The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-02-17
Letter from Col. Alexander M. Gar Der, Solicitor City Court o' Talladega.

Letter from Col. Alexander M. Gar
 Der, Solicitor City Court of
 Talladega. Taliadega, Ala, Feb. 16, 1903. Editor The Advertiser:
 I am in receipt of yours of recent date requesting my views on "the best ways to make life safer in Alabama" An earlier reply has been impossible l de- sire to assure you that l am In hearty sympathy with your efforts to arouse public interest in this al1-important Ques- ton to the end that such action may be taken as that human life in Alabama may be given the same value in the hearts and minds of our people as 1t stands for in the criminal scales of the law.
 It is highly probable that the defects in the law itself have been uch magnif1ed. for Alabama's law of homicide represents the wisdom and experience of ages. and its interpretation represents the judicial generations. The law of homicide Is very nearly as perfect as could be expect cd. but 1t is in its administration and the procedure by which it is intended to make 1t effective and the dulled and clouded conscience of the human agencies through which Its enforcement must be accomplished. If at all where the loop holes" are found and the guilty violator makes his escape.
 Laws grow out of the natural conditions of society. Every law Is simply the record of a custom or a principle of equality and justice that has sprung out of the social life of a people-'is evolved out of custom, which grows up sponta- neously, takes form by degrees and is ultimately crystallized in a written law" This process is manifestly the work of ttme-the gradual development from age to age; so 1t has been said that the legal rule of today Is the link in an histo- rical series." Thus the present law of homicide in Alabama may be termed ''the legal rule in the last link of an historical series."
 there have been three well marked stages in the evolution of criminal law: "Q) The era of vengeance: @ The stage when vengeance is yielding place to justice, and O The time when justice comes to be seasoned by mercy and humanity" Hav- ing kept pace with the progress of civili- Eation, we have reached the last named stage in our criminal law and it's ad- ministration.
 All punishment is of itself an evil. yet becomes absolutely necessary under human conditions and institutions, and is essentially retributive and deterrent As reflecting the wishes of an aggressive, humane and sleepless portion of society, modern law is becoming tempered with much Of what are termed 'the humani- ties" demanding that punishment, above all things, shall be curative and reform atory, and less retributive and deterrent,
 
 the treatment of the criminal. Hence we have the practical abolition of the death penalty in Maine. Michigan, Rhode Island. Wisconsin and in such countries Switzerland, Brazil and Belgium. 1 make mention of this trend of social development-this modification of the rdgor and severity of the law of homicide merely to raise this question: Does not all of this so-called progress in penology or criminology justify the conclusion that gradually and unconsciously our solici- tude for the man-slayer and his better ment has caused us not only to depreciate but to become almost. IT not quite, oblivi- ous, to the value of the human life that his red hand has ushered unbidden into eternity l think that able and profound turist, the late Chief Justice Stone, must have been impressed with the growth of this progressive theory and the trend Of public sentiment on this line when he used the following terse and eloquent language: Until courts and turies learn | to place a proper estimate on the sacred ness and inestimable value of human life learn that life Is not to be taken to avenge | an insult, even though gross; learn that | fefonious homicide. even wallful and de- | lBberate murder, may be committed dur | until juries learn that the crime of mur- | der Is not expunged from our statute book nor retained only for the friendless or humble, we may expect the carnival | of the man-slayer to be prolonged, if not | intensified
 Among the few changes I would sug- | gest in the substantive law would in- | clude,
 D The ablition of murder in the l second degree,
 (2) The man who voluntarily becomes drunk and while in that condition stays
 another. should be held guilty of mur-
 der. regardless of his mental condition,
 unless 1t be a killing In self-defense. In the law of procedure 1 would sug- | gest the following changes:
 | O When a person charged with mur-