The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-11-28
THE LAWS DELAYS,

THE LAWS DELAYS.
Some things are necessaries and others
are luxuries. The first are indispensable,
but the latter may be dispensed with by
conquering some habit, or suffering a little
personal inconvenience. The law largely
partakes of both these Ingredients; for, as
the plaintiff, in all suits enjoys the lux
ury(?) of prosecuting his suit, so the de-
fendant is forced to the necessity Of making
his defense. Some may be sarcastic enough
to allege that either, orboth sides, involved
in litigation, must find it luxurious, be-
cause the expense is SO great Inc the re-
suit so uncertain and remote. BE this as
it may, litigation is the only arbiter, yet
devised, to settle, or, if o~bstinately fought.
to prolong the difficulties among men. It
therefore may be truly said to be a neces-
sary evil. To the defense may be ascribed
the task of p~rolonging the suit; and
it is lust here doubtless that the
most legal skill and ingenuity is required.
The laws delays are not a modern evil,
because they originated and have been the
cause Of complaint from time immemorial.
This seems to have been considered a re-
proach upon civilization for many CEN
turtles past, because more than six hundred
years ago King John of England, in the
great charter wrested from him by
the people, solemnly promised for
himself and his heirs. that they would
'sell or deny or defer the right or justice to
no man," and besides that he c~ovenanted
and agreed to increase the judiciary and
enlarge the facilities for legally determining
disputes among his subjects. -Four hun
dred years after these ~fruitless promises,
Shakespeare made Hamlet reckon the
claws delay" among the ills of life. 1t
therefore clearly appears that the delays
in administering justice are not indigenous
to this country, but that they came across
the Atlantic with our ancestors.
How is this grievance to be remedied?
sidered by eminent j~urists: time and again,
but without arriving at any satisfactory
conclusion. The American Bar Associa-
ton. supposed to be composed OF the most
eminent, if not the most learned at least
the %wealthiest, members of the legal pro-
~fession, took up this question several years
ago at an annual meeting (that is, a sum-
mer iunketing partly at Saratoga, New
York. The erudite members of that illus
trious body made a grand display of their
legal attachments in Il forensic effort to
judicially dispense with claws delays in
legal proceedings, as appears by a labored
report submitted by a committee, ap-
pointed for that purpose, at the pow'wow
held at the same place this summer. This
learned committee informed the convention
and by the way it IS news to laymen, that
"a law suit ia a contention before the
judges OF the land respecting an alleged in
fraction OF the law" and that in deciding a
lawsuit 1.-TWO fundamental questions are
thus raised-what is the fact and what is
of Avon says, and it is just the simple op-
Grafton OF determining what are the facts,
and the law applicable to those facts,
which so often render litigation intermina-
BILE. The facts when submitted to a court
or jury are too often like the Irishman's
"a. va 0oCVIuPo w AAIn1 AAC
isn't there. Or to use the language of leg
erdemain-'now you see it and O you
don't gee it," Suppose the facts are made
plain by dispelling the mystery Intention
ally thrown around them after a long and
tedious trial, how long does it take to ap-
ply the law to them? That's the question.
Well, the learned committee says that 'it
appears that the average length vi IL law
suit varies very much in different states,
the greatest being about six years and the
least a year and a half"
The average time consumed in a lawsuit,
by the report OF that committee, is about
four years. Well, now, this is good news,
and must be very comforting to ~litigants.
Yes, because it assures them that if their
lives are spared long enough, they will
probably enjoy the satisfaction OF being
victorious, or experience the %disappoint-
ment of a defeat. Either, as the Dutchman
says, "sometimes always costs money"
The committee seems to think that the
Judges are mainly responsible for these
great delays, (this is lawyer-like, for legal
gentleman always blame the courts and
juries for decisions and verdicts against
their clients which they, themselves, are too
often to blame for,) as they say, "the
Judges OF all courts, except those of last
resort, should be compelled to render their
decisions within a fixed period. How
they can hold back their opinions as they
do is a marvel, which we should not be-
Leve were we not used to it," Oh, yes,
the poor judges must stand the brunt. Con-
scientious lawyers never make any d~ilatory
motions, nor, upon the most frivolous pre-
text, appeal cases to higher courts, and
then next to all their legal learning and
skill in ~endeavoring to becloud the courts
judgment, how very innocent the bar is
so far as the laws delay is concerned. How
ever, the committee, composed as it were
of such legal talent as Hons. David Dudley
Field and John F. Dillon, submitted some
very excellent fundamental maxims which,
if needed by the profession, must shorten
the time consumed in adjndicating law
cases. These maxims will, it is to be feared,
be needed or not, according to the whims
and interests OF the lawyers to whose judy
ments they nave been submitted.
The conclusion of the report is manly
and commends itself to laymen as well as
the bar. It says: I'm conclusion, we are
obliged to admit that the most OF the blame
fer the delay and uncertainty which we
have been discussing rests upon the profess
sion of which we are members, in both it's
branches. whether or the bench or at the
bar. We are a host in members; we have
influence direct and indirect, greater thar
that of any other profession or class OF
men in the country; We are part and par.
eel Of the judicial establishment; we know
best the laws of the land as they are, and
we should know best what they ought to
be; we car make ourselves heard and heed !
ed in every legislative hall, in every execu-