The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-19
nouRTs ANp TEoHNICALITIEs.

The discomfort naturally arising from the
bubbles, instead of upon the merits of the
controversy, is receiving almost universal at
tention. Not only is this discomfort made
manifest through the lay press, but the cause
of it is being discussed in the law magazines
as we'll
The committee appointed by the Supreme
Court of Ohio to examine applicants for admis-
sion to the bar of that State recently refused
certificates to seventeen out of body of
twenty -one candidates, for the reason that the
technicalities of the code practice had
become so burdensome that they had
not been able to master them in the
usual time allotted for course Of study.
This called forth a significant and able edi-
torial in the Central Law Journal The Ohio
Law Journal, in commenting thereon, advo-
Gates that to three-years' course of study
there be added a fourth, which shall Ffbe de-
voted entirely to drill in local statutes and
local procedure, for the reason that the in
terests Of clients are every day wrecked on
account of the ignorance of the rules of prac-
tice. The American Law Review, which is
regarded as the ablest legal periodical in the
country, taking up the refrain, says; ''Then
notwithstanding all the efforts of modern legis-
lation and the enlightened and pro
Of lax 10
procedure, so that the object of
law suit shall be, not to discipline lawyers at
he expense of their clients, but to do justice,
system OF PROCEDURE IL II nearly every State
2 l9ss IN traps and pitfalls which consists
i ANTICIPATED rules, which we have inherited
from WORKOUT and obsolete systems, and
which have been handed down to us by sort
of parrot-like repetition, although the reasons
for originally supporting them have passed
away" 1t might well have gone further, and
said, that if the rules were only uniform and
stable, even though technical and nonsensical
they conld be mastered and followed; but
when each judge in the country is at liberty to
invent some new bubble to avoid writing an
opinion on just and philosophical grounds, the
''traps" and ''pit-falls" are so greatly aug
mented as to be unbealable.
So striking is the contrast between the mode
of administering justice in many of the State
courts and the federal courts that paper re-
gently read before the Tennessee State Bar
Association urging but one set of judges, and
they national judges, each State electing or
otherwise choosing its own, but all being
guided by one national code of laws and one
national code of procedure in all matters not
necessarily pertaining to the local functions of
The State, is receiving favorable consideration
and comment at the hands of the best lawyers
in the country. The plan advised is no
doubt impracticable, but the fact that it has
received public consideration at all shows the
feelings of discomfort existing in the public
mind which is hound to find vent.
The journal has no desire to subvert the re-
spect due to the courts or to break down conf
dence in their decisions Or the uprightness of
the judges. but, as a public monitor, it does
call their attention to the fact that the people
who support the courts are Of the opinion that
the laws are made for man, and not man for