The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-10
Clever Tricks OF LAWYERS


The unsubsidized publicity of the /
present era is letting in the light upon i
the dark spots in the administration
of our criminal laws, writes G. P. Con-
molly; in Golfers. Lawyers of proml-
hence throughout the country have for
years publicly and privately criticized /
the present growing tendency toward
too technical construction of the laws !
in the criminal departments of our
state courts. The evil has grown to |
such magnitude that the decisions of
courts of appeal in cases in which
public interest has been aroused are
made the subject of ribald Jest among
the learned as well as the ignorant Tt
has brought into disrepute the temple
that should stand in public esteem high
est Of all in the orderly dispensations
of our modern civilization.
Lawyers may sheer at the structures
of the courts by churchmen. That's
what they are doing in California. In
fact, the San Francisco Bar Association
called meeting, the object of which,
as announced, was to take notice of the
attacks of these churchmen and of the
press on the courts, but, the good sense
of the majority of the members pre-
vented that association from adopting
a resolution that would have ms de it
ridiculous. What renders the pulpit at.
tacks peculiarly pertinent just now is
that, whatever the attitude of bar asso-
Citations, every lawyer knows in his
heart they are just and true; not only
that, but the weight of conviction they
carry is the heavier by the fact that
these public criticisms of church and
press have been too long delayed.
Criticism of the courts has been de-
Tended by both Lincoln and Jefferson.
1t ism It often that the pulpit hits home
on a subject hidden deep in profess
sional mystery with such unerring pre-.
cision.
Reams could be written telling of de-
cisions so splittingly technical that
the man of sense, even of trained pro-
fessional sense, must laugh at them.
On the Sth day of April of last year,
cites the author, at Baker City, Ore,
two men beat woman on the public
street with some kind of heavy strap
One of these men held a revolver in his
hand so as to compel the woman to
stand and take the beating, while the
other brutally beat her with the strap.
The men were convicted by a jury
They were convicted under a statute
that provided that "if any person shall
assault, or assault or beat, another with
cowhide, whip, stick, or like thing,
having at the time in his possession
a pistol, dirk, or other deadly weapon,
with intent to intimidate and prevent
! such other from resisting or defending
| himself such person upon conviction
thereof, shall be punished by imprison-
ment in the penitentiary not less than
| one nor more than ten years. -
The district attorney, in his informa-
ton, charged the fact that the defend
ants held a gun while they beat the
woman with a leather strap. The case
was reversed on the ground that the
information "contains nothing to bring
the strap within the class of instru-
ments mentioned under 'cowhide, whip
stick, or like thing - "Where the
instrument used is not one of those
named in the statute, - says the court
|
bring it within the term or like thing,
and it is not sufficient to refer to i
as a leather strap. Therefore the in
formation is insufficient to charge tn,
crime defined by the statute -
The remarkable thing about this deci
sion is that a leather strap, according
to most any of the standard diction
} aries, comes within the definition of
whip. Nothing was said by the snprem
court about the gun. As matter o
fact, the very presence of the gu
alone, without the strap, leveled at tn
] woman, with intent to do her injury
constituted an assault in the first dt
gree, the minimum punishment fo
J which was equal to that which ha
! been imposed by the trial court.
With fine irony, the Portland Oregon
4 ian speaks of this case editorially. g
] first glance the Oregonian says, I"
. would appear that the district attorne
. was neglectful in failing to place in IL
- indictment an allegation that leath,
:, strap is like cowhide, and that IL
D circuit judge was careless in permittir
the ease to go to trial upon such d
fective complaint; but upon furth,
u consideration it will appear that ii
l. fault may have been largely that {
the woman. 1t may be that, in Il
excitement of being beaten, she d
not notice whether the leather strs
- was made of cowhide or not. and, b
ing unwilling to run the risk of pc