The Portland daily press., 1895-08-24
SCENES In AN ENGLISH COURT.
Impressions of an American Visitor in
London.

i
He Finds an Unexpected Lack of Dignity
and Little Solemnity-The Judges
Questionings.
Edgar 6. Miller Jr, in The Baltimore
SUM-.
| The visitor to the London courts Will
not be impressed by any splendor OF sur
roundings nor by any great dignity OF
proceedings. Entering the High Courts
of Justice on the Strand the stranger
must ascend steep flight of circular
stairs leading to long and dark corridors
which open into small galleries IN the
rear of the court rooms. 1t is only into
these uncomfortable little galleries that
the visitor is allowed to enter and obtain
view of the proceedings by looking
down upon the crowd Of wigs beneath.
There is no spacious accommodation for
the public as we have in our present Bal
timore courts, in which many of our
weary fellow citizens doze away the hours
| from 10 to 3 o'clock.
Perhaps the first thing to attract atten-
| ton is the smallness of the courtrooms.
Most of them are about half the size Of
our Court of Common Pleas, with high
ceiling, often surmounted with q cupola,
| through the windows of which as we'll
| as by side windows, light is admitted.
! From the very opening of the splendid
pile of buildings erected some ten years
ago the insufficient lighting has given
| trouble. Even on a bright day the light
| is not the best, and considering that dark
or rainy days in London largely outnum-
Der those of which the sun shines brightly
or at all, it is evident that the difficulty
is serious. The Londoner, however, docs
not seem to object to cloudy weather
Whenever there is day in which there
is no actual rain, you may expect to hear
the remark that it is a fine day. There
is a story of an Englishman returning
home from q more sunny land, who OBJ
erved to his friend while sailing along
the coast in a heavy rainstorm, "Thank
goodness we are out of that everlasting
sunshine. - But returning to the court
rooms; the walls are all dark in color,
so that, with the insufficient lighting, on
cloudy days it is sometim IS impossible
Tor the Court and counsel to read the legal
documents These documents are almost
all in handwriting upon unwieldly sheets
of paper, about half as large as a page OF
The Sun. Typewriting and typewriter
paper have not yet found their way into
legal methods.
The Judge or Judges sit upon an elevat-
ed platform, as with us, but so high from
the level of the floor of the room that the
Clerk of the Court, in order to hand
paper to. the Judge, is obliged to stand
upon chair. In front Of the Judge and
| Clerk the desks for the counsel are ar
ranged in rows of from six to twelve
each, one beside the other, like children's
desks in schoolroom each desk looking
very untidy, with its covering of ink as
is made by, drops from the quill pens,
which are almost exclusively used. Be-
hind these desks the barristers and solicit
tors sit on the wooden seats fixed upon
the rows of desks behind. There is no
trial table, as we understand the term.
The barrister stands at his desk and adj
dresses the Court or examines the wit
nesses, who stand in the witness box, al
most on a level with the Judge, Or in
deed, sometimes on the Judges platform,
ard within ten feet of him. The Judge
is addressed by counsel as "my Lord, !"
but the words as pronounced seem more
like "me Lud. The Jugde has book in
which he takes copious notes OF the testi-
mony of the witnesses, and as no finishes
writing out sentence he may utter a
grunt, intended to mean Eyes" or
"well." as a signal that he has made his
note of the evidence, and is ready for the
examination of the witness to proceed.
There are no official court stenographers,
and there is, therefore, no official written
record of the evidence except the notes of
the Judges and counsel.
Representatives of the press agencies
are however, generally in attendance,
and make stenographic notes of interest
ing points. The London newspapers pub
lish yery full accounts of all cases of any
Importance, especially in divorce and
breach of promise cases. listened to the
trial Of a case of the latter character in
which the plaintiff sued for 10, 900 pounds
damages. Her solicitor had compromised
the case without her authority for 1000
pounds, but she refused to accept the set
Element and insisted upon trial. She
had been arrested for some assault grow
ing out of the case, and came into court
in custody of an officer She had no
counsel and conducted her own case, with
the natural result of a Judgment against
her. When the verdict was rendered she
ran forward, screaming abuse at the
counsel and defendant, and trying to at
tack the latter, and there was fierce
struggle before she was finally quieted by
| the court officers. While this was going
on the Judge quietly left the room.
| 1t cannot be said that the proceedings
| in these courts are conducted with any
great impressiveness on the contrary the
reverse is often the fact. Many of the
cases which I listened to were tried by
eminent Queen Counsel before the great
est judges in England, including tho
Lord Chief Justice and others of appellate