The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-26

ferent today. both in England and In the
United States.
Danger Of Today.
The danger today is not that any inno
cent man VIII be convicted, but that
guilty VIII constantly escape. By
reason Of rcincmcutS and tcchnicGllties
existing in the Legislation al the coun-
try. There ought TO be. and there ought
speedily 10 be. a thorough overhaullng OF
all the provisions in respect 10 criminal
procedure. both In the constitution and
the legislation OF the estates, and OF con-
sress. with view Of making II the rule
that there shall be n speedy trial by
The courts Of criminal jurisdiction. and
that there shall never be reversal by
the courts OF last resort because Of any
misdirectlon by the lower courts in re-
Eard To Instruction or admission or eX-
clusion OF testimony. or In regard 10
any other matter In the course OF the
trial when the court Of last resort, look
ing over complete record. can conf
IDENTIFY say that these errors, whether
taken s!ugly or in combination, did not
produce n wrong result: In other words,
that there should be mo quest for error"
by the supreme court but that the OBJ
iect OF the examination Of every record
In criminal trial should be To ascer-
tain whether the right result has been
REACHED, and II that Is so then there
should always be an affrmance. no mat
ter how many errors may have been
committed in the procedure OF the court
arenas for academic display, but they
SIT TO administer Justice; as President
TAFT says, cheap and quick Justice"
The absurd motion which / have some
times heard advanced, that the supreme
court sits 70 try the Judge in the court
below Is the very, opposite OF the pur-
preme court. II tries not the Judge be-
low 10 see Il "mousing about" 10 use
president Tart s expression. II can dis
cover some error on which TO reverse
and thus escape labor, but IL sits Ia
hnd out whether or not the result reached
In the court below is the right result on
the case made by the record.
Endorses Taft.
I especially concur in President Taft's
observations as to the want of power on
the part of american judges. The fed
eral Judges have very much the same
power. In theory at least. that the Eng
lish judges have; but the Judges Of the
state courts. for the most part, exercise
power very like that OF 'the moderator
OF religious assembly" TO use Prcsi-
dent TaIts very pithy expression. They
are particularly hampered In regard to
their power TO charge the jury ana, il
one VIII consider carefully the statutes
Of the various states with respect 20 the
power Of the state Judges. he will reach
the conclusion that they sit upon the
bench with a great deal OF nominal au-
thority but. so far as the conduct OF
the trial throughout It's course is con-
ccrned. In practical straight Jacket
hampered and fettered by an Gnrcason-
able fear lest they should exercise power
property belonging 10 Judges and so free
ly and eff!cicntly exercised by the judges
in England.
Lawyers are proverbiaily conserva tive.
and, In my Judgment, they are far too
conservative with respect 10 many most
seriously needed reforms in legal pro-
ccdure. For example, TO give but one in
stance:
What reason can be assigned worthy
of the name why majority OF verdIcts
should not be received in all civil cases
and In all mlsdemeanors? And vet the
constitutional and Legislative provisions
TO the contrary are the rule throughout
the country with but a few slight eXcep-
tons,
Evils Lie in System.
The evil lies. as President Taft has so
wisely said. 'in the SYSTEM" and what