Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-12-06

lodged III the hands of the Judiciary a
necessary power which is nevertheless
subject to the possibility of grave
abuse. 1t is power that should be
exercised with extreme care and should
be subject to the jealous scrutiny of all
men. and condemnation should be met
ed out as much to the judge who fails
to use it boldly when necessary as to
! the judge who uses it wantonly or OPP
pressively. OF course a judge strong
enough to be fit for his Office will en-
join any resort to violence or intimi-
dation, especially by conspiracy, no
matter what his opinion may be of the
rights of the original quarrel. There
must be no hesitation in dealing with
disorder. But there must likewise be
no such abuse of the injunctive power
as is. implied in forbidding laboring
men to strive for their own betterment
in peaceful and lawful ways, nor must
the injunction be used merely to aid
some big corporation in carrying out
schemes for its own ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
1t must be remembered that prelimi
nary injunction in labor case, if
granted without adequate proof, even
when authority can be found to sup
port the conclusions of law on which
| it is founded, may often settle the dis
pute between the parties, and therefore
| if improperly granted may do irrepara-
bic wrong. Yet there are many judges
who assume matter of course grant
ing of a preliminary injunction to be
the ordinary and proper judicial dispo-
sition of such cases, and there have IN
doubtedly been fragrant wrongs com
mitted by judges in connection with
labor disputes even within the last few
years, although think much less often
than in former years. Such judges by
their unwise action immensely strength
en- the hands of those who are striving
entirely to do away with the power of
injunction, and therefore such careless
use Of the injunctive process tends to
threaten its very existence, for if the
American people ever become convinc-
ed that this process is habitually abus-
ed, whether in matters affecting labor
or in matters affecting corporations, it
will be we'll nigh impossible to prevent
| it's abolition.
As to Public Opinion.
1t may be the highest duty of judge
at any given moment to disregard not
merely the wishes of individuals of
great political or financial power, but
the overwhelming tide of public senti-
ment, and the judge who does thus dis
regard public sentiment when it is
wrong, who brushes aside the plea of
any special interest when the pleading
| is not founded on righteousness, per-
forms the highest service to the coun-
try. Such a judge is deserving of all
honor. and all honor cannot be paid to
this wise and fearless judge if we per-
NIT the growth of an absurd conven-
ton which would forbid any criticism
of the judge of another type, who
| shows himself timid in the presence of
arrogant disorder, or who on INSULT
Gent grounds grants an injunction
that does grave injustice, or who in
his capacity as a construer, and there
| fore in part maker, of the law, in
| fragrant fashion thwarts the cause of
decent government The Judge has a
| power over which no review can be
exercised. He himself sits in review
| upon the acts of both the executive
and legislative branches of the govern
ment. Save in the most extraordinary
cases, he is amenable only at the bar
of public opinion, and it is unwise to
maintain that public opinion in refer
ence to man with such power shall
neither be expressed nor led.
The best judges have ever been fore
most to disclaim any immunity from
criticism. This has been true since the
days of the great English Lord Chan
cellor Parker, who said, "Let all peo-
pie be at liberty to know what 1 found
my judgment upon, that so when I
have given it in any cause others may
be at liberty to judge of me-" The
proprieties of the case We're set forth
with singular clearness and good tenn
per by Judge W. H. Taft when a Unit
ed States circuit judge, eleven years
/! ago. in 1895:
1.-THE opportunity freely and publicly
to criticise judicial action is of vastly
more Importance to the body polite
than the Immunity of courts and
! judges from unjust aspersions and at
tack. Nothing tends more to render
/ judges careful in their decisions and
4 anxiously solicitous to do exact justice
than the consciousness that every act
of theirs is to be subjected to the intel
ligent scrutiny and candid criticism
of their fellow men, Such criticism is
beneficial in proportion as it is fair,
dispassonate. discriminating and based
on knowledge of sound legal prin-
/ ciples. The comments made by learn
! ed text writer's and by the acute edi-
tors of the various law reviews upon
! judicial decisions are therefore highly
useful. Such critics constitute more
or less impartial tribunals of profess
| sional opinion before which each judg-
ment is made to stand or fall on its
merits and thus exert a strong influ-
ence to secure uniformity of decision
I But nonprofessional criticism also is
by no means without it's uses even if