The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-04-21
TEMPTING THE RECALL.

II appears that a man and wife have been ac-
tually nut in jail for contempt of court by a
Richmond magistrate. who probably knows as
much about Law as James River catfish knows
about caridrre.
We might say wantonly OH the surface of this
matter that the falling of a magistrate for con-
tempt OF another magistrate is a part OF that ell
emental Justice which Gilbert and Sullivan i'm
mortalized for the masses when they put down
as a rule of conduct. Make the Punishment Fit
the Crime
gut there is really more to this case. 1t does
not stop at the Incarceration Oh magistrate
who may, on occasion, have forgotten justice 1t
includes the whole public, who may at any mo-
n,ent be taken in the meshes OF magisteriai
law" The man and his wife who were attach
ed were not remotely bound TO the exercise OF
aay duty with respect to the court They were
defendants in civil action They had the con-
sti;utional power to come into court and make
defense, or 10 stay away and permit judgment to
be taken As matter of fact. the evidence in-
dcated that they preferred to settle the case nri'
vataly They did so. and the court" was thus
deprived of even the shadow Of jurisdiction. The
case then ended, The magistrate who attempted
not only to take law into his own hands, but TO
make law showed the perfect folly of system
which gives judicial powers to men absolutely
incapable of performing them.
This is a small matter. but small matters point
fig morals We get here sort OF inverted In
sight into the matter of the recall of the judges,
md where it ought properly to be applied. NO
one expects "a magistrate to know any law. At
be st We can hope from him a sort of frank and
brutal Justice. We must also expect, as In this
case that occasionally he will avenge reflection
on his self-coneet. His powers. nevertheless are
great He deals with the poor with the igno
rant, with the destitute To this class of the
population law is as they know 1t. abstract
thing, with curious Affiliations. They take 1t as
they find it, and all too frequently they find II
something that violates every instructive tenet Of
human justice, That there should be an cutlery
against the courts is not much due to the de
fault of judges as 1t is to system which puts
the ordinary. common run of judicial decision Of
the small things of life into the hands of mer
who have no power or capacity of rendering In
telligent Judgment.
! Every one who has taken the trouble to reat
this paper will know that The VirGinsdn has nc
sympathy with the effort to break down thu
courts 1t is significant that the greatest ship
wreck in history should find as the most power
full opponent of judges the man who in the re
pablic" disaster showed himself to be the creates
coward But we ought to remember that the dis
pensation of justice is a thing which carries
double and reciprocal duty,-the duty on tn
part of judges OF knowing what they are talkin,
about and acting about. and on the part of tn
public of making surrender to the constituted
authorities Of law and order We do not favo
the recall" But We cannot citizens. any o
us. expect anything else with regard to tn
higher courts until we have done the public tn
justice of making the lower courts at least fairl
respectable and reasonably fair