The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-04-24
WHEELER BEFORE THE PRO.
FESSIONAL CLUB
An Interesting Treatment and Duscussion
Every Day Truths Which People Ought
t. Know.


Every Day Truths Which People ought
{, Know.
''.rhe Law of the Land" might seem dry
subject for party of laymen to discuss.
| But the professional Club did not find II so
under Judge II. Fl. Wheelers lucid treat
ment Monday evening, but on the contrary
IT hlled one OF the most profitable evenings
the club ever had, giving the gentlemen Of
the other professions who were present,
larger, clearer and better grounded COM
prehension of the great principles of eternal
and fundamental right that make IN our svs-
tenn of Jurisprudence.
1t was easy for the men who listened to
him 10 see why Judge Wheeler has attained
such rank as jurst. Few men have such
remarkable facility in presenting great and
seemingly involved truths In such simpIe
and direct phrase. such clearly Ineligible
form and with such apt selection and illus.
tration 20 impress the meaning indeliby. 1t
Is aTower so rare among learned men in
the branches where they are most learned.
TO be little short of the marvellous In his
case.
Our law, he said, "grew.' 1t began with
William the COnquerer and there are no au.
tbentic reports back of 100, The Judge has
a list OF English judges back to 1915, with
sketches OF number In the 10Th century.
The growth of our law comes from Mania
Charta. which was even then, doubtless, not
new thing, but restoration of rights pre.
viously existing. We have no authoritative
copy of the Charter granted by King John at
Runneymede. 1t was violated again and again
and renewed by Edward and Henry. The
latter made the grant by merely reciting
what Edward did. 1t is thence that our re-
ord comes. Judge W heller has valuable old
book English Liberties or the Free Born In
heritance" published in Providence In l774.
from which we copy the following:
Bishops apparelled in pontifcais, with tapers
burning against the breakers of the church's
liberties, and Of the liberties or other customs
of the realm Of England, and namely of tbese,
mon liberties of England, and Charter of the
Forest, ard denounced the sentence of excom-
mnnication in this form: BY the Authority of
Holy Ghost, and of the glorious Mother of God,
and perpetual Virgin Mary, of the blessed Apos-
ties Peter and Paul, and of all Apostles and of
all Martyrs. of blessed Edward King of Eng
land, and of all the Saints of Hea ven:o We ex-
communicate accurse. and from the benefits of
our holy mother the church we seauester, all
those that hereafter willingly and maliciousiv
deprive or spoil the church Of her right and all
those that by any craft or Witness do vioLte,
break, diminish, or change the churchs liberties
and free customs. contained in the Charters of
the common liberties, and of the Forest, grant
ed by our Lord the King, to Archbishops, Bis
hops, and other Prelates of England; and like
wise to the Earls. Barons, Knights, and other
freehOlders of the realm; and all that secretly
and openly, by deed, word, or counsel, do make
statutes, or observe them being made, and that
bring in customs, or keep them when they be
brought in, against the said liberties, or any of
them the writer, the lawmakers, counsellOrs,
and the eXecutioners of them, and all those that
shall presume to judge against them.
The Goth chapter of Magma Charta con-
tains the thought that appears in all our con-
stitutions and lies at the very foundation of
our common law. 1t reads:
No freeman sh al be taken or imprisoned, or
disseized of his freehold, or liberties, or free
customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any
Otharwisp DESTROYED ~ not
te, ce upon him. nor condemn him, but by law
ful Judgment OF his peers, or by the laws of the
land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny
, or defer to s ny man, either justice or right
The speaker then went on to follow some
OF the branches OF the law from this track,
treating drst OF land titles and OF Deeds
which convey nothing except from the own-
er. The original source was the King. All
and his grant. This Is true of all land be-
tween the 10th and 4Sth parallel of latitude
and between the Atlantic and Pacific
The Nreest title In England was in the par.
ish of East Greenwich in County Kent. and
this grant reads, ''as of Manor of East
mon socage'-1hat is free of all predial SER
vices. From the King our titles came main
ly by way OF New Hampshire is,so far
as grants had been made to individuals up to
the date of the independence of the state.
But In this county. Jamaica, Wardsboro, Do
NtT dHu pdTlS ol w LII WtTt sTdDltu
direct from Vermont. None of the New
York titles gained any validity at all.
The largest title man can have to land Is
that to him and his heirs" A title to man
is merely life estate. freehold. war
ranty deed is no better than a quit claim.
except that 1t will hold an after title. The
differences in estates were explained and also
between realty and personal property. The
latter cannot be inherited; 1t Is distributed.
In common law The personal property went
to the administrator: the executor had Ill
that wasn't willed. Now 1t is distributed by
decree of the Probate court. The ownership
of such property is always got from the per-
son that raised or made it; in the case of an
mals the ownership always following that of
the mother.
The Judge here stated an interesting fact
that in this country slaves were never made
such by law. 1t was done by force and the
courts then recogonizsd 1t. But the law
never gave title as between man and me-
gro. avoiding it as carefully as did the phra-
seology of our constitution. Men made
slaves Of others because they could, not be-
cause the law gave them the right.
la this connection Judge Wheeler outlined
interestingly our system of personal rights.
mans house l. his castle under the COM
mon law. No sheriff or magistrate or king
even has a right to enter unbidden except to
serve criminal process.or a writ of replevin
il be knows that the goods wanted are GER
tainly there. Otherwise be Is liable for
damages. This principle appears In the
Vermont constitution In the phrase that
every man hath a right TO "hold himself. bis.
person and papers free from searches and
seizures.' The Judge might here have men.
toned, though he did net, how palpably the
liquor act of 1890. giving any officer who sus-
poets that you or your wife has liquor Sc
creted about the person, to search and seize
It., vioiate this constitutional provision and
the very essentials of free government. The
act could never stand before supreme
court. He illustrated this principle of the
sacredness of the person by the watch which
no one can attach for debt while II Is on the