El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-11-24
NOT CONTEMPT OF COURT.
Judges on the Bench are Open to Rea-
sOnabIe Criticism.

| The decision of the supreme court Of
| Wisconsin, in the low famous Eau Gle ire
contempt case not only makes V ry in
| t'restlng reading, but constitutes enc
| Of the most en- phatic vindi tjOns Of
| the rig is of free speech and free cri
| ticism which we have had from the
| bench in a long time. 1t may be wei
| to recall the salient facts of this re-
markabls casa. Judge Bailey, of Eau
| Claire who was a candidate for reel C.
| tion astspring obj eel to certain edi o
rials and commup icatiOns in a local
paper severely animadverting upon his
official conduct and method. The
writer and litor having filed smdav t,
in contempt proceedings GnstitUt d
against them by sthe judge ale ing
t re truth of their casrges of unfairn 5sS.
partiality and incap .city against Jude e
Bailey he angrily refused to proceed
with the hearing and male an O. der
sdjudging his critics guilty of CONTEMPT.
The offend srs were to be cOmnitte
TO jail, but writ of Fprt hibition from
the supreme court saved them Il o n
t b at punt hment.
The supreme court, in reviewing tie
case, points out the fact that the crit
lei ms made upon Judge Bailey had
no reference to any action of his in con-
nection with the case then pending.
VIII Their just or unjust, they were
general in their nature, and referred
to past conduct. The court says it is
well pars naded that newspaper COM
ments On cases finally decided prior to
the publication cannot be OnsidereG
or mipal con tempt, and that they do
lot obs'ruct the admin stration of
justice, however much they tend 10
prejudice the judge against whom they
are directed. While it is of the first
importance that judges shOul perform
their grave duties unimpeded, it is
equally important that the right of
citizens AID newspapers to critic Sc
what they deem arbitrary, unworthy
and corrupt conduct should be jealous
ly preserved. The court says:
Truly, it must be a grievous and
weighty necessity which will justify so
arbitrary proceeding whereby a can
didate for Office becomes the accuser,
judge ar d july. and may within few
hours summarily punish his critic by
i'm prisonment. The result of such a
doctrir.e is that all unfavorable crit
cism of q sitting judges postal official
conouc5 can be at once stepped by the
Judge himself, or. if not stopped can
be punished by immediate imprison-
ment. If there can be any more effeo-
tual way to gag the press ard suhvert
freedom of spe ech we do not known
where tt find it.
ibis is a singing rebuke, but Justly
deserved, and one needed to remind ar
roo ant and dictatorial jurists that they
are no more above paper criticism TRAN
are any ordinary individ uals. To
SLIGHTLY paraphrase the poet: No di=
vinity doth hedge about a judge" least
of all at time when he is candidate
for office. The law provides adequate
remedies for un justifiable attacks upon
their chara"t +. but does not permit
the summary finding and imprisonment
of critics, even when their c. iticisns
60 beyond what may be deeme proper
limits, provided such animadvers ions
do not clearly tend to obstruct the ad-
mnistration of justice in a then peud-
ing case,-From the Albany Law Jour
nal