The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-09-26
chow NOT TO DOLL

We think it is in Little Dorrit" that Charles
Dickens left the main thread of the novel to de-
vote chapter what he designated the British
Circumlocution Office" The chapter dealt with a
young man who had invented useful article and
desired to protect it by patent 1t followed him
from office to Office in the British Circumocutlon
temple. In the morning the young man presented
himself before the clerk of Lord Barnacle In
the evening he left the office of Lord lite Bar
nacle with instructions to call again at the office
of Lord Barnacle and tell them what you want to
know, We know" The chapter sends the young
to various other Offices after he is dismissed
by the Barnaces and lite Barnacles. He has
paid out in fees to the Barnaces and others, In
quest of information, all the money he had saved
to pay the government for the audacious act of
inventng something useful He was actually
fined for wanting to know" He gave up in de-
spair, The moral of the chapter points to the re-
versal of the aims of British government
through asinine administration. Instead of APP
plying itself to the task of how best to do it. it
was conducted on the principle of chow not to do
it." Dickens did more through Little Dorrit" to
disestablish government humbug and make
Barnace construction of statute odious than
QOZen paf1aInentS were able TO no.
We need some writer in these days like Dick
Somebody to show up the Barnacles and lite
Barnacles of our country. Somebody to I'M
part irony to characters in romance along with af
lection A novel of that kind is a good tonic for
bracing up lawyers and judges that they could
perceive wisdom in the primitive way of admins
tering justice; SO that they may be guided by the
essence of law, the intention of law, instead of
taking advantage of technical plumbers.
Such novel might take in case where
viction secured in court and punishment
evaded through decision of another, based upon
clerical blunder In other words, where guilty man
goes scot free owing to of language in the
form of complaint. 1t happened in Salt Lake City.
For the purpose of avoiding personality, we will
call the defendant A and the judge bulge of
district court.
The nature of the action, civil or criminal,
which started the proceedings before court does
not matter. A, the defendant, was attorney for
of the parties at law, it being state case, and
acted as attorney for the person prosecuted At
the trial before the police judge it found that
A had spirited away or persuaded" the principal
witness to absent herself at the trial Upon CON
yiction A was sentenced, but he took an appeal to
the district court and put up the required bonds
Right here is where the principle of chow not
to do it" confuses the Interpretation of stat
ute. No appropriation is made to carry on a
night school in the county attorneys Office so
blunders are expected to turn up occasionally
The clerk who spelled out the complaint to the
district court nnocenty wrote "dissuaded" instead
of persuaded" the witness to leave the jurisdiction
of the police trial court When A appeared be-
fore the district court, his attorneys produced
law dictionary, and pointed out that the definition
of "dissuade" is "to induce not to- Ergo, the
woman instructed by A to appear in court in
stead of not to appear-the very reverse of the act
for which he was tried and found guilty. Nothing
clearer in language if Judge were simply teach
ing school instead of interpreting law and admin
istering justice The attorneys had the dictionary,
the dictionary had the judge. A was discharged
and his bondsmen released.
In defense of Judge BIS decision it may be ar
gued that like cases at law have been decided the
same as this But is it good defense? When
has it come to pass that precedent must govern
common sense? Precedent is out of harmony with
court decisions every day. In Illinois Judge will
grant an injunction that another will deny in Iowa,
based upon the same principles of law.
Another error in the complaint which AS at
torneys set up was the misspelling of name
Marcenus instead of Marinus This added an
other factor to the judges decision. Yet we are
reminded by boards of election canvassers that a
vote is not lost through unintentiona misspelling
of candidates name, and such decision is sup
ported by appellate courts. Otherwise fraud would
be successful. Is the majesty of popular suffrage
of less Importance than the decisions of district
courts?
1t was Daniel O'Connell who said that no law
was ever enacted by parliament through which he
could not drive horse and carriage. That saying
begs the question, Is law purposely made drive
way for lawyers and judges! Evidently it is when
it operates on the principle of chow not to do it,"
Oh, that we had less law and more judges like
Haroun Al Raschid, the caliph of Bagdad, of whom
we read in "Ihe Arabian Nights
Notwithstanding the hot campaign the friends
of the new Denver charter put up it was beaten
at the polls by majority of $500. The day before
election the News appeared with opinions of
LOADING Protestant ministers on the chartar,o go