The Ocala evening star., 1910-04-14
leyen - o'F' TIE EDITORS
In Reforming Inaccurate and Tedious
Process of Law-GOvernOr GfIchrfsts
Address to the State Press AssOcia-
ton

ton
Lake City. Fla. April Ex-Governor
Albert W. GiIchrist Of Florida was
the guest of honor and the principal
speaker at the annual meeting of the
Florida Press Association held here
yesterday. The Governor made a
powerful appeal for the aid of the
editors in this and other states in a
movement to so reform the procedure
Of American courts, both in civil and
criminal cases, as to abolish the de-
lays in administering justice and the
decision of cases on technicalitieS
which has resulted from the unwieldy
and archaic system of due process of
law by which our courts are gov
erned
Governor sGilchrist-pointed out that
during his first term in the Florida
legislature in 1893, he offered a reSo-
luton intended to effect this reform,
which, however, was referred to the
Judiciary Committee, where it still
sleeps without dreaming and without
being dreampt of by the Committee"
"Our laws are based" said the Gov
ernor," upon the practices of English
courts of hundreds of years ago when
the presumption was that the King,
who was the representative in crimi-
nal procedure of what we now call
the peace and dignity of the state
was prosecuting the citizens. The
technicalities of the law were in
voked to prevent persons from being
improperly punished at the instance
of unscrupulous or unworthy officers
or favorites of the King. But condi-
tions have changed, and in 1873 the
British Parliament authorized the
High Court to regulate all matters of
pleading and practice. Under this au
thOrity, the first rules adopted by that
court provided: "A new trial shall
not be granted on the ground of mis-
direction of the jury or the improper
admission or rejection of evidence, un-
less in the opinion of the court to
which the application is made, some
substantial injury or miscarriage of
justice has been thereby occasioned on
the trial.
AS a result of the good which has
followed the adoption of this reformed
and sensible rule, Governor Gilchrist
quoted Judge Chas. F. Amdon of the
United States District Court of North
Dakota, as saying that mo cause has
appeared for the second time in an
than thirty years." and that nowhere
in the British Empire has man been
snatched from the custody of the law
and sacrificed to mob violence" The
effect has been that respect for the
law has been ingrained into the peo-
pie of the British Dominion, which is
said to account in large measure for
the remarkable emigrat ton of people
from a number of our Western States
to the inhospitable regions of Western
Canada, where the law is so admins
tered that no person can feel his life.
liberty property endangered on ac-
count of the chicanery of due pro-
cess of law"
Governor GiIchrist referred to the
fact that in 1908, a committee of nine
eminent lawyers recommended to the
American Bar Association the adop-
tion of certain amendments to the
laws of the United States, providing
for this reform. The recommendations
were adopted by the American Bar AS
sociation, the proposed amendments
being substantially as follows: No
Judgment shall be set aside or revers-
ed, or new trial granted by any court
of the United States in any case, civil
or criminal, on the ground of miSdi-
rection of the jury or the improper
admission or rejection of evidence, or
for error to any matter or pleading 6
or procedure, unless in the opinion of
the court to which application is made,
after an examination of the entire
cause it shall appear that the error
complained of has resulted in a mis-
carriage of Justice" Also the follow
ing: 1.-The trial judge may in any case
submit to the jury the issues of fact
arising upon the pleadings, reservin g
any question of law arising in the
case for subsequent argument and de-
cision, and he and any court to which
| the case shall thereafter be taken on
writ of error shall have the power to
| direct judgment to be entered either
upon the verdict or upon the point re
| served, if conclusive, as its judgment
upon such point reserved may re-
quire."
| LAS the law now is said the Gov
ernor, "the appellate court might re-
verse the lower court on a question of
| law, the question of fact having been
| determined by the jury. The case
| then comes up for re-trial on both the
| question of law and the facts. In the
| meantime many of the witnesses by
| whom the facts were established have
died. or moved away, or have forgot
| ten
| The proposed amendments also
| provided that no writ of error re-
| turnab1e to the Supreme Court shal
| be issued in any criminal case, unless
| a Justice of the Supreme Court shall
| certify that there is probable cause tC
| believe that the defendant was unjust
ly convicted In Florida the law pro.
| vides in both criminal and civil cases
that writs of error or appeals shall is
sue as a matter of right. The Su.
preme Court of Florida has held tha1
| there is not now, and has never been
any limitation of time within which
| writs Of error to this Court from
jud gments of the Circuit Court can b.
sued out in criminal cases
| Under our laws, if an attorney 81
desires, it is almost impossible to Sc
cure final Judgment under seven o.
eight months from the date of tht
| conviction. In case of q death sen
tence, all that is necessary is for tn,
attorney to take exceptions. Excep
tions being overruled, 60 days are al
lowed in which to prepare a writ o
error. At the end of 90 days. no wri
of error is sued out. The Governor is
sues the death warrant, returnabl
within a reasonable time, say three o
four weeks. Just before the date o
! execution, a writ OF error is sued ou
as a matter of right This writ i
returnable to the Supreme Court at it
unless