The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-24

matter that could have influenced the jury in reaching a verdict"
 President Taft, conceded to be one of the great lawyers of the nation, sum- med up the whole situation in these words:
 "No judgement of the court below should be reversed except for error, which court, reading the entire evidence, can affirmativey say would have led to a different verdict. 1t should be for the defeated party to satisfy the appellate court that the error was really prejudi- cial to him upon the merits"
 Our forms of criminol prefecture we acquired from England, and yet we have stubbornly refused to adopt the exten- sive and wholesome reforms of that same procedure England began instituting in the last century.
 "As Prof. John D. Lawson, an eminent law writer, truly said: Tn nearly every other branch we are teaching the science of today. but we are teaching the legal science of the days of the Tudors.'
 Rules Adopted in England Therefore to prevent technical rever- sals where the merits of the case were not involved, a rule was adopted in England in 1S7S, and recently indorsed by the American Bar Association, as follows: NO judgement shall be reversed or new trial granted on the ground of misdirec- ton of the jury, or the improper admis- sion of evidence or for error, in any mat ter of pleading, practice, or procedure, | unless in the opinion of the appellate court, after an examination of the entire cause, it shall affirmatively appear that the error complained of has resulted In a miscarriage of justice
 "I earnestly recommend the passage of a statute embodying this rule in the | laws of Alabama.
 "There is another reform which, in my l Judgment is fundemantal and without which in my opinion, we cannot expect l to secure a proper vigorous and efficient enforcement of our criminal laws, and | that is not only to restrict the power | of our supreme court to reverse and re- mand cases on technical error, but to restore to our judges their common law mowers and to invest them with more | latitude and discretion in the trial of criminal cases. To accomplish this re- form 1t is only necessary to amend sec
 ton 5362 of the code of 1907. Our trial judges should not be mere presiding or ficers. but should take an active and controlling part in the trial. | We should not by our adherence to established usuage or customs, which do not properly distinguish between what is | substance and what Is mere matter of
 form, retard progress in criminal pro- decure. The Whole am ol our ciiihihai law should be to bring the guilty to
 punishment az speedily as possible, and with the same rapidity free the innocent.
 "The report of the special committee
 on reform in legal procedure of the
 American Institute of Criminal Law and | Criminology, who were commissioned last spring to visit England and make a study
 of the criminal procedure in that coun- try, state that they spent four months | in the courts of London and the Assizes,
 where they were afforded every facility
 by the bench and bar of England for con
 ducting their inquiries. and of the 1f cases which the eommtte saw tried in the central criminal court of London,
 D of which were for murder, arson or rape. only three consumed more than two and one-half hours and several were dis