The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1910-01-28

trously weak and ineffective as a means
to promptly and adequately punish Grim
inals. That this is due in large
measure to The senseless retention of a
mass of useless technicalities in our
criminal procedure, which serve only
to trip and embarrass justice, and fire.
quently defeat it entirely, is perfectly
well known, and in a recent letter to
the Pensacola Journal, Governor Gil
christ presents some plain facts and
high authorities on this subject, which
we reproduce as reading matter of the
very best kind. The members of the
next legislature of Florida ought to
learn it by heart:
SIN 1878 the English courts adopted
the following: "No judgment shall be
reversed or new trial granted because
of misdirection of the jury or the i'm
proper admission or rejection or evil
dence, or for error in any matter of
pleading, practice or procedure, unless,
in the opinion of the appellate court,
after an examination of the entire
cause, it shall afirmatively appear that
the error complained of had resulted in
a miscarriage of justice"
The adoption of this has been recon-
mended by the American Bar Associa-
ton. As a result of this ruling there
has not been a single case of lynching in
the entire British dOminiOns for the last
quarter of "a century.
ut seems to me that the spirit of
our law is based more on due process
of law than the real merits of the
case. Taking the basic principle of our
law from the old common law of Eng
land, adopted hundreds of years ago,
when the presumption was that des-
potic king. through despotic officials,
would prosecute the citizens of his king
dom, we have not yet followed the
English in their great change in the
law as adopted by their courts in 1878,
making the merits of the case, rather
than due process of law the end to
be obtained both in criminal and in civil
cases I am satisfied that Judge
Lynch operates without due process
of law, owing to the operation of the
due process of law by our courts.
"Before the Yale Law School, June
6, 1905, Mr.. Taft said "The code of
evidence and it's contemplated rules,
the technical statutory limitations sup
posed to be in favor of the defendant,
are all used as trap to catch the trial
court in some error, however technical,
upon which in appellate proceedings
reversal of the judgement of the court
may be asked. Nothing but radical
improvement in our administration of
criminal law will prevent the growth
in the number of lynchings in the Unit
ed States that brings blush of shame
to every lover of his country.
Judge c. F. Amindon, before the
Minnesota Bar Association in 1906,
said: In 1887 committee of the Amer
lean Bar Association reported to that
body, after careful investigation of
the subject, that new trials were grant
ed in as per cent. of all causes that
were brought under review in appellate
courts in this country. 1t was further
found that in 60 per cent. of these
causes the appeal turned upon questions
of pleading and practice.
Due process of law should be
such that causes for appeal should not
depend upon questions of pleading and
practice, but solely upon the question
rs the verdict just?' "-Suwannee
Democrat