The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-11-17
CODl: AND COMMON LAWS
DELAY.

An agitation i'll favor of a reform
Of the practices in both state and
federal courts has engaged the pub
lie mind from the president down
during the last few years. Lawyers,
ley,ncn and the bench have been in
terested because the proposed reforms
have concerned all. either as %littgants.
attorneys or judges. The gist OF the
reform has been a demand for speed
Ter determination OF litigation. and
especially less technicality in matters
of appeal.
Those who have agitated for the
change have no Disseminated be-
tween the courts in which the conf
mon law practice prevails and o
in which the code practice prevails.
II is hardly within the province of the
lay press to eXtol the one or crittctse
the other: neither Is it within such
province TO suggest tina the modern
code practice is responsible for many
of tho ills of which complaint is
made. But a few recent court in
stances furnish grounds for serious
thought along those lines.
Virginia is a common law practice
state. 1t has as much of the ira
ditional English Jurisprudence as any
Of the American commemorative. Its
legislature has not attempted to in
terfere very much with its court pro
cedure: nor has 1t changed nan Of
the rules and principles of the COM
mon law. Its courts are noted for
their learning and the opinions of its
supreme our are held in the high
est esteem in nearly every state. Its
bar is not so profuse but more pro-
found than that Of the average state.
\ few months ago a young Virgin
ian was accused Of numbering his
wife during an automobile ride OF a
lonely road His family was of the
Virginia ~aristocracy. influential and
wealthy. The wheels Of justice We're
set i'll motion and the accused man
was brought to the bar Of court
charged with the crime. Every pre-
caution to insure Il fair and impartial
trial was taken. The trial occupied
nearly three weeks. The jury vas
selected in the county in which the
crime was committed without any
serious difficulty. Nunberless ques-
tions of law arose especially in mat
tiers Of evidence, and We're disposed
of by the trial court without delay.
The Jury found the accused guilty
and the trial court passed sentence of
death on him and fixed next Friday
as the date of his execution.
The ease was taken to the supreme
court and that body. after careful de-
liberation. found no errors in the rec
ord of the trial court and the sem
tence Of death stands.
The most extravagant advocate OF
reformed court procedure could not
ask more expeditions justice. There
was no undue haste, nor any unto
ward delay. Human life is too sacred
to be toyed with by the courts, es-
pecially those Of the Virginia type,
and had the trial court. in the rush
Of the trial when long reflection was
impossible. erred against the ac-
cused. the supreme court Of appeals
would have been quick to rectify the
mistake by granting a new trial. The
reports of the supreme court from
GrattAn to the present time illustrate
that statement.
California 10 A code practice state.
Its legislature prescribes in a large
measure the rules Of court procedure.
Many Of the principles Of law are
evolved in technical and superficial
construction Of courts loaded down
with appeals. A cas- has been on
trial in that state for a month in
which the prisoner is charged with
having set in motion the agency
which caused twenty-one deaths. But
in the month less than half the pos
stble jury has been secured and the
trial will be drawn out over months.
No maj accused Of crime should be
jeopardized in his defense in order to
secure a hasty determination Of the
charge. No innocent individual
should be the victim Of court rush:
neither should he suffer because Of
delay. The point is that those delays
are In nearly every instance law auib-
bles and not real essentials in the
case.
The common law is more precise in
its principles OF pleading. Criminal
charges under it must be 20 specific
tina there can be no doubt Of the
meaning. Its rules Of evidence are
clear and concise. Its p~reliminaries
safeguards but NOT shields Of justice.
Principles and not bubbles are the
guide Of courts 1t is not difficult for
the lay mind TO understand under
these conditions why the Virginia case
was 30 much swifter than the Cali
fornia one.
II further illustration of the expedi-
ton and certainty Of the common law
We're necessary. the Crippen case in
England is yet fresh in the public
mind. While there was never any doubt
OF the guilt OF the man who paid the
penalty for wife murder. there wer.
enough opportunities to permit a
common law court to have dragged
the ease over more years than ii oc-
cupied weeks in the common law
courts of England.
The American people have been
constantly reaching u for short cuts
in public affairs and by so doing have
loaded our institutions with such bur-
dens hat to carry them means great
or delay than that sought to be over
come.
NUnE,Dr MUS <-<Nrv o-c