The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-09-13
ANOTHER DECISION.

Some one said lin the multitude of
counsellors there is wisdom" He evil
IDENTIFY never heard the flag AMI consti-
sutton controversy. In the multitude
of counsellors there is disagreement
bitterness, dislike. animus, desire foI
votes and a total absence of abstract
Justice or common sense The United
Sta,-s Supreme Court is bitterly divid-
ed on the matter and it has been SAID
of the majority, that whether the con
stitution followed the fla or not, it
was certain that the majority of the
Supreme Court followed the votes.
In such a snar1 as this where legal
iuminaries are at such utter variance
with one another, where the Chief JUS
tice Of the United States uses langu-
age Of extraordinary strength. it mat
ters very little what our own small
men think or do. Each side can gather
weapons from the opinions of the legal
giants Of the mainland, and each side
can prove itself right and prove the
other wrong. Like the majority of the
Supreme Court, it is certain that one
side thinks it is following the votes.
How little our storm in teapot was
thought of IN tie mainland was shown
in the extract, from the SaS Fr -lseo
Chronicle published in these columns
yesterday. The Chronicle poinse out
now utterly theoretical the Who'll. pro-
Gee 1ings here are, and how utterly
without bearing upon svuvraI ,u..-
prudence. 1t further points out tina.
these prisoners whose release is sought
are not claimed to be innocent of the
crimes they We're charged with, nor are
they UNDERGOING undeserved punish
ment The claim is that during GER
tain period, which the Chronicle styles
"a transitional state" what p dreao
phrase to use certain forms of Legal
proceedings were invalid. The condi-
lions have long since passed away. anG
cannot occur here again A year or two
from now every one will have forgotten
about the matter, save some lawyer
who thought that he made a point by
his arguments and some judge who re-
GREETED his decision.
After every one else had had a hand
IL the fray, JudPe Estee tried his yes
stitution argument. He even antedates
some Of those who argue on his side,
and considers illegality of trials COM
menced as soon as the Newlands' reso-
sutton was signed, viz: July Z, 1898, and
before any one here had knowledge of
its passage. If this was so. one fails
to see why JUDGE Gears argument
against Delegate Wilcox was not a good
one but it was turned down. and The
Star thinks rightly, because Mr. Will
cox was not then a citizen of the Unit
ed States. Now if citizenship had not
arrived, how could the forms of law
nave arrived.
Judge Estee. whatever one may think
of his arguments, was certainly very
clear He was, dealing with an abstract
question and his ruling was such that
though it freed the man, it was merely
on the ground, as one may say, that
the trial had never been, and conse-
quently the man could be arrested for
the original crime which he duly was. |
Judge Estee's decision simply wiped
out the previous proceedings, and left
the authorities to deal with the cases
'de nOvo." This is decidedly the most
sensible handling, that the question has
mad here. .i.
These cases have been unfortunate, |
but all periods of change bring about ,
unfortunate conditions, and there will |
always be two sets of people to argue |
heatedly. upon the points. 1t is doubly |
unfortunate in our particular instance
because the element of politics has !
come into the question, though it is not !
patent upon the surface. The Star has
never regarded the question from a
political standpoint. 1t has simply con-
sidered the wronP done to a commun-
ity which would result from murderers l.
and rapers being let loose from jail
Judge Estee on this was essentially
Clearer than any one else. He had no
desire that this very undesirable class
should be let loose upon the people. He
even pointed out that the released pris-
Oner might be arrested. but not within
the precincts of his court.
Up to the present in spite of the
efforts of lawyers the criminals have
been kept in durance, being snapped
up as soon as they are freed. But /
what an odd opinion the oriental must
have of our jurisprudence. His own
drastic measures are no doubt much
more to his taste, besides they save |
these heavy lawyers fees.