The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-06-07

beginning not to creafe . race of men divineiy inspired to administer justice. Judgments Of our supreme court have the force of infallible decrees because there is no higher power to appeal 10, but they are the wosk of faiibls men, hased on the evidence of falli6le witnesses and on an imperfect code ss ..=s, .ad ~ho can affirm that justice has been done?
 We make our judees-they ought to be born. From the time of Joshua 10 the reign of Saul, period of about ,so years, the Jews were ruled hy judges who were also priests and prophets but probably not inspired-and the office was hereditary.
 Nothing was then known of the ,hrce departments of gosernmen,, now. so sharply defined by our wrlt,eo cons,i- tutions. The judge at the period men toned made. expounded and executed the la~. In the matter of m aking the law, it cannot be said that the judges of the present day differ very much from their Jewish predecessors. There IS some thing in the constitution about i,s being the duty of the legislature 10 make ihe laws; and 1t is popular opinion tha, they do 90, but it is delusion. By far the largest body of the law is judge-made law. Another popular delrsion is that the judges deal with sober facts. The sober fact is the law is full of novels, hchons and 6etitious personages, all the creation of the judges
 known to history, are John Doe and Richard Roe, both the creation of judges and made to play part in a hctitsous proceeding more mysierious and incom- prehensible than the mysteries of any religion or the plot of any novel.
 For a thousand years judges have been talking about the common law and affecting to decide eases according to that law. What the common lav is, who made 1t and where it is to be found not one of them can tell you. They tell you the United States has no common law oi it's own and that the states have none, bat that the English common law is our inheritance. l am sorry we tell heir to any such a myth. You all recoliect Mrs. Camp Sarah Gamp-Dickeos' celebrat. ed professional Hurse. During long life she was constantly quoting the opin ions of Mrs. Harris, purely imaginary person, in order to give more weight to her own When we come to the common law. the judges are all Sarah Camps and the common law is Mrs. Harris. Not. withstanding ,ha, the common law is the invisible and intangible thing have described, 1t IS the most difficult law to get rid of in the world. You can repeal one statute by another, but il takes three statutes to repeal a rule of the common law. This results from the maxim that a statute contrary to the eommon las shall be strictly con strued, which is interpreted by the judges to mean shall be construed to have no effect This maxim is applied by the judges until the legislature has re- enacted the statute Tn different forms about three times.
 The reign of the judges of Israel ceased with old Judge Samuel. Having grown old in the service he began to get ready to 50 on the retired list by appointing his sons. Joel and Abiah, to be judges He seems to have been something of a nepotist-av vice which il Is said some Of the judges of the present day are not free from. And his sons walked not in his ways bnt turned aside after lucre, and took bribes and perverted judgment, and they were removed from office and thus ignominiously ended the line of judges of Israel. Bat when Samuel resigned he challenged the assembled people in this language:
 Behold, here l am; witness against me before the Lord: whose OK have eat~ ~-~.A | whom have defrauded: whom have i oppressed, or of whom have l received any bribe to blind my eyes herewith p and the people with one voice testified to ,he purity ot his official career.
 take leave to say that the Joels and Abiahs now on the bench are exceeding ly rare-if they exist at all- -andshat good cid Samuel, in point of purity and in.eg- rity in the administration of the judicial office is fair type of the judges of the land to-day. Why is it that the judges, some of whom have reason to believe = indeed, might say bave personal knowl- edge of the fact-are not the most ex- emplayy christians, nevertheless dis charge their official duties with such purity and integrity? The credit is due to the bar. In the face of an intelligent and argus-eyed bar, hypocrisy, shams and deceits, are instantly detected and exposed. The judge is compelled to be honest even if he is inclined to be other wise However. the lawyers may have vexed the priests in ancient times, they are o-day judges and teachers of judges The education of judges is the most inn portans and difficult part ot a lavyer's vocation. Judges are exceedingly dull scholars. as any lawyer, who has just lost a case, can tell you Some allowance ought to be made for them because they are confused and embarrassed in their studies by an unvarying difference of opinion between their instructors. If impartiality, learning and justice mark the judgments of any court, you vili find that court has an able bar, and to the learning and ability of the bar if the country indebted for the honorable posi- t.oz ;ts judiciary occupies to-day.
 Law, like everything else is amenable to the law Of evolution. Is must grow, expand and develop to meet the altered