Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-17

deceased. and, of the rights Of society
to be protected against crime.
All these defects are emphasized
in the delays which occur in the trlals
delays made necessary because the
trials take so great a time. A murder
case in England will be disposed OF
in a day or two days that here Will
take three weeks or q month, ana no
one can say after an examination OF
the record in England that the right OF
the defendant has not been preserved
and that justice has not been done;
ut is true that in England they
have enlarged the procedure TO tne
point of allowing an appeal from
j. dgment in a criminal case to a
court of appeals, but this appeal Is
usually taken and allowed only on a
fe questions easily considered by the
court ab.ve and promptly decided.
Counsel are not permitted to
mouse through the record to find er-
rors that in the trial seemed of little
account but that are developed into
appeals This Is another defect Of our
procedure.
Attitude of Criminals
mo criminal is content with judg-
ment Of the court below, and well may
he not be, because the record Of re-
versals is so great as to encoura ge
down important judgments in appel
late proceedings sometimes takes
years.
II don't know when the reforms
are to be brought about in this
country.
Until our people shall become
FLY aware and in some concrete way
be made to suffer for the escape of
criminals from just judgment the sys-
tenn may continue.
Zone of the methods by which 1t
could be remedied in s. me degree
would be to give judges more power
in the trial of criminal cases and en-
able them to aid the jury In consid-
ering facts and to exercise more con-
troll over the arguments that counsel
see fit to advance.
ELECTED Judges especially ought not
to be mistrusted by the people A
judge holds a great office and he
ought to be allowed to exercise his
power in a trial by jury"
"Then It is undoubtedly true that in
England lawyers in the conduct or
their cases feel much more and respect
much more their obligations to assist
the court in administering justice and
restrain themselves from adopting des-
American lawyers are even applauded.
The trial here is a game in which the
advantage is with the criminal and If
he wins he seems to have the sympa-
thy of the public.
Trials by Jury
"Trial by jury as it has come to us
through the constitution, is the trial by
jury under the English law and under
4l.nH I,rrr y1y.fa I1n fayn1
the timidity and the ignorance of juries
were to be neQtralized by the presence
in court of g Judge to whom they
should look for instruction upon the
law and sound advice in respect to the
facts, although, of course, with regard
to the facts their ultimate conclusion
must be their own and they were fully
at liberty to disregard the judicial
suggestion.
''But reform in our criminal proce-
dure is not the only reform we ought
to have In our courts. On the civil
| side of the courts there Is undue delay
| and this always works for the benefit
of the man with the longest purse. The
employment of lawyers and the pay
ment of, costs all become more expen-
sive as the litigation Is extended.
st used to be thought that q system
| by which cases involving small
amounts could be carried to the su-
preme court through two or three
courts of intermediate appeal,a was a
perfect system, because it gave the
poor man the same right to go to the
supreme court as a rich man. Moth
ing is further from the truth.
Poor Mans Need
"What the poor man needs is a
prompt decision of his case and by
| limiting the appeals in cases involving
small amounts Of money so that there
shall be final decision in the lower
courts. an opportunity Is given to the
poor man to secure a judgment in time
| to enjoy it and not after he has ex-
| hausted all his resources in litigation
to the supreme court,
Il am g. lawyer, and admire my pro-
/ fession, but I must admit we have had
too many lawyers in legislating on le-
| gal procedure, and they have been
prone to think that litigants were made
| to furnish business for courts and law
yers, and not courts and lawyers for
| the benefit of the people and litigants.
more than this, I am bound to say
| in the matter of reducing the cost of
litigation and indeed the time of 1t
| congress and the federal courts have
not set a good example.
probably under the constitution it Is
impossibl for the federal courts to unite
! suits at law and cases in equity in one
form of action, as has been done In the
codes of the states, but 1t certainly is
possible to introduce a simpler form
! of procedure both in suits in law and
suits in equity.
'"This last form of procedure-that in
equity-has been entirely in the con-
troll of the courts, and especially the
! supreme court, and yet in years no rea
reform has taken place in that regard
and the procedure is just about as
| clumsy, just about as expensive, just
about as likely to produce delay as Il
was thirty or forty years ago.
Judges Overloaded
''The fact that no reform has beer
| instituted may perhaps be due to the
circumstance that our judges have beer
overloaded with work in the supreme
court, and thus opportunity has no.
been afforded for this reform.
"But I conceive that the situation Ii
now ripe for the appointment of com
mission by congress to take up the
question of the laws delays in the fed
eral courts, and to report a system
which shall not only secure quick ant
cheap justice to litigants in the fedora
| courts, but shall offer q model to tht
legislators and courts of the states by
the use of which they can themselves
| institute reforms.
"T would abolish altogether the sys.
tenn of payment of court officers by
fees. The fee system may properly bt
continued for the reimbursement of the
public treasury by litigants especially
Interested, but the fees ought to be re-
duced to the lowest point and the mo-
tive for increasing the expense OF liti
cation that arises from the payment o.