The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1913-09-25
LAWYERS AND THE LAW.
WoefuI Lack of Confidence Continues
to Grow Steadily.

One of the most remarkable ad-
dresses delivered at the meeting of
the American Bar Association, in
Montreal. was that of Mr.. Moorteld
Storey. a leader of the Boston Bar,
who declared to his brother lawyers
that our profession is to-day more
discredited than ever BEFORE and
urged them not to delay the reforms
which the people are demanding.
There is no profession, said Mr..
Storey, which has suffered more
from superstition. none in which ira
d;tion has exercised and still exercls-
es a more baleful influence than our
own. The common law which in theo-
~ 'broadens down from precedent
70 precedent has almost invariably
been Influenced too much by the past,
and has been very slow to change its
methods with the changing needs OF
society,""
The result has been that instead
of protecting the community against
c;ime by making it dangerous and
improbable to the criminal, the
methods of criminal procedure have
been allowed to become so cumber-
some that society, though anxious
to free itself from pest finds itself
handicapped at almost every stage
of the proceedings and the criminal
enjoys an advantage to which he is
entitled upon no conceivable grounds.
Justice is easy to defeat, and the
courts which have been established
for it's administration are brought
into disrepute.
Mr.. Storey has no patience with
the barriers which have been raised
against the swift and sure discovery
and punishment of crime. He de-
rounces the practice which permits
appeals to be taken again and again
end upon all sorts of technicalitles.
He undertakes to expose the folly of
the rule which protects q person ar
rested for crime from being question
ed with a view to finding out whether
or not he is guilty. He insists that
the custom of allowing counsel to
srend days in the empaneling OF
Jury, wasting the time of the court
III the effort to gain some unfair ad-
vantage for their client, should be
stopped.
The views voiced by Mr.. Storey
are shared by increasing numbers of
the people. The enactment by Min
nes6ta of a statute vesting ten men,
ters of a jury with the authority to
render verdict is a recognition of
the fact that the unanimous verdict
rests only upon precedent and unsup-
ported by common sense. There are
many other theories of the criminal
law which are equally indefensible
and which help to defeat the efforts
Of society to protect itself against
those who are not properly mindful
O: the rights of others, so many, in
fact, that even Mr.. Taft, one of the
most conservative of men, declares
that the administration of criminal
law in this country is disgrace to
cur civilization"
1t is for the lawyers of the country
10 act if they would save their pro-
fession and preserve the courts
against the contempt into which they
ale falling. The people do not know
what it is wrong but they lack conf
dence in the power Of the law to pro-
tect them against acts of aggression,
they are convinced that the law as
il is generally administered, discrim-
mates against the man without
means in favor of the man who has
money, and there is bred in the land
q feeling of hostility to law from
the vicious consequences of which
all of us suffer.
The Mississippi judges who recent
ly met and odopted recommendations
for changing the law SO as to make
il more responsive to justice, had the
right idea. They would recognize that
if courts would be trusted, they must