Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-07-22

LANCASTER, PA, July %, 1890.
Law Reform.


Since the days of old Herodotus but
two great systems Of Jurisprudence have
grown to maturity, for legal systems
like national constitutions are not the
creations of day, but the slow growth
Of centuries. These systems are in active
operation in all the leading civilized
nations. The first, the civil law Of
Rome, with various local notifications
and additions, lies at the foundation of
the legal system Of the Germanic aud
Latin nations of Continental Europe.
The second, the common law of Eng
land with similar local variations and
supplements, II the law of the United
States as well rs that of Great Britain
and Ireland, Australia, British India,
Canada, and Of all the other lands, in
deed, over which Victoria, as queen and
empress, reigns.
The common law, which Its admirers
are wont to call "the perfection of
human wisdom" !" is simply immemorial
custom crystallized in the decisions of
many generations of judges, and found
In England in the yearly records-the
decisions of the court Of queens bench ;
and In this country, in our supreme
court reports In England It Is modified
by local custom and supplemented by
acts of Parliament; in the United States
II is both modified and supplemented by
statute--the acts of our several state
le eyislatures,
The law, above all things else, should
be clear and certain. Yet all of our
older states have already issued many
more than one hundred volumes of su-
preme court reports, and rs we havo to-
day forty-three states, each issuing an
nually large volume, the multitude of
decisions and Of conflicting authorities
Is sufficiently bewildering to drive even
the oldest lawyer to the verge of insanity.
1t would be difficult to frame legal
proposition, not on its face idiotic, for
which an industrious advocate cannot
find score of authorities. "The law, -
said Aaron Burr, nearly century age
and the bitterness of the sarcasm lies
In Its truth" the law is whatever is
boldly asserted and plausibly main.
tained." Yet, In those days, IL was
simplicity itself compared to its condi.
tion to-day even in New York and In
spite of the code. That which should
he as clear us crystal and as certain
as fate Is as obscure as thou
! sands OF conflicting precedents can make
1t and rs uncertain as the tenure of hu-
man life, concerning which no man
knows what day may bring forth.
The methods of enforcing rights and
redressing wrongs should be expeditions
ana cheap, yet the laws delays" and
the "exPehse Of litigation" nave be
come the peoples most familiar pro
verbs. A right may be rs clear as Il
e'oudless summer sky and wrong as
glarlng as it's midday sun, and vet
years may elapse before it is possible to
enforce the one or redress the other.
The most just claim may impoverish
the claimant before he can secure its
payment by due course of law. In the
law courts, justice is continually sacri-
feed to form and the clearest rights held
IN abeyance by some ancient precedent
established in another age and ms
wholly unsuited to modern civilization
~ coat of mail 10 modern warfare,
Parties to suits are compelled to await
FOR weary years the argument and de-
cision OF questions Of practice which
they do not understand and in which
they have not the slightest interest.
30, too, our criminal code and prac-
tiee, especially in Pennsylvania, is
fairly honeycombed with absurdities.
nnachronisms, distractions to Justice
and loopholes for the escape of wealthy
offenders. 1.-The facility" says c. c.
Bonnes, esq, the president of the Illi-
nois State Bar association, with which
mere unfortunates are converted into
hopeless criminals, is cqualed only by
the ease with which desperate Offenders
battle efforts 10 subject them ia
punishment, while they burden the
community with enormous expenses of
prolonged and repeated criminal trials. -
These evils make justice by-word
and bring our courts year after year into
more general contempt. Yet they should
command, of all our institutions, the
highest confidence and the most exalted
respect. How shall this consummatiop
80 devoutiy TO be wished " be made
instead of forlorn hope II living
reality? Certain reforms are absolutely
necessary. The judicial force should he
increased so that all causes NAV be fully
heard instead of half heard The prin-
ciples, pleadings and practice of equity
should be extended TO all civil eases.
And in the reform of our criminal code
the first step should be the abolition in
all our cities of aldermen's courts and
the fee system, and ia their place n
single recorders court, presided over by
salaried officer who must be an
educated gentleman learned in the law.
This single reform would take from our
overcrowded quarter sessions one-half of
the petty cases which are at present
returned, besides saving the taxpayers
thousands of dollars every year.
These, however, are only "A few of
many reforms which, if brought about
would make cur courts in very truth
places " wherein justice is iudiciallv
administered
WpP In Ganfral tmo.i.,