Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-04-15
COURT AND PRESS.
RIGHTS OF LAWYERS AND EDITORS
THE NEWSPAPERS SPEAKING OUT


1t is TO Oe nOpeu the supreme court Will
reverse Judge Patterson's decision. as it
seems shadowed by political reasons to-
tally foreign to the equity that should lie
held sacred in such emseerncies.
The Logical Criticism.
Altoona Sun, Dem.
To admit that for his act a judge may
disbar them would be to concede his right
to usurp the functions of both grand and
petit juries, and to impose dangerous check
not only upon the freedom of the press,
Come into Court
Huntingdon Monitor, Dem.
If Messrs. Steinman and Hensel pub
lished in their paper any talss charge re-
fecting on the character and integrity OF
the court, they should be tried for libel.
Then the accuser and the accused would
meet, face to face, and have their case
tried before an impartial court, and decid-
ed by an unprejudiced jury. But when
Judge Patterson undertakes to sit in judg-
ment upon his 0acn case, and act the part
of prosecutor. judge and jury, he casts a
reproach upon the administration of justice,
and does himself an injury which time can
never repair. Such judicial tyranny should
not be tolerated in Pennsylvania, and We
believe it will not.
Maybe Learned, But not Discreet.
Cecil County. Democrat, Dem.
Serving in the double capacity of editors
and lawyers, the victims owed double
duty. In the performance of that of mould
ers of public opinion and in exercise of
the high right to point out errors lest others
fall therein, they dared to express them
selves to their readers in opposition to the
honorable bench. AS lawyers they did
nothing. and yet they were held account
able as lawyers. But the blow at them,
the effects of which they can we'll afford to
bear patiently, is threat to the liberty of
the press. Judge Patterson may be a
learned judge he certainly is not discreet:
Had he taken the proper view OF
the matter he hardly would have placed
himself in such an unenviable and unten-
able position.
Let's Have Censor OF Journalism.
Cambria Freeman. Dem.
This act of Judge Patterson is a most
arbitrary and high-handed proceeding and
will not, we feel confident, be sustained by
the supreme court when it cOmee before
the tribunal, as it will at an early day.
If an editor who also happens to be law
yer can thus be summarily dealt with, the
next step to be taken is the establishment
of a government censorship of the press,
as it exists in Russia and other despotisms
of the old world.
Alexander Wilson left his home on Tues
day night to 60 fire at Covington KY.
telling his wife that there we're many chill
dren in the adjoining house and he would
help to get them out. Yesterday his dead
fallen walls. He had gone into one of the
fn CT in
and was there caught by one of the falling
walls. He was an estemable man, and pro-
pretor of the only public library in Gov
ington.
Unjust as Well as Unwise
Pittsburgh Times, Rep.
Allowing his angry passions:.to get the bet
ter of his calm judgment, Judge Patterson
had the editors, MessrS. Steinman and
Hensel, arraigned for contempt of court,
but as this charge could not be made hold,
he afterwards changed his plan of retaliat-
ing attack and had the names of these gen
tlemen (both members of the bar) stricken
from the roll of attorneys. BY virtue
of what right Messrs. Steinman and
Hensel, as editors, should be made to suf-
fer in their other capacity as attorneys, is
a difficult matter to understand. On his
bench and in his court Judge Patterson
might be excused for striking out in de-
fense of his dignity, but away from that,
his own peculiar realm, he stands upon the
level, and only upon the level, of any other
citizen. He is as fair a subject of criticism
outside of that realm, as any other citizen.
The Judges action in disbarring these gen.
tlemen was as unjust rs it was unwise.
The case will go by appeal to the supreme
court. The result of it there may be easily
anticipated.
What the Public are to Know.
Carlisle Herald, Rep.
Has the public right to know whether
judges are actuated by such a motive as
was here charged? This is the crucial
question. If they have, each citizen who
discovers it has right to inform his
neighbOr. Communication from the man
who knows to the man who doesn't is the
only method by which public judgment, as
to the merits of public measures or public
men, can be formed.
But Judges Livingston and Patterson
say that the public has no right to know
whether the partisan feeling attributed to
them really controlled them. In the opin-
ion filed, Judge Patterson is pleased to re-
mark that impeachment is the only re-
dress which one "seeking or claiming to be
public benefactOr would for a moment
think Of employing" The impeaching
House and the trying Senate are the only
bodies of citizens to whom a lawyer
when he discovers a judicial maIversatiOn
has right to communicate it. Pray,
what officers are not impeachable ?
The national constitution says, 1.-THE
president, vice president, and all civil
officers of the United States;' the state
constitution says, 1.-THE governor and all
other civil officers under this common
wealth." shall be subject to impeachment.
So, whenever all officer is impeachable, he
is exempt from newspaper remarks upon
his conduct! If a state treasurer steals
it's public moneys, silence! If pardoning
board corruptly recommends the pardon
of a notorious criminal, silence J! If a
governor becomes habitually drunken, to
the degree of being unfit to perform his
duties, silence !! If a judge cannot be
blamed for a completed official act, why
should House of Assembly, a governor,
an attOrney-general, a treasurer?
Should these not be independent as we'll rs
the Judge? If acting honestly, do they not
as much deserve protection from hostile |
comment? Are they not by nature as sen-
sitive to ill-fame? Is (say)the recommend
ing or the granting of pardon to a crimi-
nal really less important than winking at |
such conduct OF district attorney as
secures an improper acquittal? The
sooner Judge Patterson learns that court
is an organ for the despatch of business,
and is not wit more holy than governor
or legislator, the sooner he will gain an
qualification for his Office,
which he still lacks.
Judge Patterson knows too we'll that,
if the press were silenced in regard to