The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-03-05
ABOUT ARREST WARRANTS
Continued from Page One.)

lar case shall or shall not issue, would
be to make him both judge and exc
cutioner, and would be placing entire
~ within his discretion the enforce
ment or non-enforcement of infrac-
tions of our criminal laws. One Mar
shall may be a good man, a just man.
inspired, actuated and moved by the
highest considerations of the public
good: his successor may be weak. va
cillating. capricious, and. it may be.
corrupt, for such things have happen
ed: then is not this discretion dam
gerous power to he accorded that de-
partment. The Marshal has no right.
no power, no authority, to swear wit
nesses; his examination or inquiry as
to whether or not an offense has been
committed must be in the nature of
things entirely eN parte, upon un-
sworn testimony and without any So
lemnity or any of the forms which
characteristics judicial proceedings. 1t
is a dangerous thing to give to the
class of people who represent the At
torney Generals Department in the
interior. discretion in any matter and
particularly in matters of this sort.
Discretion is the law of tyrants; it is
always unllnown; it is different
in different men: it is cas-
ual, and depends upon constitution,
temper and passion; in the best it is
oftentimes capricious; in the worst it
is every vice, folly and passion to
which human nature is liable. To
make the issuance of a warrant de-
pend upon the discretion of the En-
ecutive is to strike from the Judiciary
a power which is expressly accorded
to it, | cannot do better in endeavOr-
ing to demonstrate that the Executive
branch of the Government should not
be permitted to encroach upon the
prerogatives of the judiciary, than by
closing this note with the following
quotation from Mays Constitutional
History, Page 552 The tenure of
the Judges was now assured; and
their salaries were charged perma-
nently on the civil list. The law had
secured their independence of the
crown; but the spirit of the times
leagued them closely with its author
! ity. No reign was more graced by the
learning and accomplishments of its
Judges. They were superior to every
corrupt influence: but all their SYM
pathies and predictions were with
| power. The enemies of Lord Mans
field asserted that he was better cal
culated to fill the Office of praetor I'M
der Justinian than to preside as chief
criminal judge of this kingdom in the
reign of George III. Neither Lord
Mansfield himself nor any other Judge
deserved so grave "A censure; but with
| the illuStriouS exception of Lord Cam
den, the most eminent magistrates of
that reign were unfriendly to liberty.
| Who so allied to the court so stanch
to arbitrary principles of government,
so hostile to popular rights and rem
edial laws, as Lord Mansfield, Lord
! Thurlow, Lord Loughborough, Lord
Eldon and Lord Peterborough? The
first and last of these so little regard
ed their independence. in the exercise
of the chief criminal iudicature of the
realm. that they entered the Cabinet
as Ministers of the Crown and identi-
fled themselves with the executive gov
eminent of the day"
With assurances of high regard I
remain,
Yours faithfully,
\. S. HUMPHREYS