The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-09

views on progressive social philoso-
ply are entirely second in Importance
to his possession of a high and fine
character; which means the possession
of such elementary virtues as honesty,
courage, and fairmindedness. The
judge who owes his election to PAN
dering to demagogic sentiments or
class hatreds and prejudices, and the
Judge who owes either his election or
his appointment to the money or the
favor of a great corporation, are alike
unworthy to sit on the bench, are
alike traitors to the people; and no
profundity of legal learning, or cor
rectness or abstract conviction on
questions of public policy, can serve
as an offset to such shortcomings
But it is also true that judges. llkc
executives and legislators. should hold
sound views on the questions of pub
lie policy which are of vital interest
to the people.
The legislators and executives are
chosen to represent the people In en-
acting and administering the laws.
The judges are not chosen to repre-
sent the people in this sense. Their
function is to interpret the laws. Ihe
legislators are responsible for the
laws: the judges for the spirit In
which they interpret and enforce the
laws. We stand aloof from the reck-
less agitators who would make the
of Tnnnl1T
prejudice and passion; and we stand
aloof from those equally unwise paru-
sans of reaction and privilege who
denv the proposition that, inasmuch
as Judges are chosen to serve the IN
terests of the whole people, they
should strive to find out what those
| interests are, and, so far as they con-
scientiously can. should strive to give
effect to popular conviction when dell
/ berately and duly expressed by the
| lawmaking body. The courts are &c
be highly commended and staunchly
upheld when they set their faces
against wrongdoing or tyranny by a
majority; but they are to be blamed
when they fail to recognize under
government like ours the deliberate
Judgment OF the majority as to mat
ter of legitimate policy, when duly
expressed by the legislature. Such
lawfully expressed and deliberate
| Judgment should be given effect by
the courts, save in the extreme and
exceptional cases where there has
been a clear violation of a constitu-
tional provision. Anything like fri
volity or wantonness in upsetting such
clearly taken governmental action Is
grave offense against the Republic
To protest against tyranny, to pro-
tect minorities from oppression, &c
nullify an act committed in spasm
of popular fury. is to render SER
vice to the Republic. But for the
courts to arrogate to themselves func-
lions which properly belong to the
| legislative bodies is all wrong, and
| in the end works mischief. The peo'
pie should not be permitted to par
don evil and slipshod legislation on
the theory that the court will set it
right: they should be taught that the
right way to get rid of bad law is
to have the legislature repeal it, and
not to have the courts by ingenious
hairsplitting nullify it. A law may be
unwise and improper; but it should
not for these reasons be declared I'M
constitutional by a strained interpre-
tation, for the result of such action is
to take away from the people at large
their sense of responsibility and ult1-
mately to destroy their capacity for
orderly self restraint and self govern
ment Under such a popular govern
ment as ours, founded on the theory
that in the long run the will of the
people is supreme, the ultimate safety
of the Nation can only rest in train
| ing and guiding the people so that
what they will shall be right, and
| not in devising means to defeat their
will by the technicalities of strained
construction.
For many of the shortcomings OF
| justice in our country our people as
whole are themselves to blame, and
the judges and juries merely bear
their share together with the public
/ as a whole. 1t is discreditable to us
as a people that there should be diff
| fculty in convicting murderers, or in
bringing to justice men who as pub
lie servants have been guilty of cor
ruption, or who have profted by the
| corruption of public servants. The
result is equally unfortunate, wheth-
er due to hairsplitting technicahties
in the Interpretation of law by judges
to sentimentality and class conscious
ness on the part of juries, or to hys-
terra and sensationalism in the daily
press. For much of this failure OF
Justice no responsibility whatever lies
on rich men as such. We who make
I'D the mass of the people can not
shift the responsibility from our own
shoulders. But there is an import
ant part of the failure which has
specially to do with inability to hold
to proper account men of wealth who
| behave badly.
The chief breakdown is in dealing
with the new relations that arise from
tho uutua1ism the interdeDendence Of