New-York tribune., 1902-01-18

forced in practice. All through the long process
of evolution, says Professor Torrance, the spe-
ciic rules Of the law of evidence, mostly Judge
made" and taking their origin from the modern
system of trial by jury. have reflected quite
faithfully the spirit of the age. in requiring ex-
actitude in essentials. That law may be illogi-
cal in many ways Professor Thayer calls
it, but it is not illogical; it is adapted to the
system by which ordinary unframed citizens act
as judges of fact. In this point of view il is
full Of good serse. though of good sense that
occasionally mods. and that needs to be taken
in hand by the jurist and illuminated, simpli-
fed and invigorated by reference to general
principles.
A tendency in American law that has proved
less favorable to the general good of society has
peen the increase of the safeguards thrown
around persons accused of crime by the English
practice, especially in the extent to which ap
peals are allowed in the American courts. The
almost unrestricted right of appeal has resulted
in serious abuse and tended to some degree to
encourage contempt for law. Yet Mr.. Webb,
in his discussion of Criminal Law and Pro-
cedure," thinks it would undoubtedly be mex
pedient to curtail considerably the right to
legal review of criminal cases in a court of last
resort, unaffected by the peculiar facts and cir
cumstances surrounding each case; he is Of the
is generally supposed. and that the sentiment
or the judiciary we'll of the bar of Amer
lea would be strongly opposed to such a radical
change of our procedure as would do away alto
gether with the right of appeal or even ma
terially abridge it.
Interesting chapters are those on patents
copyrights and trademarks, by Professor Town
send-allied subjects that were enormously
developed in scope and complication in the nine
teenth century and dealing with tests and cri-
terions that seem to the layman mysterious
and intangible to the distinctions between
invention and mechanical skill. And that the
judges share sometimes the bewiderment of the
untaught, Professor Townsend thus humorously
admits:
When there is projected upon the individual
sensoria of a hundred judges in this country the
picture of the imaginary mechanic. skilled in
an art Of which, perhaps. the judge has never
known anything until the morning of the hear
ing; when this imaginary parsonage must be
further presumed to have had before him every
created thing known in this country. and every
patent or other printed publication throughout
the world; when the question must be deter
mined whether with all these aids he could have
done what the patentee has done-is it any
wonder that the bewildered judge longs for the
ancient mode of deciding by lot wager Of
battle, and that the patentee stands aghast
the threshold Of such an inquiry, confronted by
the spectres of devices of which he never
dreamed, but which he must lay, lest they rob
him of his invention?
1t is to the advantage of New-York and the
whole judicial circuit that this interesting writer
and representative Of Yale has just been ap-
pointed to succeed Judge Shipman here as
United States Circuit Judge
The last chapter is authoritative discus
sion by Professor Theodore Salisbury Woolsey
on International Law" pointing out the in
fuence exerted by the United States in for
warding the growth of the law of nations. 1t
has been chiefly shown in the relations Of States
in time Of peace or standing neutral in the
wars of others. It's policy as a neutral has
marked an era in the development of the usages
OF neutrality. Freedom of navigation is an
other principle to secure the adoption of which
the United States has been influential; and
Professor Woolsey observes that it is fortunate
that the Paris award has checked the claim of
this country to protect the Pribylof seals in the
open sea, which is Inconsistent with this coun-
try's previous policy and history" The United
States has also overthrown the European doc
trine that allegiance is unalterable-"altogether
a considerable achievement" And it has had
much to do with the present popularity and fire.
quency Of recourse to international arbitration.
In conclusion, Professor Woolsey says of the
part played by this country in international
politics:
AS it emerges from political isolation into the
dstasteful atmosphere OF European rivalries.
DONG the police duty OF the world side by side
with its neighborS east and west across the
seas, there is to believe that this country
will play the straightforward, manly.
honest part as in the past, little brusque and
bunging and then, but standing for fair
play and fair trade, for neutral interests rather
than belligerent interests, for arbitration of in
ternational differences for goodwill to neighbor
States. An international law which means all
this is worth cultivating. Such growth from
the seed which the fathers have sown is the
harvest of century