Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-10
LAWYERS & COURTS.
THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY NOT MUCH
INDEBTED TO THEM.
/. rhree stars Takes Decided Issue with
the Dispatch and Furnishes Some
Readable Quotations.
RICHMOND. March 7, 1890.

To ne Editor Of iae Dsspdioa
Your paper Of yesterday contains tne
following:
"Iet ne say as we pass along that the
lawyers are in q peculiar sense tne guar
dams Of the liberties Of thepeoplo OF every
free country-notably, the people OF Eng
land and the United States"
do not propose TO argue this PROPOSE
ton with you, but only to protest against
Ire accuracy as a matter of historical fact'
If YOU will look, as l have Just done'
into the briefs and memoranda OF the iate
Judee John A. Campbell, some time Judge
Of the Supreme Court of the united
states. and the contemporary and peer OF
the late Chief-Justice fancy, you Will ma
bis opinion az TO the services OF the law
vers 10 liberty stated in n somewhat an
ferent manner. Allow me, II you please 70
ouote them here along with ms CITATION Vi
authorities; IL r,orol
lets have complained of the abuses In the
Jurisprudence and procedure OF the Engilsn
courts, and have expressed condeinha15io 81
Z of the usurpatlons Of the courts anu "a
their tolerance of falsehood. ascrlolng ~
them pernicious infiuence upon ,s IT,
probity OF lawyers. the dignity OF courts
an addition 10 the DELAYS, expense ana IN
certain results Of judicial proceedings !he
announcement of pettitogging,, anu tiIo
contamination Of justice itself, whlchl H.
separable from truth.
Austin on Juris.. 629, Cos.
VII. Bentham' Works, 287.
Westminster Rev.. Oct, 1851, 2S3.,
"The Constitution Of the United states
has made Of the Judiciary department
separate department OF this GoVerhHe1t'
The absence of this department was radi;
cal defect in the confederation. judicial
mower was not conferred without reserya-
lion nor without definition. There was
no purpose 10 make central government
without limitation OF powers. history
teaches that judiciary organization has
been an effective, perhaps the most ef-
fectiye instrument for upholding absolute
and despotic governments and the one
throurh which acts Of oppression ana
tyranny have been uniformly and success
fully consummated. The undermining ac-
tivity of the legal profession is promi-
nent fact in the history of Europe for
many centuries.
HIichelet informs us in respect TO
France. He SAYS: The Pandects were their
Bible and gospel; with texts. citations,
falsifcations, they demolished the middle
ace Pontifcate. Feudalisim, chivalry:
There went through the kingdom judicial
officers who circumvented. overreached.
discouraged, destroyed the seignloral Juris-
dlctions.
"In the centre Of theweb sat a council OF
lawyers called the Pdrlepent de Pdras."-3
lHcheIet, Htstoire de France, 36-40.
"Loiseau, himself lawyer and co-work-
ct. In a moment of conjunction and COM
Ac
ereat devour the small, so among men,
and not only among them in general, but
among men concerned in the admlnlstra-
tion of Justice this same injustice has been
exercised during all time, for the royal OF;
fcers being superior, and being fortified
with the power of the King, instituted
continually enterprises Of every variety
against the seignloral authority. '-L01sedu
DIES Seignemies, ch. IL.
Our own Gouverneur Morris, q member
of the Federal Convention, says 1t was
observed in the convention at an early
day when the necessity of drawing line
between national sovereignty and State
independence was insisted on, that If
Aaron's rod could not swallow the rods OF
the magicians their rods would swallow
his. III Morris'S Writings, 265.
The motive is the desire of supremacy,
and the principle employed by the legistes
of every age is found in the Pandects:
"Qude ipSe princeps cOnSfi',at proege, pro-
lege serrei,r." The King, the Government
is charged with the guard and the care OF
the nation. Sovereignty Is theirs. Su-
premacy is theirs. What they establish
for the common good IS law: SelgnIoral
Justice is an emanation from them. Cases
were drawn from all inferior courts, be
cause the King was concerned. Cases
could not he tried in those courts because
of interest in the question.
Judgments were reviewed on the charge
there had been a failure or denial Of JUS
tice. The legistes introduced the civil
law, established unity, and the power of
the King, and left the people without lib
erty."-7 Laurent Etucles sur Phfstorte. 552-
SCI.
England displays On analogous history.
Her people resisted the civil law and the
maxim of the Pandects. But the CEN
tralization of the courts, the establish:
ment of the star chamber, the court OF
high commission, the subsection of the
royal Judges took place. The decision IN
the case of Hampton was THAT the King
might levy taxes without grant of Parlla-
menv in cases of necessity or when the
king was in danger. of which danger neces;
sity bis Majesty was the sole and hnal
Judge" thus deciding that Magma Charta
CONSTITUTION
ceased to be operative.
/ have not forgotten the part taken by
Lord Erskine and Lord Camden in the
struggle that lasted forty years, and made
iuries Judges OF law as well as fact in cases
nor that the act accomplishing that fact
was passed hy the efforts of Charles James
Fox. the great commoner and civilian friend
of liberty in 1872.
But beg leave to remind you that that
law was passed against the unanimous
opinion Of the twelve judges led by the
great Lord Thurlow,
Passing by much that might be said or
this head, aud particularly on the refusal
Of the lawyers and judges to concede the
same right TO the juries in civil cases, OF
even to admit its legality, though neither
LAWYERS nor judges can tell what the law
is in the mass of authorities and prece
dents that cover It up, leone TO the lawyers
of the United States as represented by the
Supreme Court.
With the exception of the time when
Judge fancy and the other judges, who by
the appointment OF General jackson and
other Democratic Presidents, became q
majority of that bench, the trend OF its
decisions was always against the rights OF
the States as secured by constitutional
agreement, and at this very day the right
fully sovereign State of Virginia is OPP
pressed by decisions of the Supreme Court
touching her debt-a matter of c0ntrdc
over which that court has not the slightest
authority, and which it now claims to ex-
ercise indirectly.
So long as lawyers claim. as they do now
that an ebuse in the way of t1surpation can
become law by precedent, then it is vair
to call them the guardians of free peo
Piles liberties" And l am very certain
they are not so rated by her people al
large.
Ihaye written the above, Mr.. Editor, be
cause if such proposition as you an
nounce were unchallenged it might mis-
lead the LAWYERS themselves into supposinG
it was acquiesced in, and might Undue,
some other people to suppose there wa
nothing to be said on the side of the PEG
pie. and in justification of
"Ihs few strong instincts ana the few plair
rules
that have always wrought more for liberty
"Than all tho pride Of intellect and thought"
$sF.
N IL