Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-09-12

litigant on Her Majesty's supreme court
TO be defeated by any mere technicalitv
any slip any mistaken step in his iit,ga
tion."
The reform which has been most OTTER
urged in our legal proceedings Is embod
led In proposal by the American Bar as.
ISOLATION to Congress. It Is recommended
that its provisions be adopted by Congress
for the guidance Of the federal court and
that this being done that the States
should. in turn. adopt substantially the
same provisions for the courts OF the
state.
The trial OF causes is n practical bust.
ness proposition; II involves IN the frat
place the declaration of a claim. then
the answer. then witncsses are sum.
moned and testify and the law is applied
and decision reached. The whole process
should be simple. direct. ana as speedy
as the ends Of Justice require but there
should be no sacrifice of real Justice in
the dispatch Of business. Any rules. any
laws, any decisions by which our pro-
ceedings may be made more simple. con-
sistent with the ends Of justice should be
welcomed
The rights which are secured to the
sacred They are the result of n de-
velopment which has been going on for
hundreds of years: those rights were OK
pensively secured by our English an
cestors, and have been handed down TO
us as sacred thing. as a protection to
our liberties. The courts are the peoples
courts; they are established by the peo-
pie; maintained by the people; paid for
ha L..
the courts Our business places us in
charge OF this particular department of
the government. and It should he our duty
as II is our privilege to see that the
work Is done by methods that are the
best available
MIR. SHERMAN'S ADDRESS.
Preceding Mr.. Sherman's address the
auartette paid the speaker a timely COM
piment by singing Marching Through
Georgia. In recollection of his fathers
Famous march to the sen. Mr.. Sherman
spke substantially as follows:
There exists branch of law which is
popularity termed the '1aw OF compensa-
tion," and which In It's rules Is as definite
and formulate as our law Of negligence
The gist Of that law is that 1t gives to
workmen who are accidentally injured
IN the course of their employment-or
II they are killed. to their dependents
n right TO recover approximately one
half OF their consequential wage lose
regardless of fault In the causation of
the accident.
That law prevails in af countries of
Europe except Switzerland and generally
In the colonies of Great Britain.
The European cOmpensation laws are
,,, VINO" means 'la' the I'M
nanny 10 eN''"SiVe Oh any other
=, ~, '''u e.'p'oses'
,,r,o.. h,,. Wv Jaws are
- 49, '' ,-I .'o. ''s.e eN''usiVe.
% oon,. ,ha.a r,,,- WI '.s' eno''
N.r Wi, r-o,,,,,,.. r,., ."c
or 1910 uh,oh t. ,ha r,,o nn
So. ,h, Ga. .,
differed fundamertouy fro,,, w. r,,ra.,
laws in that II was mot a, oil oxc,,,s,,.o
but entirely cumulative. tba, &c - ala
not repeal anv existinp liabilities in tor,
but simply super,,nnosed an ALTERNATIVES
liability for CONDENSATION TO the la
biities already existing.
The compensation laws enacted during
the past year by various of our States are
all elective.-except the Washington COM
pulsory insurance law. which. strictly
speaking, is not compensation law. for
1t insures, not compensation proportional |
to wage loss. but merely "A fiat poor
relief,
Inc European compensation laws
on the contrary, are all compulsory.
In my opinion all attempts to ac-
compllsh anything approaching the
Dement'S OF those European compulsory
laws by means OF elective laws can re
suit only In serious disappointment
therefore, II we are to be guided b. !
european experience, compulsory
exclusive law should be our goal.
In discussing the question, Is
compulsory exclusive compensation
law constitutional. Mr. Sherman said
that In the organized Industries, and
particularly In those In which taero
are technical trade risks" the i'm
? position of the exclusive compensation
iiahiitF is reasonable regulation for
Tue prevention Oh aec'oen's'
..s
,,,., ..,..,a
,, 10"
ou','''e' 'ie "'"'e sun ''"po'eS upon
'' e"i uu'' VI .o'np"-
n"'er 'ate--pena!''es some
li'"es ep"ai " "a"'"ses ana some
little pracs'ca, Importance. such resu