The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-29
THE CONCEALED WEAPON OF
CONTEMPT.

cay or a rule winch was meant IN It's
devising to be used in cases of eXtrem-
ity is made either the habit or the
plaything of power for the attainment
of ordinary ends. A pistol is a neces-
sary invention in a sense and it's action
and use are at times salutary to the
over-bearing and an effective cure for
the hell-bent proclivities of the vic
ious. The trouble with the pistol is
that it has become too common. that
the mass of people have ceased to rec
emergencies and so have come to use
it for provocations that the fists of
men were made to satisfy. And out
of this misuse has come the danger
so prevalent of late years of tragedies
made out of the stuff of affrays, of
manslaughter following upon differ
ences that at the worse should not
have ranked above a simple breach
of the peace.
What is true of pistols in the physi-
cal world is true to a degree of ac-
lions for contempt in the artificial
that the courts of the country could
not be maintained and guaranteed
that dignity which their place in the
common policy demanded unless they
were given extraordinary means of
self-protection against insult or as
sault, the old-time trainers of the
laws devised the procedure of con-
tempt attachments as weapon for
the courts in case of emergencies for
their self-protection. Realizing that
this power should he of a sort that
could be used quickly and effectively
and to make it the more salutary. the
law has proclaimed that as a general
proposition the judge himself shall be
both the court and the jury to hear
the evidence and determine the sem
tence against those who have been
guilty of a wilfull disobdience or a
STUDIED disregard for either the orders
or the conduct of court of law. For
this reason the power to attach for
contempt has been placed ON a plane
that releases it from the ordinary re-
straints connected with judicial de-
cree. There is usually no right of ap-
peal. Always the defendant is in u
sense pre- judged ard pre-convicted
cannot Justify He must purge"
himself of the contempt. 1t will not
do for him to say that he is innocent.
His attitude is that of one
who has done wrong. what
ever his intentions may have
been and however much he may
esteem himself in the right. who
Graves the pardon for his sin and not
the acquittal of that wherewith he is
charged. Endowed with such powers
as those set forth above. the proceed
ing of contempt has become to be in Il
growing sense the concealed weapon
Of the judiciary. No man knows when
It will be drawn against him. Every
litigant treads on dangerous ground.
The courts, once the highways of hon
est men, are in danger of becoming
the pitfalls wherein it is perilous foE
any save the highly versed to walk.
Contempt lies ever at the hand Of
u
Of the bully. and he is wise indeed
who will tempt it from it's holster
without fear and with his eyes open
to the consequences.
Like the carrying of pistols. there is
danger, it seems. of contempt" be-
coming a habit of the judiciary. For
merly there were few instances of this
extraordinary remedy. Except in
cases of fragrant outrage, the presid-
ing officers of the courts possessed a
dignity which WAS it's own defense.
They did not need the aid of the law
TO make men hold them in esteem.
They were in fact as in theory the
fountain heads of Justice. which he
was a. base creature to pollute or of
which ITO suggest pollution. An in
bred dignity is it's own shield and
buckler, and the olden courts scorned
to fall back upon statute for a
fancie1 wrong. Latteriy. however, We
have "contempts" for a variety OF
causes which would have faxed the
trainers of the,old laws which defined
the crime. Contempt has become q
disease of the times. thing from
which it would appear that no one is
safe, malady that stalks in the
noon day and Il pestilence that strikes
in the dark. Under the malign in
f1uence of a new departure the 1iti
giant in North Carolina may never
know when his civil suit may turn
suddenly like a chameleon into u
criminal indictment. He must make
his plea ever with the tail of his eye
on the coat tails of the judge. and his
launches tense set like those of n rab-
bit for instant flight. No longer is it
necessary for one craving excitement
TO 60 to Texas ID snake a bronco or to
bleeding Kansas to "shoot up" his
man. The magazine may be exploded
for twentieth of the railroad fare i'll
the office of any attorney at law for
ten dollar retainer in the drawing up
of a compliant.
But the Durham case sets over the
pile. / is the ultima thule the crown
ing absurdity the cleaning cap stone
of con StrucfiVe crime Here are GER