The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-08-07

demned a pending or proposed bill in Parlia-
ment giving such appeal. He remarked:
We are always very careful about the law,
and giving the accused a fair hearing.
What good would an appeal do2 If deci>
sion was reversed we should only have to
hear the evidence over again, and it would
make unnecessary cost and trouble" He
remarked further, that he could see only
one way in which an appeal would be of use,
and that would be an appeal from the pun
ishment inflicted for the purpose of deter
mining whether too much or too little had
been administered.
The new rules" as they are called, and
which will go into effect Nov. l, 1883 go, as
1t seems to me, to extremes. For all in
tents and purposes pleadings are abolished.
There will no longer be any demurrers after
That date. The plaintiff puts upon paper
a notice OF what he intends to prove. The
defendant does the same, and then they go to
trial These rules are the work of the Judges
themselves, and the reason assigned for this
revolution in the old system is that plead
lngs occupy too much time, and too often
stand in the way of substantial justice. The
judges prefer to hear and determine cases
upon their merits, unhampered by technical
rules. They decide legal questions not upon
paper, but upon the proofs. They take the
ground that in courts there should be but
one question, and that, What is the very
right of this dispute?' And whatever takes
up time and is not absolutely necessary to
arriving at this result should be dispensed
with. Trial by jury in civil cases under
these new rules is also very much restricted,
The curious feature of this matter is that
this great change does not come from legis-
latlon at all, but from the common action of
all the English judges. These rules are laid
upon the desks of each member of Parlia-
ment, and unless objection is made to them,
and a majority of the two houses sustain it,
they will take effect Nov. 1 next. AS Par.
lament is about to adjourn, and the judges
here have vastly more power than in the
United States, the'adoption of this change is
a foregone conclusion.
The judges here are terror to evil-doers.
III prisoner is guilty escape is impossible.
The jury hardly sit down before the prisoner
is hidden to stand up and receive his sem
tence. Punishment follows. Murderers are
hung the next Friday or Friday week after
their trals-immediately upon conviction.
And in civil cases the object of the court is
a speedy and inexpensive trial. There are
many counties in Indiana whose dockets are
more behind than those of the courts of the
city OF London with its four millions of peo-
pie and enormous wealth and business.
With the proposed new rules the Judges ex-
pect that hereafter any case whatever will be
decided within six months after its institu-
ton, and.the appeal heard and determined
within as many months more
OF course | do not mean to say that the
English administration of justice is perfect.
duke or a lord has an enormous advant-
age over an untitled or impecunious litigant.
But then a common English judge is OF the
earth earthly, and sometimes poor earth at
that. D. P BALDWIN
LONDON England, July 49,