The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-04-14
B[OUNT SPEAKS
TO LAWYERS IN
NEW ORLEANS
PENSACOLA ATTORNEY DELIVERS
ADDRESS BEFORE ANNUAL
MEETING OF LOUISIANA BAR
ASSOCIATION.

Hon w. A. Blount, OF Pensacola, de-
Hvered an address Saturday at the
annual meeting of the Louisiana Bar
Association, which met in New Orleans.
His subject was The People and the
Courts" and the following is taken
from his speech:
Recall of judges is not WISE be-
cause it is useless. Its advocates have
not been able to show any adequate
cause demanding such an extreme rem
edy. There have been infrequent vio-
lations by judges of their oaths of Of
flee, but the very numerous criticisms
OF these may, in most cases, be re-
solved into a difference of opinion be-
tween the critic and the judge, as to
the soundness of a process of reason
ing and but rarely Involves charge
of moral turpitude or departure from
the path of right.
THE argument for recall made is
that cases of unworthiness do occur;
that the judge is the servant of the
people, and that the people should have
the power to remove summarily an
offending servant.
I'm no just sense is the Judge a SER
want OF the people, that is, of the ma
jority which would have the power to
remove him. His Office is created by
the people, and he is privileged by them
to become the incumbent of it, but AS
soon as he has entered into it he knows
but one master-the 1aw-compound-
ed in its application by him to causes
submitted to him, of his knowledge,
intelligence and conscience, and in
which there is no place for servitude.
eff there should in any given case
be an alleged offender a popular vote
furnishes no just or proper method CT
ASkA fs-Sr rfe-kA 30 HfaA nf-
Tense. Remedies by impeachment, ex-
list. If they are not broad enough, the
Constitution or the statute can be
amended to broaden the scope.
"This century is the first to hear
that a government may be stable, and
yet that the tenure of the final arbi-
tiers of all questions justifiable, the
judges, may be made to depend upon
the will of the majority of the people.
Must Please People.
IF il would be unwise to thus sub
ject the individual judge, the unwis-
dom in its effect upon the judiciary
at large is more apparent. Since the
tenure of Office must depend upon the
popular will, the opinion of the judge
must be popular. They will conform
to the 1awsif such conformity pleases
the people, but please tEey must;
in conformity to the law or
not.
'It is unwise, because courts are
necessary for the protection of the poor
and the weak-of those who cannot
protect themselves. But the corrupt
rich, through the control of votes by
their money, or the corrupt powerful, |
by their influence, can hold, or make |
a Judge believe that they hold his |
reputation, his future, and, perhaps, |
the maintenance Of his family, in the |
their hands, and it needs no |
seer to tell how the judgment will |
fall.
But perhaps the most pernicious eff
feet would be the destruction of re- !
gard for the rights of the minority. |
Majority rule is mere substitute for /
the rule of brute force-an artificial |
rule necessarily evolved to avoid the
clash Of warning interests,
each claiming to be the stronger. But
t has no necessary relation to the
righteousness of cause, or the right