granting that he can procure them, it Is
tyranny to make him do so. The whole usage
Is simply internal.
We have all been very anxious for week past
about mob who we're threat ening the city with
Eil1age aud destruction. l make bold to say
that the mob is not half SO much to be dreaded
Is our Laws and court-practice concerning habeas
corpus; and that it would be better to burn the
:ity down than tu be without the undlsputcd
right to demand fkis trrif.
FLORENCE MCCARTHY