Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-10-03
SOME ABSURD LAWS.

Every old world country has its ne
culiarities of the law which strike the
American as contrary to common
sense and justice. Thus the grotesque
argument of the first gravedigger In
Hamlet was sound law at one period.
Shakespeare drew it from an actual
cause. When Sir John Hale drowned
himself the crown laid claim to his
estate, as in all cases of suicide
The counsel for the heirs protested
that Sir John did not kill himself. He
threw himself into the river, it is
true, but that was not criminal Sub
sequently the water drowned him,
hence the water did the killing. The
court decided for that heirs, for there
was bold grating in those far-off and
high old times.
France, under the Code Napoleon,
is paternal. In the matter of d.
vorce, at every laggard step there is
halt to allow the court to labor for
a reconciliation; and it requires
three mortal years for a decree. OBJ
viously this would defeat the main
purpose of the action for the average
American plaintiff. Here, too fire.
quently. divorce is sought to enable
one or both parties to marry again.
Commonly it is a momentary infatu-
alton which makes the old matri-
monial harness chafe. without the
divorce in twenty minutes, but in
stead a three years delay, it would
hardly be worth while to get decree.
Nothing outside of Russia could be
more unjust and savage than the
Saxon law of assault. Recently, for
wager, a pretty and innocent, but
giddy and daring, Dresden waiter
maid at the Bodenbacher station for
chilly kissed handsome young
stranger, obviously an Englishman.
She was only eighteen and to be the
object of such an assault any sane
man outside of England would give
his best pipe However, this Eng
lishman flor he must be English) had
the pretty maid arrested and dragged
before the most inhuman and absurd
of Saxon magistrates. He imposed
the highest penalty the atrocious law
provides. She was sentenced to four
teen days in the common jail, three
of them in solitary and without food,
and to exile forever from Dresden,
her birthplace and the home of her
parents.
BY comparison our own system of
Jurisprudence seems to be, what it is
called, the brightest product of civil
cation. Still, it is not without its
defects. Usually any failure of justice
may be traced to the courts, but i'll
one conspicuous instance the legisla-
ture is responsible, the enactment be-
ing section 213 of the Code of Crimi-
nal Procedure of the State of New
York. Jacob Huter, professional
burglar, while robbing barber shop,
shot and killed Policeman Enright
who attempted to arrest him. A jury
returned a verdict of murder in the
first degree but this the court of APP
peals has reversed. The latter ex-
plains that, had the burglar fired
while still in the shop, his crime
would have been murder in the first
degree; but as the shooting was done
after the criminal had stepped to the
pavement the crime was resistance 10
arrest which, under the statute, is
assault in the second degree" only.
Thus, for a burglar at work to kill
an officer there is the electric chair;
but for a burglar who has Just left
the premises with his plumber to kill
an officer there is a brief term in
Prison.
1t staggers speculation to attempt
TO explain this section of the code.
The officer is not the less dead in the
line of his duty, for being shot from
the sidewalk than from the inside of
a window The burglars motive is
exactly the same in either case-to
escape arrest.