The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-06-10
CharIemagne and the Lawyers
Of 1882.
Farming World.

i L
Legislature, showing how it wa
manipulated in the interest of ring
in general, and lawyers in particu
lar. To do the subject justice, &C
cess to the Revised Statutes wa
necessary. AS every Texan i
bound by these, his life and prop
erty both depend on his obeyins
them. You will assume, withou
investigation, that such access wa
easy to the humblest citizen.
Not so. Mr.. Magee writes: IN,
delay is due to the fact that I could
not get the Revised Statutes,
though | had the money deposited
in Galveston when the Digest was
published, and lawyer employed
to get the book, for none bit a Aa1v.
yer could get it. 1t is very difficult
for farmer or private citizen to
get the laws of the State, though
we are bound to obey the law, and
are not allowed to plead ignor
ance." The above is not peculiar
to Texas.
80, yes, but LAWYERS must live
Certainly they must, and don't you
see how such a judicial dead-line
as enforced ignorance increases
their businessi
First, it forces those who would
know the law by which they must
be judged, to pay lawyer for in
formation, which every child should
be taught as he is taught his letters.
Secondly, this prevalent ignorance
causes innumerable technical viola
tons of said law, followed by pros
ecutions on the part of the Comon
wealth, to say nothing of litigation
between private parties. The addi-
tlonal per cent. helps both the
Commonwealth attorney and the
attorneys necessarily employed by
the defense, and whether cleared or
convicted the farmer is closely
sheared. If cleared, he has his at
torney's fees to pay, and PRO rata
of the tax levied to pay costs; if
convicted, he pays his attorneys
fees and all the costs and suffers the
fine or imprisonment imposed as a
penalty upon enforced ignorance.
Is this just? Is it humane? Does
it breathe the spirit of the nine
teenth century? Does it not rather
SAVIOR of the Inquisition? This
blindfold system suited the age of
Charlemagne admirably; but it is a
little slow for telegraphs and tele-
phones. We quote the above as
but Single sampeL of the rotten
ness of our judicial system, when
compared with the advanced and
ameliorating tendencies of the age
in general. Medicine, literature and
science progress-law looks back
ward, never forward. Why is it
that while every other science af-
tecting human happiness is advanc-
ing with ever accelerat ng strides,
the LAW. in its majestic stupidity,
stands about where it did centuries
ago, when the English mobiles
wrested the charter from the hands
of King John on the banks of the
Runnymede?
You know the three fold reason,
and every lawyer knows it well.
First. Our judicial system is
based upon that of England. Eng
land is ruled by an aristocracy
which regards such working men
as you are with the veneration that
You feel for toad.
Second. For many years our
Government, in every department,
has been run by lawyers.
Third. These lawyers know full
well that the more intricate they
can render legal science and prac
tlce, the more they burden it with
exceptions; the more deeply they
can cover a simple legal principle
with authorities" the more room
there is for putting off and prolong-
ing trials, the more unintelligible
the law can be made to the ordiu-
airy cltizen-in fine, the more per
tectly they can succeed in defeating
the prompt administration of jus
tee, and making law an unjust dis
tributlon of justice, the larger will
be the volume of legal business, and
the fatter the legal pocket book.
When lot of miners in Colorado,
or rangers on the plains, find that
one of the "boys" is incurably in
spired, a la Guiteau, to forge,
steal, rob, and murder, they pro-
coed to business. The firmest and
fairest minded member of the party
takes his seat on log as Judge
The criminal is brought before him
and the evidence weighed. From
half an hour to an hour is thus oc-
cuPied, and the prisoner is then lib
Grated, hung, or shot, according to
bis crime.
This is Lynch law. 1t costs the
State nothing. 1t is prompt and
often just. But it should never be
countenanced, for it strikes at the
social system by allowing every
man to take the law into his own
hands.
Here, in Ohio or Kentucky, a
man commits a murder Perhaps
he wanted some old mans money;
perhaps he got drunk in order to
kill comrade whom he hated; per-
haps his victim was young girl
whose only desire was to save her
honor. He is arrested, taken to
iail, and the daily papers render
his name and every detail of his
crime a household word. His ex-
aiming trial is held and be is com
nitted for murder Months pass
his trial approaches, and the indig-
nant public are eager to see his
crime avenged.