University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1912-02-08
DEANLAWSON TALKS
ON LAW PROCEDURE
Reforms are Needed i'm the
United States Now.
He Says.
ABOUT ENGLISH COURTS
People do not get Justice as
They Should. is His
Belief.
ABOUT ENGLISH COURTS

people ordinarily law abiding against
a condition which. because of the
lax enforcement of our criminal law.
has become intOlerable. said Dean
J. d. Lawson speaking on legal re-
form and education at the opening
c~onyocation of the second semester
years. in England. Ireland, Scotland
and the Colonies of the British En-
,irc scattered all over the world,
among peoples of all races and
rolors, no mans life has been taken
by what we call Lynch Law.
In the United States Judge
Lynch" executes nor people every
year than do all our judicial tribun-
ais. Penalties provided in both
countries are the anne The differ
cnce IS only in the administration
of that law.
Following the development of law
and procedure. Judge Lawson
showed how 800 years ago forms be-
came 50 technical in England that
justice was lost sight of and law be-
came a contest OF skill. A cry went
up such AS We are hearing today and
Jeremy Bentham. Chief Justice Den
nan and Lord Chancellor BrOugham
came forward as champions of the
people. Now the administration OF
justice in England is inexpensive.
speedy and certain i'm both criminal
and civi! cases.
In America we still cling to tech
nicalities. and cOurt procedure has
become not a way to secure justice
but a place to win in the game"
Our judges. said Judge Lawson, be-
come mere umpires who cannot
search independently for truth and
justice. We endeavOr to get error
into the record. rather than to dis
pose of a matter finally and upon it's
merits.
The inquiry of the appellate court
IS not what do law and justice re-
Iuire but have the rules of the game
been carried out. The same cOnSer-
vatism, if you please to call it that.
in other lines of learning and prac-
teal affairs. Dean Lawson thinks.
would mean that We should be using
the sedan chair instead of the auto
mobile. the hand press of Benjamin
Franklin while our English cousins
used the linotype and Hoe press.
Appeals are granted in England, |
bat only when a decision is open to
doubt and new trial is granted when,
in the opinion of the court, the de-
cisiOn of the court below appears I'M
questiOnably wrong. In this cOun-
try new trials are granted on about
10 per cent of all cases appealed.
In England. Dean Lawson said, the
legal profession has always been the
learned profession. The practice re-
GuiTes education and character. And
4 student. no matter how ably
trained, rarely gets a chance to
handle a case until several years
under some barrister.
During the colonial period this
high ideal held in America. 1t was
this superior education and training,
the speaker thought. which fitted the
lawyers to become the spokesman of
the people when they felt that the
King and Parliament were Oppres-
sive. But particularly in the West,
the growing spirit of democracy
seemed to be to give every man a
right to practice. Indeed, the con-
stitutiOn of Indiana today declares
that every man in the state of good
moral character shall be licensed to
practice-the same requirement it
iidhtS lOl d SdiOOu hetpcl-
The hope of law reform comes
from the schools. just as it did in
England. The leaders, Dean Law
son said, for law reform in America
are the young men in the colleges.
He referred to Dudley David Fields
effort to simplify legal procedure in
1S4S and laws passed in New York
tending to simplify it. After that
there was no effort made until Prof. |
Pound. formerly of the Uni
of Nebraska. now of Harvard.
brought the matter to the attention
Of the American Bar Association in
1906.
Dean Lawson spoke of the develop
ment of the School Of Law of the
University of Missouri in the last
twenty years. when the requirements
for entrance We're good moral char
acter and a fair English education.
to the present requirement of two