The Irish standard., 1907-03-16
AMERICAN SQUIRE
Humors From the Court Of the
Justice of the Peace.
Prophots Who Are Not Without
Honor in Their Own Home.

The justice of the peace is the visi-
BILE incarnation of the spirit of the law
+ to the great majority of the citizens
Of free America, says the Irish World.
The squire is strictly an American in
one, and when once assumed is never
Y left off. 1t means influence in neigh
borhood politics, power in local affairs,
and is the distinction bestowed upon
ono who is indeed a prophet with
honor in his own country. The tales
told Of the squire are many. Most
repertory of after dinner speakers and
have to do with his mistakes, or even
with the ingenuity with which he ap-
plies abstract laws to special condi-
tions.
A newly elected squire in Wiscon-
sin was much elated by his honors,
but was not sure that he could carry
them gracefully. So he haunted the
court house for weeks that he might
gather up crumbs of wisdom from the
judicial table of the higher station
Finally he sat in judgment on his
first case, and when the testimony was
all in and the argument made he said:
''The court takes this case under ad-
visement until next Wednesday morn
ing, when 1t will render a verdict in
favor of the defendant"
L The records Of the court at Blaine,
W1hatcom county, Wash, little town
near the British Columbia line, bear
testimony to the financial stringency
of the early '9os. Whatcom county
is in the heart Of the lumber coun-
try, and as there was no money to be
had, "shingle scrip" became the cur
rency of the land The court records
show that John Smith was fined
10000 shingles for drunkenness" The
books show further that the fine was
paid. 1t was an able judge who could
30 accommodate the law to prevailing
conditions.
Minnesota has a. justice of the
peace who is proud of his knowledge
of the theory of common law. If he
was called on to decide a lawsuit in
volving the ownership of a pig he
opinion the "Magny Charity the Bill
of Rights. the palladium of liberty"
the papers. of the F'ederalist and the
speeches of Daniel Webster. Two
young lawyers. now both famous men,
were trying a case before him. When
It was done the squire closed his eyes
all over the world in delivering his
opinion, his eyes still closed. One of
the lawyers became exasperated, and
when the squire said something that
made him think the case was going
against him he exclaimed: 'Cut it
short, squire, decide the case and I
will appeal it," The squire opened
his eyes, sat up straight, looked at the
presumptuous limb of the law and
yelled. II was goin' to decide this
case in yer favor, but OWN to yer i'm
audience l now decide it the other
way"
In Mcintosh county, Georgia.. there
was a lawsuit about a. COW. The COW
45 was dead, but the lawsuit went on.
1 It was decided by the justice Of the
peace, appealed, remanded. decided
again and once more appealed and re-
4 inanded. This went on until the case
came back to the squire for the eev-
ssenth time. 1t was a jury case, and
when the last trial was on the squire
astonished the attorney by announcing
v an indefinite postponement. saying:
This case has exhausted the whole
II Jury venure Of the county, and you
will have to wait until the coming
\ generation gets old enough for jury
duty Then the litigants compro-
missed.
sss@ in Kentucky before the adoption
#of the Constitution Of 1891 the JUS
tices Of the peace OF each county COL
slsctively formed the Court of Claims.
which was the fiscal authority and
Legislative agent of the county, cor
Tresponding to the County Court or
S5supervis5rs in most of the states. Met
calf county was Republican and nine
sof the twelve squires of the court Of
slrlaims were Republicans. Eugene w.
1 S5lNewman, then a lawyer and now q
essayist under the name of
was a Democrat. The
Ssscourt was in session in November,
Jg..1Ss4, and Newman had a case. He
Estwas making his argument when a
ssnessenger handed him a note. He
tread it and split the air with the
rebel yell. The chairman of the court