Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1912-01-05

the laborer, pretending to he his
friend, to save the life of his clients.
Such an act might have been eth
ical, but it falls far below the stand
ard of tactics permissible in any hon.
orable man outside of the legal pro-
fession.
The technically strict, courts that
look more to preserving the musty
statutes than seeing that justice is
done, is still another reason for the
unpopularity of the law.
Two judges recently handed down
decision of a technical nature and
one that was far from being morally
just. 1t raised a storm of protest.
The decision was relative to the GRIM
inal feature oil the public act. A
slight technical flaw in the title of
the act as passed by the legislature
was declared OF sufficient weight to
declare the law null and void as far
as Furnishing. in criminal way. the
corporations which disobeyed it.
And just recently jury declared
its disgust for the clap-trap methods
of public prosecutor in New York
by bringing in verdict of not guilty.
The would-be clever prosecuting at
torney in delivering his closing argu-
ment to the jury reached about the
space in front of the jury box wav-
ing revolver swapping it at the
heads of the jurors and theatrically
attempting to impress upon the II
mer the awfulness of an attempted
murder.
A jury in st. Louis refused to ac-
cept what they considered an unfair
view OF case they were sitting in
as ordered by the court, and returned
verdict against the instruction they
had received.
Lawyers will swear a Judge off the
bench as prejudiced after he had
made rulings in the case and caused
the case to be delayed because he had
other court business to attend to. No
Judge should allow himself to be
sworn off the bench after he has
partly handled a case. A change of
venue should be granted only when
the application has been made before
the Judge has taken any action in
the case. When Judge makes sew
eral rulings in case extending over
a long period of time and then allows
the case to be taken before another
Judge to be done all over again he
certainly is not doing great deal TO-
wards fair play.
Even q lawyer who really wants
to get quick justice for his client can
bungle the case enough to supply all
the delay needed to test the patience
Of his client. 1t is not necessary for
the court to add to the severity of the
test Of patience, and when that client
is opposed by a lawyer who has be-
come an ace0nIplice OF the other side,
rather than an attorney. then there
is still more reason why exact justice
should demand extra careful brain
work and common, ordinary horse.
sense on the part Of the court.
There was q time in New York
city when the police justices were
not lawyers. but were butchers and
bakers and candlestick-makers and
they handed down justice and handed
it down when it was due, but when
it became law that police justices had
to be lawyers. then the reign of de.
lay and injustice began and has con-
tinued.
Such things as described herein are
more than that trite handwriting
on the we'll. They are stiff blows
that are being dealt the lawyer and
legal proceedings in the present
colnatose condition Of the law to-
wards justice. as warnings Of the up
rising ahead.
There is q limit to the patience o.
the people, and when the people art
aroused lawyers trickery and cour,
injustice will be uprooted as o tor
nadO uproOts q tree.