Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-01-12
Precision In the Judicial Use of Words.

Precision In the judicial Use OF Words.
Communicated.
The Judges of our courts are the author
lied critics and interpreters of our English
language. What Lord Jeffrey, or Broug-
ham, or Mscauley may have said IN crit
cism Of the literary works of others-what
the Edinburg or North American Reviews,
or Richard Grant White, or my humble sell
may choose to indulge in, by way of crit.
cism, passes for Just what it is worth. But
when the judges Of our courts, in session OF
ultimate appeal, and with a proper case be-
fore them, once souse down with an opinion
or syllabus fixing q meaning or construction
TO a word, phrase, or sentence, or q whole
body Of written or spoken English, why
there's an end to it. The word or sentence
is what the court says it is, quite as unques-
,ionably, if not as demonstratiyely as tnat
three and three make six.
In contemplation Of this supreme power Of
literal Tor, as we may say, literary criticism
vested in our judges, are we not justified IN
the suggestion that they, the aforesaid
Judges, ought to be reasonably exact in the
language and words which they make use
of? Ought they not, indeed, to be Partlcu-
larly precise Of we be allowed to be particu-
larry Redundancy in the use of words?
Let US take a late instance. Here is the
syllabus in Love vs. Teter, as published by
Mr.. Long. The first sentence in 1t Is thus:
Fraud cannot be predicated on a promise
not performed" We have nothing to ad-
vance as to the law, as meant to be stated.
1t is, doubtless, good. But what is the real
force and meaning of the UnderscOred word,
predicated2 1t most probably is used in
the sense of based or founded but that
is q forced and improper meaning Of the
word. (See Webster.) Besides, if used in
such sense, the sense of the sentence Is
confused and imperfect. / suspect that !he
true meaning would, be better expressed
thus A promise not performed is not suth-
Gent ground for an allegation Of
fraud; though the true meaning
might be made still clearer if proper
s~mpi6cation is not to be sacrificed
to epigrammatic brevity. But, if pre-
dicated' was used in the sense Of alleged,
or some similar term, then il was q still
worse use of the word; and when it is
rightly used the predication is always Of
end never on something.
The next sentence following the one
quoted is-"To make it available, there
must be q false assertion" etc. To make
what available-the fraud or the predica-
tiou2 Not the former, for the false asser-
ton is an ingredient Of fraud, essential to
i:s existence and having nothing to do with
its availability. And to say that, there
must be q false assertion, etc, to make q
predication Of fraud available is Though
excellent law wretched misuse Of words.
In the same syllabus it is stated that, lin
Flaw, false representations, to authorize the
RECESSION Of q contract must be made in
regard to existing facts" Again, this is,
if rightly understood, good law; but is it
good use of terms2 There are not many
words in use than the word
"iaci," and few that are more loosely used.
Properly land that is the way our Judges
should always apply words) it means, q
doing, an act, Sn event, webster Its rad
ical meaning always implies, doing, &C
ton, or motion. Certainly it could not have
been in this marrow, but proper, sense Of the
word "fsets," that it vas used in the sylla-
bus. The condition ola horse, as to dis
esse or faults, or the quality Of barrel Of
-four, or q WEB of cloth is not q fact, yet
these are undoubtedly things with respect to
which false representations would consti-
tute fraud. Had the Supreme Court used
the words here that it used . few lines pre-
ceding-toRit existing matters" instead
of existing facts"-it would have been &C
curate, and scarcely any less elegant in Ian
guage.
Let poets, authors, orators and editors
cultivate the aesthetics Of our noble Anglo
Saxon. but let our judges study precision OF
language, be It never so homely.
DECREE NEI.