Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-31

states.
How the work f. a
THE lawyers Of England are divided into
two classes, solicitors and counsel. The
solicitor gets the cases and prepares them
for trial. and then the counsel tries them
in court. A solicitor In preparing a case
makes an elaborate memorandum, compris-
ing all the facts in detail, with the names
Of all the witnesses and the testimony that
each witness will give and also the citations
Of authorities. These constitute the brief,
which is given by the solicitor to the
counsel whom he retains and is used by
the counsel in the trial Of the case.
A the counsel while in court wear wigs
and gowns and the judges likewise are in
wig and gown.
Il spent several days in the lower courts,
which we're In session while l was In Lon
don. These were originally held in West
minister hall, but now occupy a large build
ing In the center of London which Is known
as the Law Courts.
Procedure IN English Courts.
"In making a comparison should say
that there is less acrimony and more of
dignity and solemnity Of procedure in the
trial Of a case in England than Is usually
to be found in an American court. I was
impressed with the idea that the lawyers
OF England realize more fully the respect
that is due to courts than is the case with
us. l do not think the cases are tried so
vigorously there as here. The Judge in a
trial in England plays a much more i'm
portant part than with us. In most of the
state courts the function OF a Judge is
merely to rule upon the law in the case,
the consideration and determination OF the
80. k.NA- llfN - ~ aV,wu. L. TnuIan1
the judge Comment freely and gives to
the jury his impression and opinion as to
the weight to be given TO testimony. For
a great many years In England the ad-
ministration Of law in courts of justice was
hampered by ARTIFICIAL procedure, full OF
technicalities and dificult to master. In
recent years, however, all this has been
abolished and the procedure in the courts
of England is now as simple as obtains in
any state of our union.
No SensatiOnaIIsm.
The court rooms in London are all small
and there is nothing to encourage the large
crowds of sight-seers which we frequently
have in the courts here. The proceedings
are carried on in a matter of fact manner
and there Is a noticeable absence of. sensa-
tonal OF spectacular features. The counsel
examines witnesses in a staid and dignihed
manner and there is no pickering among
the lawyers. The trials appear to lack the
snap that is put into them in this country
and 1 Judge that this is probably due to
the fact that the counsel merely knows Of
the case and the witnesses from the brief
which is set before him by the solicitor
and has no personal intimacy with IL. Tne
first few rows Of benches In the court room
are reserved for counsel and a lawyer is
just as likely as not to stand up In his
| place in the second OF third row and try
his case from there. There are little
peculiarities in practice which seem very
strange to one not accustomed to the Eng
lish courts. For example, the witness usu-
ally stands as he owes his testimony. He
is permitted TO SIG II he 80 Wishes, but
in all of the sas5s l heard tried while
there l did not see one witness avail him
self of that privilege"