The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-01-31


ground is covered by three sections. In
other cases sections overlap each other,
and there are sections still on the stat
ute books that depend for their action
upon some officer whose office has been
abolished. The whole body of the laws
of the Territory, in fact, is full OF in
consistencies and invalidities. The Or
ganic Act of the Territory alone wiped
out / 900 sections in round numbers.
Now, it is my first idea that an attempt
should be made to so patch up our laws
that we could bring order out OF the
chaos, cutting off the dead matter,
while losing nothing that is good.
under the second heading, l would
have the patch work made under the
| first intelligently put together. The
Organic Act made sweeping changes in
our laws and in their system of opera
ton. The proposed new county gov
eminent bill will make more sweeping
| changes 1t is almost an imposSibility,
/ as the laws now stand, for the lawyer to
! find any rule of law covering any sub
! ject 1t is maddening. And yet there is
no valid reason why the laws of the Ter
ritory should not be contained in one
| volume, not large, with an index that
would make it easy in practice to turn
| to any section. Further than that, the
old edition of the civil law of the Is
| lands is exhausted. 1t is almost i'm
possible to get. and it Us costly when
obtained. There is no reason why the
whole code should not be put in one
volume, at a cost of say SO, which
would pay for itself
Thirdly, in the matter of laws relat-
ing to the judiciary, we need new
jury law. 1t is even question wheth-
er, under the law as it is confused, any
part of our old jury law remains.
Judges call juries under different acts,
with result that grave doubts arise
as to their validity in most serious
cases. This should be regulated, and
the expense of calling juries should be
reduced.
There should be a regulation of the
terms of the circuit court so that the
court should hold it's sessions only at
Hilo, on the island of Hawaii and not
at Hookena, and at Weiluku only on
Maui. Hilo and Wailuku are to be the
capitals of the counties, respectively on
Hawaii and Maui the court houses are
to be there, the clerks there and the
libraries. 1t is bad for litigants and
lawyers and court officers to be drag
ged needlessly to places where there
is little business, and most expensive
for the Territory. Then, the sessions
of the circuit court should be, in effect,
continuous, in the first and fourth cir
cults to meet the great and growing
business in those circuits.
In criminal practice, we should adopt
the system of finding indictments by
grand juries. Also, some supplemental
legislation is needed in defining the
jurisdiction of district magistrates. We
should make the distinction that dis
trict magistrates should commit for
minor offences only, and the superior
court for infamous crimes, as is done
in the States. There are a number of
OffenseS for which the penalty should be
reduced to one year, to relieve the pres
sure on the grand juries, among these
being larceny in the second degree,
which should be made to consist of
stealing sums of less than $50. For the
crimes of embezzlement by a public Of
ficer. and burglary in the first degree,
the life sentence as imposed by our
statutes is too severe. The statute rel
alive to desertion in the marital re-
lation should be repealed. Lastly, the
matter of the jurisdiction of district
magistrates should be defined in one
statute, covering that subject. Eighty
five sections of law as they stand could
be condensed into one.
1T is doubtful whether constructive
contempts are punishable under our
law, but where they are punishable
would it not be we'll to give the right
of appeal? Would it not be well to re-
quire the judge to set out all the facts
in his findings, so that on habeas corpus
proceedings the appeal judge would
have all the facts before him upon
which to base his action?
''In our code of civil procedure it is |
doubtful whether provision is made for
the appointment of guardians for heirs
in foreign countries. The matter of
the probate of wills should go to the
equity courts, so that they would come
UP in the supreme court on direct APP I
peal rather than on exceptions. In the
matter of appeal bonds, there should
be more strictness while at the same
time no hardship should be worked to |
poor litigants. Just how far we should
go in this direction is a question, but |
there is urgent need of some reform to ,
prevent vexatious litigation.
Besides all these, a great many other
sections need amendment and pruning, !
such as the habeas corpus statute and
many others. Then, passing to other |
matters. we should have a new judici- !
airy building. with fire proof vaults to
hold our recordsG The library should
be so changed and improved that we
would have double the room we have |
now, for books and tables to be used in /
consultations.
Judge Frear sat down, amid a round |
of applause, and Judge Hartwell asked |
hial if he had already done the work /
necessary to bring about the changes
he had suggested.
There are 500 sections to be chang
ed" said Judge Frear. Il have drafted |
many bills, and Judge De Bolt has
drafted some others"
Judge Silliman said that he had un-
derstood that an elaborate compilation
had been made by Judge Frear for the
guidance of the last session of the Leg
iSlature.
Judge Frear replied that he did not
know how elaborate it was. buc it had
been made He did no thinl- l,n-..-