Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-04-24
THE PROFESSIONAL CLUB.
THE LAW OF THE LAND"

A company Of % members Of the Pro
fessioual club and their guests, who may
have previously thought in their own minds
that The law Of the land" is q dry, COM
pex and uniDtelligible subject, were com
petely disabused Of such an idea II II eN
isted, ON Monday evening The occasion
was the April meeting Of the Professional
club, when Judge II. r. Wheeler was the
essayist, speaking Oh the subject here indi-
Gated. His essay, or address, occupied an
hour in lie delivery and his auditors we're
held delighted with the simple, direct, and
highly entertaining way in which the sub
iect was presented Being given entirely
without notes, full abstract is not attain
able, aud only the main points are here out
lined
The body Of our law, Judge Wheeler
said, is the English common law" which
dates from William the ConquerOr This
was not an enactment, il was a growth.
In the early times the king WAS the Judge.
He heard disputed cases among his people
and decided them ~ he thought right. Al
terward, when this duty grew burdensome,
he appointed judges ~ hear and decide
cases for him Who we're the earliest
judges nobody knows. The speaker had
list from l343, and was not aware that an
earlier list was in existence. The earliest
reports Of legal decisions we're contained
in the Mirror. a publication which Is now
very rare, but copy Of which rs contained
in the Phelps collection in the public libra
| Ty. The great portion Of English consti-
tutional law, and Of our own, is founded
on Magma Charts," granted by King
John in 1915 This greatest and most i'm
portant Of all legal instruments was in no
sense an enactment, or a measure adopted,
but was grant from the king. Some Of
the more important provisions Of Magma
Charta we're spoken Of, and il WAS shown
how the law Of our time has grown out Of
it.
Coming 10 this country, the speaker re-
marked in passing, that the state Of Yer
mont made the first declaration ever made
Of the absolute equality Of all men. The
subject Of real property, It's ownership, the
origin Of such ownership, the manner Of its
transfer, and the way in which title is Civ
en-, was then taken up In almost all Of
our own section Of country the title Of land
/ goes back primarily ~ the king In Yer
mont the case is different, and the original
/ grant is from the state itself. The towns
Of Jamaica Dover and Wardsboro, furnish
instances of this Elsewhere than in Yer
mont the original title goes back 10 James
the First. A deed of warranty or quit
claim confers what is considered TO be- and
/ what practically u.s. absolute ownership OF
the land, and yet there are certain rights
which the state holds and reserves There
is the right 10 "hunt aud fowl" on unen.
closed land and the right 20 fish in all boat
able waters not private property. mans
house is his castle. No matter how poor
or mean 1t may be, or how great the pow
erty Of its occupant, here he may defend
himself, his wife and children lu case of
attack he may make defence from the out
er door, and not retreat To the inner wall
before beginning such defence. An officer
who has a warrant TO serve may not break
into the house TO make such service or at
tachment. The right Of a mAn in his own
house is sacred and inviolable
While real property il thus acquired by
title, with personal property the case is diff
ferent. The mere fact Of undisputed own
ership or possession Is enough. 1t was in
this way that the ownership Of slaves grew
. up. There was never any law in this roun
try giving the right 70 bring slaves into the
country or TO hold them here The prop
erty right in them was acquired Just like
thvt in any kind Of personal property
The personal rights Of a man are as firm
and sacred the right IN his house No
man may be arrested without a warrant
] a
be may be held by an officer il is true or
10y one not an officer, but only so long as is
necessary to accomplish his legal arrest
The citizens personality is inviolable Prop
erty upon his person may not be forcibly
seized by an officer The watch in his
pocket, for instance, may not he forcibly
removed by an officer for attachment. In
the same way a mans reputation is held
sacred against attack. and hence the laws
| against libel, which punish n man for charg-
ing another with a crime Of which he Is in
nocent. Ii is not a nice thing to call
man mean scOuudrel" but il is not a
libel 10 do 50, because there is no Law max
1 ing il crime to be such a mean scoundrel:
but If one is accused of being Il thief
when innocent this is actionable. 1t is in
the same line Of protection Of individual
rights that there comes the provision that
no man be tried for a crime without indict
ment 10y grand jury. That is 70 say
certain number Of his fellows must first
have the facts and evidences before them
and say whether there is reasonable pre-
sumption Of his guilt
The right Of trial 10y jury Was then tax en-
mp, and the great fundamental principle
that Il man shall he tried 10y jury Of his
''peers' was elucidated. This means, in
substance, that u man shall I've tried by
those who are his equals before the law.
Many people have come 10 have an idea
thai a trial and decision by the Judges
would be better than that by jury, but
with this the speaker did not agree for he
knew the Judges and their own limitations
With regard 10 a trial 10y Jury of his
peers" the case Of black man tried for
murder in Virginia aud convicted was in-
stanced. The jury was drawn from a
panel in which the names Of no black men
we're placed. The black prisoner held,
therefore, that he had not been tried
by jury of his peers. The case went
TO the supreme court at Washington,
and his exceptions were sustained The
court said that a jury so obtained was not
a jury Of his peers. The jury need not all
of them be black men, nor any Of them in
fact, but the names Of both black and
white men should have been put in the box
from which the jury was drawn
In closing Judge Wheeler spoke briefly
on marriage and divorce showing how
originally the marriage contract differed
from every other contract in being tina
and irrevocable, and not 10 be broken in
any way Ii was in this respect that ouI
modern laws had interfered with one oil
the fundamental principles Of English law
and not altogether 10 its advantage.
In the discussion which followed the pa
per Hon. DormAn b. Eaton, who was pres
ent, bore leading part, speaking by nvi
tation at some length upon the circum
stances under which Magma ChartA wa,
granted by King John, this grant not being
by any means a free gift from the wick cd
debased and prohigate king, hut a messur,
for the people, wrssted from the king bl
the people themselves al the end OF a Ions
nj AZ u Il. 4 4
by every possible means TO gain his owl
ends, but unsuccessfully Other gentle
men contributed much to the interest Of
the discussion.
The closing meeting Of the club for thi
season will be held on Monday evening
May Is, when DR. Draper will give the pa
per ON Caesars Image and Superscription,
and the annual ladies night" will be oh
served
BY unanimous vote of the club Hon
Dorman b, Eaton was asked to give tn,
paper at the opening meeting of the clul
, for the next season, to be held in October
OF early in November.
HANDSOME RECOGNITION.
The first annual dinner of the Piano
makers association of New York and vi
cinity was held at Delmonico's in that cit
recently, when there was a notable gather
ing OF men prominent in the trade. Tn
subject particularly under discussion wa
that of the adoption Of a uniform muscs
pitch by all the pianoniAkers of the Unite,
, States. At the reception which precede,
TIE dinner several Of the gentlemen pres
ent expressed their views ON this subject
I The matter is one to which Col. Fuller o
\ the Estey firm has given careful study, an,
J THE Music Trades" says OF his remark
ON the occasion "EH-I .ieut. Gov Emile