Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-12-12
CHAPTER I.
General Principles Compared.

methods are used:
The first and most primitive one
Is the recourse to force and might
for it most frequently happens thai
the parties in dispute are able to come
to an agreement in no other way thar
by fighting each other to a finish.
The second and less dangerous
practice resorted to by barbarous. and
ignorant people to dispel their doubts
is to rely upon those things which
they imagine to be supernatural. They
nearly all believe implicitly in mira
cles and dreams, and when perplexed
attempt to detect crimes, decide differ.
ences between parties and relieve their
anxieties by having recourse to divina-
ton, magic, witchcraft, conjuration
enchantment, sorcery, chance, good
and bad luck signs, fortune tellers, IA
kris, palmists, astrologers, mindread'
ers, spiritualists and other impostors
The advance to the third method Is
made when disagreements and uncer'
tainties are referred to someone plac-
ed in authority as umpire, referee ol
Judge, who prevents fight by decid'
ing arbitrarily and officially, but with
some degree Of reason.
The fourth and greatly improved
method Is reached when the opinions
of all the recognized authorities are
carefully compared and the highest
is accepted as correct or is agreed
upon as a correct standard.
The final and true method was first
reached by astronomers when they
learned how to eliminate the per-
sonal equation" in making a determi-
nation from precise measurements OF
an actual test Of some kind. In this
way scientists are now able to be cor
rect and entirely independent Of er-
roneous opinions and Of the disturb
ing influences Of the imagination.
Militarism is based upon the first
method and has advanced no farther
than the third. Theology is based
upon the second. The arts have
reached the fourth. All the sciences
were started by the second, but have
progressed on through to the last.
The common law of England was
originated by the primitive Britons
ard not only retains the impress OF
it's ancient barbarisms down to the
present century-the oath being
striking example-but its administra'
ton has never advanced beyond the
third stage. (arbitrary decisions) ex'
cept in the single instance of a tria
by twelve jurymen. Not the slightest
effort is made to apply the last and
correct method to the law, although
1t is applied in medicine and even ir
business. A comparison Of the pre-
ceding cases, an opinion by a court OF
judges and an appeal are not an ad.
vance to the fourth method, because
they are all based solely upon the ar
bitrary decisions Of the past. The rea.
sonable and just equity courts have
advanced to 1t in very many particu'
lars, but the hide bound common law
courts have not yet approached 1t
for they do not recognize such dis.
tinguished legal authorities as the pro-
fessors Of law in the great universi.
ties, but rely everything solely upor
the arbitrary "precedents" and lead
ing" cases.
AS early as 1867, Baron Leibnitz be-
gan to tabulate the laws of all the
countries Of the world in parallel col.
umns, and he suggested that those
which are clearly seen to be most
salutary, reasonable and just be Sc
lected and applied. This demonstrates
the fact that knowledge Of how things
should be done always keeps well ir
advance Of how they actually are done
and so much more is really known
than is generally believed or is allowed
to be put into practice whether 1t Is
believed or not We refuse to allow
our very defective system of spelling
to be improved, and we refuse to al
low syphilis and other virulent, ma
lignant and fatal diseases to be stamp
ed out, although we understand how
to eliminate them. We also under
stand equally we'll how to eliminate
the pernicious features Of our common
law.
AS uncivilized people know very lit
tie and are unable to reason correctly
they resort to barbarous and prepos'
ferrous practices in their attempts tt
administer justice. They are found
to possess a few laws which are baset
upon expediency; but might Is nearly
always regarded as right and the uni
versal custom among them has beer
for the strong to subdue the weak, the
rich to oppress the poor and the cum
ming to cheat the simple. The Amer
lean nation Is one of the most pro-
gressive, and for that reason 1t l:
difficult to realize that the "old com
mon law" Of England Is In full force
anu elleCl III llltSSi oee'sSS
Union and 1t Is the basis or the la"
in all of the others except Louisiana
Such an antiquated and curious sys
tenn of law Is necessarily falling int
disrepute to such an extent that W.
hear derision of the justice of the law
courts from all sides; and the la"
delays and the miscarriage or justice
are beginning to furnish subjects To-
the novelist, the cartoonist ana th'
press. Even so exalted in authorlt!
as President Taft has on several oc
casions declared that, 1.-The admins
tration of the criminal law In all tn'
states of the Union is a disgrace u
our civilization" and Justice Hariai
| has said that Next to a case OF small
pox in a pest house a case IN a coul
of law is to be eluded."
Many of our judges actually appea
to regard the queer formalities an'
nonsense of the old English law a.
more sacred than justice itself. Gu
statute laws are being continually cor
rected by the Legislative bodies pu
caap, noWar1aSS tn cor