Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-12-12

upon every part Of mans person
The highest was placed upon his beard
although 1t Is of no value whatever
In modern law mental anguish" 1:
the purely fictitious cause Of such
purely fictitious damages.
When a robbery was committed OIL
man was dangerously wounded, the
town keepers were required by law tc
raise hue and cry" When felor
was captured and condemned to death
a New Testament was handed to him
and II he succeeded in reading two
lines In It he was turned loose; just as
in some states at the present time a
copy of the constitution Is handed to
a man and II he succeeds in reading
a clause in 1t he is permitted to vote.
The element Of superstition was so
strong that a criminal was perfectly
safe while in church and the crowd
would wait outside with the coroner
until he tried to escape and was kill
ed, or came out and had a parley.
agreeing to "abjure the realm" at
once. At the present time it is be-
coming customary for the sheriff to
hurry a murderer or rapist away to
some other town in an automobile to
protect him from violence and. incl
dentally, to maintain the majesty and
dignity Of the law.
. tIo nf Uytllfoy1a "a
Conqueror the crime Of rape was pun
ished by death, but that humane ruler
changed this severe law and punished
the felon no further than to emascu-
late him and put out both his eyes:
but the courts were so short-sighted
as to suspend sentence IL he could
coax his victim to consider an offer Of
marriage. This practice had the ef-
feet Of inducing INSCRIPTIONS or un-
attractive women to accuse men false
ly. At the present time those found
guilty Of this crime are usually put
to death, but a lack Of confidence In
our courts sometimes causes those ac-
CuSeu VI IL W Uc diiNC
falsely accused or not.
The learned churchmen introduced
some Roman law into England and 1t
was distinguished as equity as early
as the reign Of King Stephen, but the
question. Of bastardy split the two
systems Of law entirely asunder In
1886 (and also the church in 153D.
They not only have never been recon-
ciled since, but the hostile law courts
have established a maxim that mo
court of equity can assume jurisdic-
ton Of any case except where the
courts Of law are inadequate" The
trouble was all caused by the fact that
by the reasonable Roman law blame
less bastards become legitimate II the
real parents intermarry, while at
common law they are stigmatized
and must remain bastards. but all
children born after wedlock are legit-
innate, regardless Of when and by
whom begotten. The absurdity Of the
common law went further and held
that when a widow remarked and be-
came a mother soon after her former
husbands death, her child was more
Legitimate than any other and that 1t
could claim either husband as its
father The same Roman law simply
prohibited a widow from remarrying
None Of the common
law in regard to marriage has the
slightest reference to eugenics. The
idea pervading 1t all is to make mar
riage just as easy as possible for the
young and indiscreet, and then to do
everything possible to keep them to-
gether after they do marry.
An early way Of deciding a lawsuit
was to have the witnesses for the
plaintiff chew a bark with an emetic
quality. The masticated material was
soaked in water which the defendant,
after being given the sacrament, was
required to d. INK. The decision Of the
court depended solely upon his ability
to retain 1t in his stomach, for IL II
staid With him he won. When there
was an appeal the plaintiff was duly
sworn and required also to drink the
same and thus prove which Of the two
would gag the more or could hold 1t
down the longer. This nonsense seems
very funny TO US now, but it is a Sc
rious fact that many traces Of such
remain in the common law courts to-
day and have much weight in unbal-
ancing the scales Of justice.
Under the direction Of William the
Conqueror (1066-SD lawsuits were
decided in the court Of common pleas
by holding an inquest or by Offering
fervent prayer to their God and
then requiring the litigants to fight
each other to a finish. When one be-
came so far vanquished that he could
not or would not fight longer he was
hanged Immediately. Some, who
could afford to do so, were permitted
to hire substitutes. who first swore
they were not using sorcery, enchant-
ment nor conjuration Of any kind, and
then they beat each other with bat
telling" sticks until the stars appeared
or until the most muscular, most de-
termined or best paid champion killed
the other or forced him to say "Cra-
ven." This cruel practice did not en-
tirely cease until 1888 and was not
abolished by law until 1918. The En-
glish act did not abolish it in the
United States and it persisted under
the dueling code until quite recently.
In place Of these champions 1t be-
came customary for the litigants to
hire lawyers to argue with each other
until the most experienced, adroit OF
best paid caused a mistrial or won the
case. 1t was rule Of court that IL
one stammered on a word he lost MS
case. Our courts now have a maxim
that THE law does not regard trifies'
DE minimis non curat lex-but the
judges seem bound hand and foot by
miserable hair-splitting technicalities
which are exalted above justice and
made more important than facts. The
l.,