The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1884-02-02
FoB The CLARION.
The stenOgrapher in Court.

THE law grows"-and in many years
past it has developed no improvement so
great as the stenographer in court. In all
the important cities, and in many of the
towns and rural districts of the United
States, the stenographer is an ever present
and important agency in the courts, and in
Judicial proceedings, his Office and func-
tions being established by law. The prac-
tice Of acting upon merely oral evidence,
which prevails in our law courts, under the
common law-system. is an anomaly in ju-
dicial proceeding, and utterly at variance
with all other judicial systems in the world.
II is the single and startling exception to
the methods adopted by all other courts in
the civilized world. The foundations and
reasons upon which this anomalous pro-
ceedings rests, therefore demand search
ing and critical examination. The practice
Of taking oral evidence, like other peculi-
arities of the common law, grew up in the
simplicity and illiteracy of the crude era
in which the common law originated; at
the same time when even the pleadings in
the law-courts we're oral. But the fact that
oral testimony has so long aud stubbornly
survived oral pleadings, and the conditions
in which il originated, demonstrates vi
tality which must be accepted as proof of
its great advantages. So great and obvi-
Gus are these advantages, that no Sc
rious effort has ever been made to change
this method. In criminal trials, even the
slightest departure from it is prohibited by
organic law, and in civil causes, depart
ure from it is admitted only from neces-
sity, in special circumstances, and de beRe
esse. Each of the methods has its peculiar
and obvious advantages, and each has its
advocates and partisans Neither has
yielded TO tn, other, nor is there any dispo-
sition TO yield. The ecclesiastical courts,
the military courts, and the chancery
courts will continue to adhere TO the meth.
cd Of written testim )ny, preserved as Part
OF the permanent record, while the law
courts will perpetuate the method Of oral
testimony. The oral method, with its Incl
dents of conformation with the witness,
the observance Of his appearance, manner,
and disposition, and tho rapid and sharp
oross-examInatIon, furnishes, according to
universal experience, the best test OF truth
in testimony. But the obvious defect Of
this method il, that testimony thus deliver
cd, is mere passing sound upon tho air,
uncertain and evanescent, easily mistaken,
an | quickly forgotten, and the impressions
that il makes though vivid are ephemeral.
Angry disputes as to the nature and extent
Of TINS testimony frequently arise, even
during the trial, when the counsel are ad
dressing the jury and commenting on the
testimony. These disputes occur again in
bn Iii nf aud
unpleasantness between counsel; sometimes
between counsel and the court. The method
of written testimony has the advantage of
deliberation, certainly, and permanence,
and induces greater caution in the witness,
who is impressed with the fact that his
testimony is to be preserved in writing,
and may, if untrue, come up again to veI
him in future
Thus stands the case between the two
methods, each of which has such advan-
tanges, that each should be preserved. The
effort to preserve and harmonic the ad-
vantages of each method, has introduced
imperfect and inconyenient methods in the
military and admiralty and common law
courts, In the former, the testimony is
orally delivered, but written down in the
language of the witness and signed imme-
diately, thus becoming a part of the record
of the trial In the courts, the Judges
votes" of the testimony, was clumsy eff.
fort in the same direction All these de-
vices attest the long-felt want of method,
which combines and harmonizss and pre-
serves the separate advantages of each
of these ancient and obstinate methods.
The last decade has fulfilled this want.
Make way for him! He comes-the steno-
grapher in court! With telegraphic rapid
ity, his cabalstic signs transfer to paper
and in writing every word just rs it
falls from the mouth of witness,
counsel, or Judge, without delay
ing for q moment, the rapid course of
the trial. And when his work is done, it
presents and preserves a literal transcript
of the proceedings on the trial. 1t cuts OFF,
or terminates disputes over the testimony
and furnished a ready-made bill of eXcep-
tons. The advantages of these points,
can be fully realized, only by counsel of
large experience in jury trials. The diff
Guilty of obtaining satisfactory bill Of
exceptions is frequent, even where the coun-
sci on both sides are fair and candid, and
the judge attentive to the testimony, and
absolutely impartial and unprecedented; but
this difficulty is constant when these con-
ditions are different, And it is often ply
sically impossible FOR lawyer in large
practice to write out his own bills of ex-
ception, or even examine those of the adj
verse counsel. Trial follows trial, and en-
gagement follows engagement, so rapidly,
for day after day, and week after week,
that the task becomes impossible, both
from want of time, and from physical and
mental exhaustion. have been compelled
to abandon some intended appeals because
l could not write out or obtain full and
fair bill of exceptions. The ready made
bill of exceptions contained in the steno-
grapher's transcript is a great and meal
culable benefit and blessing, to the over
worked lawyer, and to the aggrieved iti-
giant. To obtain its full benefit however,
it should also report the remarks of the
court, during the trial if any are made, and
the speeches of counsel.
Ito De CoNrrNUED.)