Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-09

II ANtAA - NM SAANANNS
%= Klein, it's author, insists that
& 1t is based on the subject which
- should engage the attention
Of every thoughtful man and woman
in the country the laws delay. To
his library at Rowayton, Conn, Mr.. Klein
has added. while his play has been in
process of construction, a great many
legal books. typewriter copies of famous
cases and decisions Of the various courts.
TIT result of his reading is crystallized
in the statement made by the lawyer for
the young heiress whose property is
quarreled over by relatives and lawyers.
In the play Mr.. Ricabor says:
"I don't think l quite understand my
profession as it Is practised. There are
so many laws, so many loopholes through
which to evade these laws, so many ram
ifications, so many interpretations, so
many delays. it's all law. law. law-delay,
delay, delay-the question of equity and
justice is completely lost sight of in the
chaos of procedure. The letter of the law
Is there, but the spirit Is sadly wanting"
President Taft's speech delivered in
September, before the Bar association in
Chicago" says Mr.. Klein, gave the final
impetus to something which had been
slowly gaining ground in my mind. No
man could be blind to the fact that the
work OF the law courts is one needing
most strenuous attention and tremendous
changes. President Taft did not hesitate
to condemn the laws delay. In a word,
he declared that our method of criminal
procedure is a Disgrace to the country and
our much Wanted civilization. The pre-
valence of crime and fraud said the
president, which here is greatly in excess
of that in the European countries, Is due
largely to the failure of the law and its
administrator to bring crlminals to justice
go 1t is chiefly due to the system against
which 1t Is impossible for an earnest prose-
cutor and an efficient Judge to struggle.
We have inherited our system of criminal
prosecutions from England, yet a murder
case in England will be disposed Of in a
day or two days that here will take three
weeks or a month and no one can say
after an examination of the records there
that the rights OF the defendant have not
been preserved and that justice has not
been done. Counsel are not permitted
to mouse through the record to find errors
that in the trial seemed OF little account,
but that are developed into great injus-
tices in the court of appeal. This Is an
other defect of our procedure! No criminal
is content with a judgment Of the court
below, and we'll he may not be, because
the record of reversals is so great as to
encourage it in every case and to hang
important judgments in appellate pro-
ceedings sometimes for years.
"I don't know when the reforms are to
be brought about in this country. Until
our people shall become fully aware and
in some concrete way be made to Suffer
from the escape Of criminals from just
Judgment the system may continue.
- am a lawyer and admire my profes.
sion, but l must admit that we have had
too many lawyers in l%eglslating on lega.
procedure, and they have been prone &c
think that litigants were made for the
purpose of furnishing business to court.
and lawyers and not court and lawyer
for the benefit of the people and litigants
or all the questions that are before
the American people 1 regard none as
more Important than this. towit. tht
Improvement of the administration OF
justice. We must make it so that the
poor man will have as nearly as possible
as much opportunity in litigation as the
rich man, and under present conditions
ashamed as we may be of it, this is no
the fact
After reading this aloud with otheI
l pertinent extracts here and there, Mr.
Klein calls attention to the declaration
OF Justice Brewer of the supreme courr
; OF the United states, matching in earnest
| ness that Of the president, and that 9TH,
reversal of a judgment of an appellat,
court ON the ground Of a mere techni
caltty when substantial justice has beer
administered is an outrage"
4 a newspaper editorial commenting OF
this quotes I'm justification Of the stan,
taken by Justice Brewer the case OF Dyer
against the Territory Of Oklahoma, fl
which the Oklahoma court Of criminal ap
peals gives an example to the whole lega
force OF the country by aging ''Thi
court accepts the verdict in the case a
bar as a fair, honest, impartial and human
finding upOn the facts in the case, an.
again announces that this court will no
reverse a case when the record before
shows that the accused had a fair tria.
a by a fair and impartial jury and tria
. Judge, simply because some Harmless
/. technical error may have occurred at tn
trial"
= This same editorial urged me-" con
e tinues Mr.. Klein. TO look up and verify tn
e reported speech Of Prof. Roscoe Pound
e who has declared that the near future
+ to sec a complete change OF judicial prac
e uee along simpler lines, those more 1
accord with the advanced civilization O
o this rapidly growing country. His word
e are; Our etiquette OF justice in this eoun
$ try Is the most rigid, the most subverslv
OF the ends for which It exists, TO be foun
e In any business or industrial cOmmunitie
d OF the modern world; a very large part @
a our adjective law is as out OF place In
twentieth century court as gold lace an
red coats upon a modern skirmish line
e III you want fictiOnal examples" state
d Mr' Klein. how about the case In Blea
n House which hung on and on, an incider
n founded on fact which Dickens with hi