Valdez daily prospector., 1913-04-07
MONDAY. ApRII. |. 1913.
THE RISE OF THE LAYMAN.

Of course in suggesting the possibility of opening judicial p"- sitionS in America to laym"n. we were not moved by any of that prejudice against the legal pro- fcssion which caused Jack Cadc to assent to the proposition made by Dick. the Butcher. to hang all the lawyers of England. The profession of the law is a great profession, but in this age of en- lightenmeni. when knowledge on all subjects is widely diffused, when good books are plentiful and cheap enough, it is error to assume that only lawyers are cap able of doing substantial justice as between man and man.
 The layman knows thing or two. It is no empty figure or speech to refer to the rise of the proletariat. At length democracy is Towering. and we seem to be nearing the fruition of our dreams.
 Are laws to be. understood on- ly by lawyers Have we any moral right to expect laymen to respect and obey laws which they cannot understand? Shall we punish men for violating laws the meaning and purpose of which they do not know?
 Intent, we are told, is the es- sence of any offense against the law. No man can intend to of- fend a law which he does not un- derstand.
 Laws should be so simple that any citizen can understand and apply them.
 Our .Jurics usually are made up of laynlpn: and it is idle to say that iuries consider only the facts in the case: they hear the law. and they judge the law also. and all the charges of all the judges of the earth cannot keep jurors from Judging the law. IL is psycholog- ically impossible for a juror not tu weigh, and judge the law as he hears it. Jurors judge the law precisely as they judge facts. Therefore. if laymenS are not lit to be judges. are they fit to be jurors? Or if only lawyers are fit tu be judges, does it not leg ally follow that only lawyers are if to be jurors?
 Moreover laynlrn help to write : our laws. Under he policy of di- rect legislation laymen have even a greater share in the making of our laws. If they help to make the laws. can they not help to interpret. runstrur and apply them? Then. too. there is the policy which would subject judges tn recall when their decisions are out of harmony with the popular Judgment. and the kindred prop usition tn submit the decisions of judges tu he people for approV- al or disapprovaI when these opinions seem to be al variance with opinions held by he people.
 Do not these policies. prri"rcr, make judges of laymrn?
 The rise of the layman has been slow. Literally he has onzed up to his present eminrnce through oceans of sweat and tears and blood and muck. Pricslcraf preyed upon him in inc beginning of nis struggle up- ward. Profess SSionaliSm has tram meled him. Politicians. wearing the guiSe of an allurine patriot ism, have for centuries used and abused him. But by degrees dem- Ocracy is lifting the burdeU from the layman; for him the prospect everywhere is broadening and frightening, anH conscious of the Onrush of leveling influences, and at length confident of his own ca pacities. feeling his own strength, and knowing his own rights, he is taking in society the position na- ture intended he should takc.- Seattle Sun.