Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1907-07-03
Dangerous PrscedsDts-at-La

lhaw case and latterly in the Low
ing case. The manner in which
Judge Fitzgerald ruled ont testi-
mony looking to the impeachment
of Evelyn Thaw's alleged story.
and the following rule laid down
by Judge Barksdale, ruling out
any testimony which might inn
pcach'the alleged story of Elizabeth
Lovipg-are, in our mind, danger
Gus precedents.
Under such ruling all that is
necessary for murderer 10 do is
to claim that he had heard that his
victim had ill-used someone near
and dear to him. no matterw neither
he tries to learn the real truth or
not There are a thousand ways
in which murderers cheat the gal
lows, but the worst of all is tho
ruling which does not allow refuia-
tion of anything which may have
been told, or alleged to have been
told, by any woman to one of her
connections. 1t is dangerous
precedent. 1t takes us back at
least tivc centuries. Ia the period
whcn every uan va a law unto
himself.
We agree with the Baltimore
Sun in its editorial of Monday. as
follows:
/, Is time for the people nf the
United States 10 consider Whether
the So-ca'led unwrilten law"
should not. by enactment of their
legislatures, be oui,1wcd in courts
of justice. We say that the peo-
rle of all the United States ought
to take this matter into serious
consideration because the ''un-
written law has It's champions in
every one OF the ~ States of this
Union. A year ago a murder was
committed in New York city by a
man who practically pleaded juSii-
fication in his trial. although the
technical defense was emotional
insanity. His chief advocates
brushed aside the plea of insanity
in addressing the jury, and asked
acquittal and even vindicaiion on
the ground of the higher law
tho law that has no place in common
law err in statutory enactment.
The jury disagreed. The crime
had been proven absolutely. In
view of the evidence and of the re-
Quirements of the laws of the State
of New York, only one verdict
seemed logically possible YER
dict of murder in one of the degrees
prescribed 6y the law. Yet the
twelve good men and true" could
not agree. The "unwritten law"
had at least drawn battle to its
credit in New York.
Since the killing of White by
Thaw, . little more than year ago,
\ in a public place in New York city.
there have been two murder trials
in Virginia in which the "unwrittrn
law" has been invoked successfully
To secure the acquittal of men who
executed private vengeance.
Justice as we find it embodied in
the statutes and in the common law
has failed. But it is not sectional
failure. Human nature. unre-
strained by the law and authority,
is much the same the world over.
The "unwritten law" has set aside
the code of laws in France repeat
edly. Men are still free, under
certain limitations, to kill each
other in duels in Germany and
Austria, toavenge private wrongs.
1t is absolutely wrong that this
method of executing vengeance
should be even tolerated. The
fact is cited only to show that the
"unwritten law" has no geograph-
ical boundaries.
The "unwritten law" has two
elements of strength. One is the
tendency of the average man serv-
ing on n jury to consider certain
crimes. committed in the defense
Of alleged wrongs to women, from
the sentimental and emotional
point of view alone. The other
is the restriction upon evidence
which might show that no wrong
had been committed which justified
the taking of life in hot blood
or in cold blood. The common and
statutory law is assumed to be the
very essence of common sense. In
the trial of certain crimes it has
fallen short, of late. of any of the