The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-01-06
AN INSTRUCTIVE LESSON.
HOW JUDGES ADMINISTERED
INJUSTICE YEARS AGO IN
GERMANY;
And How Frederic the Great Clan.
ped Them Into Prison.

From Tom Watsons Paper.
A certain miller had a mill upon q
certain stream-paying rent therefor to
the owner of the land.
A certain nObleman made himself
fish pond, further up the stream and,
in consequence, the miller couldn't get
enough water to run his mill.
Therefore, when the landlord came
down upon the miller for rent, the mil
Ter pleaded that the nobleman had
ruined the mill by absorbing the water
in the fish pond.
The judges wagged their learned
heads over the case, with due dignity
and circumspection, and decided in favor
of the landlord.
The miller, being an obstreperous per-
son of litigious tendencies, appealed the
case to other judges. The other judges
all decided against the miller. He then
appealed to the king, Frederic the Great.
1t so happened that Frederic was pre-
JUDGED against lawyers, just as many
other misguided and deluded people
have been, and he sided with the miller
as soon as he read the papers.
Frederic had never enjoyed the ad-
vantages of legal education, and to his
proper for landlord to collect rent for
a mill when the water which turned the
mill had been shut off by man up the
creek.
He therefore got it into his head that
his judges were helping the landlord to
commit an outrage upon the miller
especially as the mill had been con-
demned to sale, and had been bought by
ho nh yh0 hod ,r,1iv, od hn or
with his fish pond, Frederic's wrath
waXed hot. He ordered the judges to re-
open the case, and give the miller an
other hearing.
Reopened, therefore, the case was ac-
cordingly; and the judges once more
wagged their learned noddles over It,
ever, and again the miilef WAs f0or0d
Once more he appeals to the king.
Frederic is now in a towering passion:
rates them with furious rebuke, sc0rches
them with royal Indignation, and final
ly claps them into prison, makes them
pay the miller heavy damages, and dis
misses them from Office.
The greatest commotiOn followed. The
legal profession was profoundly stirred.
The judicial mind was never more
shocked. The Grand Chancellor of the
Kingdom who sided with the judges,
was dismissed and quite teapot tenn
pest ragged.
But old Frederic was as immovable as
granite, and he stood by the miller. The
fish pond had to CO. and the mill was re-
stored to the miller.
Public opinion, in Prussia and else
where, was rather against Frederic, on
the legal question involved; but as long
as he lived the case had to stand as he
had decided it.
After Frederic was dead, however, the
nobleman brought the matter into the
courts again, and Frederic's nephew (the
new king, Frederick William II.) took
the money out of his own pocket and
settled the case.
Under the law of Georgia any man
may use stream passing through his
own land, and even divert it from it's
course on his own land, but he must
restore it to it's channel as it leaves his
land. He cannot adulterate the stream,
nor can he so use it as to interfere with
the enjoyment of it by the next owner.
This refers to streams not navigable.
In all history there is not to be found
a dialogue much more impressive than
that which took place between Frederic
the Great and the trembling judges.
The king was burning with anger, the
judges were shivering with fear, and the
following talk was had
The King: ''To give sentence against
a peasant from whom you have taken
wagon, plough and everything that en-
ables him to get his living and to pay
his rent and taxes: is that thing that
can be done?
The Judges-"NO."
The King: MAY miller who has no
water, and consequently cannot grind,
have his mill taken from him, on account
of not having paid hts -ent: is that just
The Judges: mo"
The King: "But here is now a noble
man, wishing to make fish pond: to
get more water for his pond he has q
ditch dug to draw into it the water from
the stream which drives the mill There
by the miller loses his water, and can
not grind: Yet it is pretended the mil
ler must pay full rent for his mill just
as though he had full water to run it.
Of course he cannot pay his rent: his in
come is gone And what does the lower
court do? Order the mill sold: and
the higher court affirms the judgment.
This is highly unjust and such SEN
tence shall be set aside.''
There stands the Grand Chancellor
quaking in every limb. The king turns
upon him, and blazes out:
Get you gone: Disappear: Your
successor is already appointed.
And the Grand Chancellor skedaddles
from the royal presence, never to hold
Office again while old Frederic lives.
Then the angry monarch turns to the
other judges, curses" them out in regal
style, and winds up with the order:
''Get out of my sight" The fright
ened judges hurry away, but have hard
ly reached the next room when the king
says: wait there"
They wait: and, very soon, up come
certain officers; and said judges are
whirled off to prison. The king had
them tried and convicted. He punished
them with one years Imprisonment, and
condemned them to pay all the damages
the miller had sustained.
The Kings desire always is and was,
0nn nHn r/