The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-08-26

Dy which the MAXIM one soou III u - ~
serves another is brought to bear upon
the function of aw-maklng, many meas
ures that are useless and some that are
positively vicious receive the appro3Vai " ..
the majority and go to the Executive Tor
approval. The practice is to hold these
measures back to the closing days OF tne
session. when the attention OF the more
careful and prudent is relaxed or occu-
pied, then the fiood-gates are opened ana
new laws pour out in torrent that Is Ter
rifying to the careful conservatism Oh the
bar and the courts. It seems that the
only immediate remedy for this condition
rests in the disapproval of the Executive.
1t is worthy of note that the Governor
of New York BY Withholding his approval
put 10 death about 500 passed bills in the
present year. In New Jersey, w We're
Similarly disposed of, smaller NUMBER,
bur in proportion to the number passed,
an equal percentage. Yet ! doupi II a
single reasonable complaint or neon
venience or public loss has been heard
by reason of the failure of these o9V piiis
This excessive legislative activity, IS q
feature of our own times. II has devei-
oped enormously within a very lew re,
cent years. A comparison OF the annual
volumes of statutes OF any particular
State for the last twenty years VIII
prove this.
hle to the great business development or
the times, to the contributions of sc1en-
tific discovery to the machinery OF life.
The common law afforded ,9a no prlnGipie pr
to regulate justly the business OF teie-
graphy. City charters contained no pro-
visions under which electric or caple
roads could be operated through the
streets TO our ancestors came not even
dream that one day the human voice
could be heard across thousands OF miles
They had laws to punish witchcraft but
none to cover larceny of telegraph mes
sages by wire tappers. or the theft oI
light by Illicit connection with an electric
circuit. AS invention and discovery have
added new processes and devices TO the
tool shop of civilization, novel ADJUST
mentS of the laws have been required 10
regulate the business of the world to the
improved conditions.
AT the same time there have been com on,
ume OF Legislation. BY constitutional
provisions in many States the passage OF
special laws upon many subjects IS for
bdden, notably in the matters of grant,
ing charters of corporation and the gov
ernment of cities, counties and other
municipal divisions of the State.
Yet the masses of trivial legislation, of
statutes unealled for by any public in
convenience or necessity go on increasing
confusing the citizen, embarrassing the
lawyer. and perplexing the. courts OF JUS
tice with contradictions, inconsistencies,
dilemmas and floods of verbal turgldlty.
Laws enacted one year are repealed the
next, TO give place to some new concep-
ton. The spirit of conservatism dies out
in the fierce unrest of this busy age. OF
these multitudinotls .strivings for change,
for the mere sake of change, in our laws
it may be said: Age cannot Wither. them,
nor custom stale their infinite variety
In considering the extension and i'm
provement of Jurisprudence, we have Two
power of direct legislation through con-
stltutional representative assemblies, and
the other the power OF the courts by de-
cision to extend old principles to new con-
ditions. In the American Republic this
latter power is extraordinarily great, be-
cause, by the arrangement of our system,
liz tod n
cision as to what is law and what is not
law. and stands in sense above the
Legislature. vested with the right Of de-
claring void and setting aside the statutes
passed by the Legislature for any vio-
lation of constitutional restriction. In all
matters therefore, of constitutional CON
tutional principles by decision, the. courts
are for the time being supreme, Nor has
the process of Judicial legislation ceased
1t is still in operation in every court of ap-
pellate jurisdiction. We need not lament
the fact. The courts are apt to make
better laws than the. Legislatures, not, of
course, upon those departments of Iegis-
lation that are administrative or govern
mental, but upon those subjects of gem
eral Jurisprudence that form the great
body of our substantive law of life, con-
duet, business and trade. Judge-made law
| is apt to be better because it is not vie-
lent nor revolutionary, because it is the
result of the keenest and best trained
thought striving for consistency unifor-
NIFTY and stability ST and 9 is inspired by the
framed statute is apt to produce con-
fusion. doubt and uncertainty. to the solv-
ing of which numerous appeals to judicial
Interpretation are necessary One need
only look at the cases that have arisen
under the Statue of Limitations and the
Statute of Frauds to appreciate how diff
eu1 it is to draw comprehensive act
which shall be clear in expression and free
from doubt in its application.
have said enough of the prolific ten
- lArr 1afA ~-af1.
day. 1t remains to speak of such
remedies as can be applied.
1t is useless to discuss fundamental
changes in the constitution of parliament
tary bodies. With all it's defects our
representative system is the best the
brain of man eyer devised or his ex-
perience worked out,
A lower house with membership FREE
quently changing secures eloseness of
touch and sympathy with the people. The
upper house secures the calmness and
deliberation which are essential to guard
against sudden and unreasoning popular
prejudices to give stability to our system
of law, and in seasons of clamor and un-
rest to save the people from the folly of
their own excitement and emotions.
If representative bodies like our State
legislators ars unable to deal with entire
success with all the complicated and
subtle questions that are presented for
their consideration, how much less can
it be expected that the masses of the
people would be able to do so? Yet, we
find some who seriously propose to rele-
gate legislation to the body OF the people,
and by means of the system known as
the referendum take the popular voice.
not through the peoples chosen repre-
septatives but from the direct votes Of
the people themselves. This TO abandon
the system of representative government;
We do not want the system changed; it
is only necessary that our legislative
bodies shall be controlled, restrained aHd
regulated by properf, sense OF 4e;,s Inc sela