The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-08-10

lllS oGIHlOH DGlUIt Ilio A'iNV0s
was something like this. In Tree couii-
try, he said, law must harmonlAe WIN
| liberty. 1t must never come liilo coAi-
| tact with the reasonable conscience u
the people, otherwise 1t Woulu pe llel-
fectual, and would necessarily Ian lllo
contempt In making this point the
preacher. IT seemed to me, brought IN
| to view as by a flash that feature oil
the legislative system of his own coun-
try in which its chief strength lies and
in so doing necessarily shoWed Wlth-
out perhaps intending to 90 IT, what IN
our country is a chief element OIL Weak
ness. Too often with us laws are ell :
acted before there is any Wloe-spreau
demand for them. The English are
more likely in their legislative enact
ments to be behind the public con-
| science that ahead of it, and VINO can
doubt that this is one reason why their
laws, when they are made, are so gen.
orally respected and so strlctly en-
/ forced?
Besides seeing the English judges at
that spectacular service in st. Paul S,
I have seen many of them the last lew
weeks in the discharge Of their Ordinary
duties. Out of dozens only TWO nave
been noted who depart so far from tue
ancient traditions Of the bench as TO
leave the upper lip unshaven, ana even
in these cases the mustache is so closely
trimmed as to suggest that the august
wearer Of it is a little ashamed of such
an adornment. In it's general contour
the judicial countenance seems to me TO
have undergone pleasant change. IL
used to be more solemn ana repeliant
than it is now. The impression had
long carried of the English judges was
that to see one of them in all his glory,
with the sword of Justice above MIN,
was a sight only little more appalling
than the final day of judgment is likely
to be- Many Of the old timers were
fussy old scolds, and some of them were
holy terrors. These qualities were SO
common fifteen or twenty years ago as
to be typical, and they naturally eVolV-
ed very stern type of judicial coun-
tenance. But to-day the type or race
most frequently seen, barring that OF
Justice Jeune, who in caricature would
easily pass for a model Of Uncle Sam,
is of the John Bullish order-full, falr,
rosy and good natured.
The old traditions seem to have got
ten their death blow when the kindly
and beaming Lord Russell was made
chief justice, and If the queen sets the
style for ladies as to the color OF their
hair, what forbids that in the same
country a chief Justice should set the
style for his associates as to the habit
ual expression of their official features.
Something OF this kind seems really 10
have taken place, Lord Russell's sue
cessor is Lord Alverstone, of whom 1t
is said that he has never been known
to lose his temper and who certainly
on the bench looks like a man VINO
wouldn't take half the pleasure In SEN
fencing you to be hanged and quarter
ed as he would in doing you some other
kind of a good turn. The Jester OF the
English bench is Justice Darling, whose
remarks, which are frequent, are us
tened to by counsel and others IN the
spirit of mrthful expectancy with
which theater-goers listen to the droli
words of the funny comedian.
But what a mistake anyone would
make who should imagine that even so
delectable a justice as this didn't sun
have his rougish eye on the blind-folded
figure who holds the scales, or that ne
couldn't on occasion follow a good JOKE
with a staggering sentence! 1t was
only the other day that Justice Daring,
hearing some mention of an agreement
between the plaintiff and defendant
asked to see the agreemnt Forthwith
IT was read by plaintiffs counsel. But
his I4ordship still insisted upon seeing
1t. and when 1t was handed to him the
first thing he noticed was that no stamp
had been used, and the next thing that
everybody else in the court noticed was
that the plaintiff was up at the clerk
desk paying fine of a little over 500
for attempting to defraud the revenue.
This instance of spot justice Is char
acteristic of English judges and of the
swift and sure processes OF the Ehgllsh
courts. In some of the courts proceed
ings may drag, as, for instance, IN that
which a few days ago wound up
bankruptcy case which had been run
ming forty-fve years by turning over
TO the creditors a final dividend of some
thing less than penny in the pound!
Cases of this kind show how certain it
is that the English law when once set
in motion will not cease to grind,
though carnations pass, until 1t mas
turned out the full measure OF It's own
ideal Justice But what chiefly Impress
es an American is that the English
courts, particularly in criminal trials
move so quickly and are so intolerant
of captious appeals for delay
There is no danger here of murder
er OUTLYING all the witnesses to his
crime, unless, by the way, he succeeds,
as many do, in Guiding arrest. One
could hardly say that the English police
are either very quick or very sure in
ferreting out offenders, but there Is Ger
tainly nothing slow about the English
courts when once the culprit has been
caught. Even Earl Russell must pay
the penalty, despite the evident fact
that he had the sympathy OF his
Judges and of almost the whole of his
fellow countrymen. He could not even
secure what in our country would have
been deemed a reasonable postpone
ment. To delay the wheels OF justice
in England it isn't enough to plead that
YOU want time to get evidence. You
have to show clearly what evidence you
expect to get, and when you've done
that the judge comes in with his little
la4a..,;,,a Grct yul1ot 1i1rnIiz