Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-01-21

derive it's existence from that historic
ancient source.
The old Roman nation has passed
laway. Its place and It's monuments
lare crumbled to dust, and even its
tombs are tenantless Of their heroic
dead; but the Roman nation lives today
in every nation Of the civilized world.
The corner stone Of our present legal
structure is drawn from the fundamen-
tai organic principles derived from the
lcivil law. Our knowledge of partner
ship, our law concerning corporations,
our law concerning wills, the creation
Of admiralty courts, the creation Of
courts Of chancery, nay the very de-
lvelopment of the law merchant itself,
are derived from that historic source.
These benefactions to humanity will
survive when the conquests Of her Cae-
sar, the eloquence Of her Cicero and
the strains Of her divine Horace shall
have been forgotten.
Mr.. Chairman, the same thing is true
of the Dark Ages, that great period
world seemed to have been extinguish-
ed. Out of that void, out Of the dark
ness that lowered over the medieval
world, has come to us as one Of our
fundamental principles Of national
sovereignty, come to us directly from
the feudal law, that great principle Of
eminent domain, which enables the
public to take private property for pub
lie use, which declares the ultimate
sovereignty Of all property to be in the
government itself.
And, Mr. Chairman, If the time should
ever come when Macaulay's fabled
South Sea islanders should sit upon
the broken arches Of London Bridge
and mourn over the ruins of st. Paul,
amid the wreck of these ruins tri-
amphing over that universal desolation,
burning as a beacon and an inspira-
ton and guide for all great civilization
to follow, would rise the great fabric OF
the common law Of England, those in
destructible principles Of right, those
great principles OF remedial justice be-
tween man and man. that effectual
safeguard of human liberty, the right
1 Of trial by jury, the contribution of
that common law, Of which the Ameri-
can constitution is the highest culmi-
nation.
So, Mr. Chairman, while the written
history of a nation may be sometimes
lapocryphal, its traditions involved In
obscurity, the story of its heroes mere
lfction-their written permanent, fun
damental, and organic law is imperish-
able and definite and a tangible and
absolutely reliable record Of their intel
lligence, of their religion, Of their ethics
and Of their civilization And as some
physiologist from the vertebrae Of an
extinct mammoth can reconstruct the
complete animal and tell its habits and
its habitat; can reveal the geological
period Of the world in which 1t lived, so
from the fragment Of the laws of an
extinct nation historians can recon-
struct the civilization, character, hab-
Its and customs Of that nation and re-
write with striking accuracy its forgot
ten history.
The scholarly world has recently
been amazed and the historic character
of a great period practically rewritten
by the discoveries, in 1901, OF the per-
manent laws of Hammurabi, antedating
the Christian Era by nearly $500 years.
In the light of these enactments and
from the spirit and language Of the sta
tutes carved upon that famous stone
has the history of Babylonish civiliza-
ton been reincarnated.
In this light, therefore, Mr.. Speaker.
the philosophic statesman may regard
the task before us as one Of high or
der. This elevated view may rescue II
from the tiresome plodding Of patient
drudgery, and place 1t upon the high
and patriotic plane of a broad, sacred
and inspiring duty.
The permanent laws Of the United
States Of America ought to be the most
complete and perfect Of any nation in
the world, because the distinguishing
feature Of the American constitution Is
that it places it's courts above the
courts of any other nation Of the world.
If were asked to state in brief form
the respect in which the American con-
lstitution differed from that Of any 9TH
er nation that had ever existed, wheth-
er Of monarchy or republic, would
answer that the great departure made
Iby the nation builders in forming this
government was to make its judiciary
Ian Independent organic and co-ordl-
lnate part of that government and to
Invest in this great third estate thus
created the power Of reviewing the acts
of both the legislative and executive.
These permanent laws which we are
Iengaged in perfecting are the necessa-
nv machinery of these courts and upon
these courts have been placed by the
organization of this government great
err power, greater responsibility and
greater dignity than were ever placed
upon the courts of any nation Of the
jworld.
It Is safe to say, as matter OF MIS-
torical accuracy, that this great, silent,
lunobtrusive and inconspicuous power
(the judiciary that bears neither the
purse nor the sword, but that controls
to an almost immeasurable extent the
future destinies Of the nation, has in
the past accomplished more than its
full share in the substantial creation
of the sovereignty Of this nation.
1t is a demonstrable fact, though fire.
lnuentlv forgotten. that upon the judi
ciary of this country rests the distinc-
ton of giving life, Vitality and power
to the paper made constitution of 1883.
Representative Moon Of Pennsylvania
on the Revision Of the Federal Penal
lCode.
INcIPIENr KNOWLEDGE. That the
royal road to learning is full Of strange
pitfalls is shown by some Of the defni-