Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-09-13

out the first twenty volumes of the
Name Reports, and many Of them are
notable not less for their elevated
moral tone than for their faultless
legal reasoning and elegant literary
style.
lie had serene and judicial tenn
permanent, and a kindly and amiable
disposition which enabled him To pre-
side at jury trials and as chief justice
at the law court, not only with an
ease and courtesy which inspired self
possession and confidence in the young
but with Il natural dignity which
commanded the respect OF all.
Although Judge Weston was not
much given TO the display OF wit, he
had keen sense of humor, the want
of which is a serious defect in human
character and the possession of which
is recognized as Indispensable if one
would see things in their due proper
ton and perspective. For "humor dis
torts nothing" says an English writer.
and it is only false gods that are
laughed off of their pedestals." But
Judge Weston once referred to Lord
Cranworth as authority for the state
ment that judicial joking is thing
We can easily dispense with" II is
mostly of Indifferent quality, and the
bar laugh respectfully, much as the
village school children in Goldsmith's
Deserted Village" laughed at the
masters jokes, with counterfeited
glee"
Nothing ever disturbed the perfect
serenity and dignity of his judicial de-
meaBor. and no suspicion ever rested
upon the purity of his motives. For
30 years he sought to administer JUS
tice without respect to persons, and to
do equal right TO the poor and the
rich. BY his learning and upright
ness, his attractive personality and his
eourtly demeanor, he gave his con-
temporaries a high idea of the judicial
character and function. He dignitied
the bench because he was himself
deeply impressed with the majesty of
law and justice.
1t is a truism that the learning and
strength and character of the bench
will in the course of the generations
be measured and determined by the
learning and strength and moral ele-
walton of the bar. The bar are the
natural guardians of the law. and the |
beneficent work of making improve
ments in substantive law, and reforms |
in methods of procedure naturally falls |
within its province For the most |
part legal reform should originate with |
them and be guided BY them. Ii is
true. however. as shown by the history
of Jurisprudence that society, in pro-
ut.t 1ts- in q "A
of the law. The great forces which /
govern and direct the life OF people
are for the most part beyond the con-
troll of legal rules. Society is not |
made for the law. but the law is made
for society. and 1t can only strive to /
make its flexible principles conform tn
new developments and new conditions
n social and industrial life.
Al present the people of Maine are
lot embarrassed or distressed for want
# reform in either law or procedure. /,
)ur laws are for the most part equal
,eneficent and just, and with respect
o procedure l believe il to be true
hat in no state in the tIniOn is the
ubstance of truth and right 50 rarely
acrificed to the science Of statement
Il
ninistered with fewer blemiShcs and
reater promptitude than in the good
tate OF Maine. i,
The law is the minister OF justice i
nd justice is the application of truth Ii
> the adjustment OF the complex at Y
airs of men in the different relations III
{ life. The lawyers and the courts &
re the ministers of the law. They In
,stitute and prosecute judicial in ID
uiries for the purpose of discovering G
nd declaring the truth and the pro- o
ceilings are clothed with orderly
,rms for the sole purpose of making
,em more effective in accomplishing 3
nat result. q
And never in the history of the law q
ere the mutual relations of the law Y
ers and Judges in the courts more "
sinful aud agreeable than now. In u