The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1909-11-19
JuplclAL LEGISLATION.

JUDICIAL LEGISLATION.
one 81 the notable tendencies Of
recent years in this country IS toward
judicial legislation. The courts dc
not hesitate to so constrUe statutes as
to practically render them ineffective
OF to so change their meaning and
purI ose that they bear but slight re-
semblsnce TO the original legislative
act
In no COUNTRY in the world are the
courts vested with such power as they
exercise in America. They are by
virtue Of their being the inal tribunals
for the determination and interpreta-
ton Of constitutional questions, wholly
above and beyond the executive or
the legislative barnch. They deter
mine their own powers and also pre-
scribe the powers Of the executive
and legislative departments. No
statute. no matter how imperative the
peoples demand for its enactment or
how necessary it may be for the pub
lie veal is safe until it has received
the imperial o K Of the court OF last
resort. If there exist no reasonable
ground upon which TO adjudge the
statute in conflict with the organic
law the courts frequently render its
most wholesome provisions nugatory
By judicial Interpretation.
A case in point illustrates the ex-
IRENE to which this system of judicial
Interpretation has been carried. Last
year after a desperate struggle, the
Legislature of New York passed an
act to prohibit gambling upon horse
racing. The act was intended TO put
an end to betting on the race courses.
lis language was plain. Every mem
Der of both Houses who voted for or
AGAINST the law, the Governor who
urged its passage and finally gave to
it executive approval, understood that
it was to prohibit gambling on races.
But the criminal element as is al
ways the case. resorted to the courts
and raised technical issues to defeat
its wise and wholesome objects. Like
the liquor dealers the gamblers have
always striYen to the bitter end to
defeat or nullify moral legislation.
Although victory has seldom been the
portion of either interest the New
YORK case proves a notable exception
and the court Of appeals of that State
has ais ifectually nullif1ed the race
gambling law as if it had been formal
" repealed by the legislature.
BY a species Of judicial legardemain
the high court of the Empire State
has reached the conclusion that the
act merely prohibits the recording"
Of bets on races As if the Legisla-
ture and the Governor of a great
State would devote months of time
and effort to the enactment of a
statute merely to prevent record OF
the crime, leaving the crime itself
What a reflection upon
the intelligence of the people of New
York!
Does this court believe that it can
persuade any intelligent being, en-
veloped as it's opinion is, in maze
Of legal quibbling, technicalities and {
specious reasoning, that Gov. Hughes {
and the Senators and Representatives /
Of the Empire State ever passed any Z
such damphule statute? If this was f
he only purpose of the law why then, $
pray did the race gambling interests, r
he bookmakers, the touts and the +
whole gambling fraternity wage such O
war puon the act and use
corruption fund of hundreds OF q
thousands TO defeat it's enactment. .
Decisions of this character, which q
are all too frequent, and Fl
,hich appeal neither to the conscience II
or the reason of the people, do much II
D destroy confidence in the judiciary. II
n