The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1888-05-05
GRAyEYARDS AND Boards
TWO SUBJECTS OF FRESHNESS ANr
LOCAL APPLICATION.
Judge e. 8. Hammond Talks Interest.
ingly About Strict Construction, Legal
Cemeteries and the New Chief Justice
Of the U. 8. Supreme Court.

Win an arlnful oil books and papers, lust
returning from the term OF his court a,
Jackson. Knowing that he could get tho
news while it was fresh, the reporter fol-
lowed. He kindly gave all the items
about the court, and in turn inquired OF
the reporter for news.
tob, nothing, except some fun about
strict construction we are having" was
the reply.
ayes, see that. But did you know
that there is a good deal of humbug about
the principle of strict construction in tho
execution OF statutes?"
'No2 How is that?"
"Well, look at the law for electing the
President. IL says that the wise men of
this nation, chosen by the States to per-
form that function, shall assemble in the
electoral college and select President.
Is this doneP Not now, and II never was.
The form is observed, but the spirit is
gone, and new spirit inhabits that law so
that we have a mode of selection entirely
| foreign and almost the reverse of the
original design. Take our election laws.
They are fair and strict, but do they stand
| in the way of pubic opinion? Think of it
| and you will see that all laws, constitu-
| tons, charters, statutes and everything
| yield TO the all-pervading and all-powerful
force OF public opinion, which at last is
law in its practical operation; and legisla-
ton is elastic enough to be adjusted to the
construction which that force inperatively
demands"
us not that dangerous doctrine?"
Eyes but like other dangers, il must be
met or undergone; sometimes il may DO
overcome and often evaded, but at other
times II is destructive-of strict construc-
ton. 1t sometimes destroys the statute
itself or the constitutional provision, which
then goes TO the bone.yard like other dead
things. There are whole cemeteries of
such dead laws. Here, my friend | will
show you the grave OF one. II Is marked,
Tennessee Constitution: Article w., Sec
ton /: Poll Tax: Died at Its Birth An
no Domini, 1870 There are other full
grown graves that could show you II you
would go with me through this unfre-
quentcd graveyard, upon some OF which
the grass has hardly grown. Why, sir, in
the early years OF Victoria the British Par
lament passed an act TO repeal certain
enumerated sleeping statutes and the list
Is nearly as long rs your arm."
"But you would not have President
MADDEN bury the Taxing District statute,
judge, would you?"
"Why, no; certainly lot, young man,
certainly not Il is not dead, and our
friend, DIR. Estes, the able chancellor,
will see to IL that it does not become mort
bund. But between a dead statute and
one that is to be enforced with what law
yers call sticking in the bark construc-
| ton, there is wide margin for the play OF
Hadden's fine Italian hand us an execu-
| tive. lie is like an English Premier who
-
responds nicely 10 the indications and
obeys intelligent public opinion with
alacrity. And right here you newspaper
men come in"
GLOW is that2"
"Why, 1t is mostly your duty to educate
and regulate public opinion and properly
guide its force. II is a tremendous power
you exercise. Often you are the very
people who kill the laws that are buried,
and sometimes you 90 ms sincere mourners
at the funerals Of your own victims But,
generally, your great power Is wisely ex-
ercised for the public good, as / believe,
and in the long run the good sense Of any .
community prevails in this matter Of the
proper execution OF administrative stat
utes, as In other matters"
Thanking the judge for his unexpected
information about a kind OF graveyard
not much known 10 reporters, THE APPEAL
representative was about To leave the ele-
CANT official quarters, where he had been
| lounging in easy chairs that hc coveted for
his editorial den, when II occurred 10 him
10 ask his kindly disposed yis-a-yis about
the new chief Justice.
al do not know him, but have no doubt
| he will be a SUCCESS. There are thousands,
perhaps, certainly some hundreds, Of
| American lawyers rs little known as tho
one who Is just honored who would make
great judges in that place. We have some
OF them in Tennessee and right here in
Memphis. Tho grandeur OF that office is
such that we naturally shrink from any
suggested name with which We are not IA
miliar until the nomination X made, aud
| then the reaction II such that we 90 too
| far In the other direction, and Il seems ms
! II no other person would have done rs we'll,
aud that II Is precisely the man we wanted,
aud often that Is true. But II would
be Just M true of any other selection
that was ft 10 be made at all. |
see from his picture that he some
what fayop Luke Wright had you noticed
that? BY the way there Is Memphis
man who would have made good chief
! justice for Mr.. Cleveland 10 select, and II
he had been nominated that fact would
have been apparent and by everybody nc.
knowlcdgcd, lust as II now IL Ms 10 Mr..
Fuller, who occupies about the same rela-
| ton 10 local reputation that Luke Wright
does In our State The late chief justice
was no better known when he was mp
pointed, and no better lawyer than either
Of these. II Is one Of our distinctions m
country that nationally unknown men may
aspire 10 and reach such places. | will tell
/ YOU one thingnbOut him that IA unique. IIe