Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-07

the defendant Upon writ
Of error from the supreme court this
judgment was affirmed. The result
of the decisions was that the plaintiff,
a poor laboring man, crippled for life,
and legally and Justly entitled to s12,-
600 as compensation for his injuries,
was not only defeated for his right to
recover, but had judgment for costs
entered against him and in favor OF
the corporation to blame for his in
jury.
But it is needless to multiply in
stances, and for the rest it is not So
cially healthy, for too much reading
of this sort may make even sane and
peaceably minded man feel as il he
would like to demolish the institution
which makes this sort of thing pos
sible. But that would be futile and
impracticable Is there no simpler
remedy?
SOME PRIMARY REFORMS.
On one point l find that the ablest
lawyers and the progressive judges
who have set their faces toward the
light are practically agreed. That is
the personal guilt of the judges, and
the efficacy of direct, detailed criti-
cism of their individual acts.
Whatever excuses they may urge,
however bound they may seem to find
themselves by Anticipated codes and
rules of procedure. the fact remains
that the judges are not simply legal
automatons but the executive admin
istrators of justice. 1t is true that
they cannot take the law into their
own hands legally. though they do it
enough Illegally, but III their rulings
and their conduct of cases they can
sternly set themselves against all
that makes for delay, against all that
is trivial and trumpery and dishonest,
however ancient in custom and prac-
tice it may be.
These reforms are bound to come.
They have largely been effected in
England, and are being silently put
| into practice by the better class OF
judges in this country These include
in brief:
In spite of the fact that we have
over 500 judges sitting on appellate
courts in this country, a majority OF
these courts are behind their dockets
anywhere from one to four years. In
| Colorado | find that there were last
spring $500 cases on the docket and
decisions being rendered at the rate
of about $50 per year. This delay is
not the fault of the laws nor of the
press of business, but of the customs
and the laZiness of the judges them
selves. | have already quoted suffi
cient expert testimony as to this
from Judge Taft, Justice Moore, ant
others.
But above all questions of laziness
or dilatoriness is the fact that appeal:
pay. If, as in England, there were
but 10 new trials granted out of {
total of a million and half of civi
actions brought, there would not b.
$4,000 appeal decisions in the United
States.
2. Suppression of the Mania TO
Lengthy Decisions-As one instanc
at random among hundreds is a re
cent decision by Justice Lamm of tn
supreme court of Missouri (203 Mo
493), wherein 'rned juris
quotes from the from Bre
Harte, from Thomas lie, from Vo
ney, and from Voltaire, with a hand
full of Shakespeareana thrown in 70
good measure And this court is tW
to three years behind it's docket!
Not to be invidious, here is a scra
from the supreme court of Wisconsin
not one of the worst but one of tn
ablest courts in the country.
The opinion in the recent case c
Kopplein VS.. Quade Gas Wis, asa
runs partly thus:
"One Kopplein was the owner of
thoroughbred Holstein-Friesian heife
which he duly christened Martha P,
terrific Pauline-the name is neithe
!. euphonious nor musical, but there
: not much in a name anyway. Shak,
speare (W), Romeo and Juliet, A.
5 IL, Scene 2. Notwithstanding an
handicap it may have had in the wa
of a cognomen, Martha Petertjie Pau
5 inc was a genuine high brow, havin
: pedigree as long and at least as we
t authenticated as that of the ordinar
e scion of effete European nobility VIII
!, breaks into this land of democrat
e and quality and offers his title to tn
? highest bidder at the matrimonit