Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-24
CRIMINAL LAW GROSSLY FAILS
government and Society Menaced by
JudiciRI TechnicaIittes.

Springfield CMass.) Republican.
lhe attention OF many readers must have
oeen arrested by the statement In recent
news that the two years penitentiary sem
tence Of Fred Warner. formerly a nam
Der Of the st. Louis house OF delegates
convicted of bribery, had been reversed and
remanded by the Missouri supreme court.
There was no doubt about the guilt NJ the
man. II would appear, but he gets an
other trlal because the indictment is de-
clared defective. We are bound to sup
pose that something mighty serious had
been discovered, and pray what is it?
warmers offense, as set forth, was
against the dignity of state" The learned
court holds that the phrase should have
been the dignity OF the state and that
because the last the" was omitted this
unfaithful lawmaker had been Improperly
convicted! Great is the criminal law and
its amazing technicalities. and mighty
helpful to rascals. Nothing better calcu-
lated than this case to arouse popular
contempt for the courts could be con-
ceived.
In this connection II is interesting to
note that the "absurdities OF the criminal
law are frankly admitted by Justice
Robert Mayes OF the Mississippi supreme
court. He tells by way OF Illustration OF
a murder case in his state which had been
appealed. The defendant was charged with
killing his man, and the Indictment alleged
that the victim did then and there Lam
guish for a period OF twenty hours and
then died" The supreme court reversed
the case because it was only alleged that
the victim did then die" II II had been
set forth in the Indictment that he did
then and there die" no second trial would
have been required. In another case the
man who drew the Indictment alleged that
the defendant did then and there wilfully
ana feloniously set fire to and burn" a
barn. The supreme court ordered a new
trial because the indictment failed to
charge that the burning was malicious"
When Justice Mayes, in his address az a
recent meeting OF the Mississippi Bar az
sociation, said that II condemn In UNI
equivocal terms a law that makes such
decisions necessary and makes a farce
Of justice he voiced popular feeling.
Laymen will be interested in the ex-
PLANTATION given by this Mississippi Judge
Of the survival Of such sbsurdities in the
criminal law:
If property rights were TO be made to
depend upon such farcical technicalities
as is the life, the peace and tranquility
OF the citizen, such law would be torn up
root and branch. Society feels that 1t has
a direct interest in the law which controls
civil rights, consequently there has been
a steady development OF this branch Of
the law, but society does net feel this d.
rect interest in the criminal law, and for
this reason there has been little or no i'm
provement since the United States became
a nation"
This explanation does not explain. II
will not do 20 hold society" responsible
for the infinite folly complained Of. What
are honorable lawyers and bar associations
for II not 10 help make their profession
and the courts efficient and entitled to the
popular respect? Greatly TO be despised
is the Criminal law, in the light OF such
manifestations and the lawyers are TO
blame for IL