Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-11-15

10 COuuuCt
either by law or ethics which illustrate
the powerful and subtle forces domi-
mating human affairs and which must
be reckoned with in judging or fore
casting human conduct, have recently
come TO my notice. They illustrate
also the influence OF race ideals and
environment as affecting conduct.
! In one instance a Japanese, educat-
ed in America, graduate of one of her
theological schools, and professor in
a great Christian institution in Japan
wrote to his wife--also highly educat-
ed and a teacher in America, where
she was living with perfect propriety
and supporting an only daughter
that either he or she must get a d.
vorce in order to save his reputation
Even in this decadent age in America
where divorce is the solvent for the
lightest Of marital ills, il is not
thought necessary to obtain a divorce
In order to preserve the reputation OF
husband whose wife is in different
country pursuing profession for
which she had been particularly edu-
Gated, and living, as is conceded. with
perfect propriety. 1t is a happy omen
that even now the divorce would be
more Injurious to the reputation OF
the parties than living apart under
such circumstances. The gentleman
who told me of this incident, himself
for a generation resident of Japan,
"a learned man and student Of the
Japanese people, confessed that he
could not understand how II could
preserve the professors reputation to
obtain a divorce, but did not deny the
fact. You may search in vain in the
laws or the defined ethical standards
of Japan for anything to sustain the
concept One has to go to what Pro-
.ftssor Sumner in his book calls
: 'Folkways," which Cicero apostrophiz-
ed in his famous Grafton against Cati-
line under the term Of Mores, which
the Germans call SittIichkeit and which
Lord Chancellor Haldape in his great
address az Montreal before the Amer
lean Bar Association seizing upon this
German word, translates into English
Thought as Good Form
The other incident which illustrates
the influence Of environment on good
form is q recent jury case, in which
an exceptionally intelligent white
jury had to pass on the claim. Of an
elderly Hawaiian against the estate of
his mistress for money advanced for
building house for her. and for the
taxes, water rates and other expend-
itures In maintaining it The man at
the beginning of the episode was in
middle life; the woman very young;
the result a legal separation between
the man and his wife, he living in the
house which he built for his mistress,
undoubtedly expecting the mistress
would survive, and that he would live
there thehFest OF his life. Unexpeot-
eddy, the mistress died and the captain
was turned out Of doors. The jury,
without a moments hesitation, came
to the conclusion that he had no legal
claim but with very little more hest
tation decided that under the circum-
stances they would give him what
they called dower-meaning courtesy
in the house, and divided the value of
the house In three parts. and rendered
a verdict giving him one part accord
ingly. There was certainly nothing
either in written or judgemade law,
or in any standard of ethics under
which the jury had been educated, to
justify the verdict. But it is not
Good Form in this environ.
ment for the heirs to throw
out the captain, who had built the
house and maintained 1t, because Of
the accident of death, without making
some provision for him.,
have related these cases as a
curtain-raiser to my main piece, which
itself win be but slxit, to wit, a de-
scription Of the opening day Of the
American Bar Association at Montreal
september / OF this year.
Montreal is an interesting and no
BILE city. There is public park on
the top of the mountain, reached
either by a winding carriage road or
by an inclined railway. with a pano-
ramic view of the city and of the
waters of the broad st. Lawrence; a
city divided against itself bf-lingual-i
half Scotch, half French-and with its
double set OF customs and ideals well
typifed, on the one hand by the nu.
merous and stately converts, whose
beautiful grounds, spread out on the
side of the mountain, are a delight to-
the. eye, and on the other by
the equally beautiful buildings and
grounds Of the Protestant McGill uni
versity. largely the gift of two Scotch.
men, Lord Strathcona and Sir Will
liam Campbell. These are the dfyi-1
sions in the new Montreal. If we go
to the old city, then one sees the
great Catholic churches and cathe-
drals, chiefest of which is Notre
Dame, ornate in color and sculpture,
while on the other hand the great
Protestant churches form an agree
able contrast by their very simplicity.
The week preliminary to the meet
ing of the Bar Association was spent
in the work Of the commission on
uniform legislation. Three subjects
engrossed the attention of that body.
The first. an attempt to amend the
uniform negotiable instrument - act
along lines suggested by the late Dean
Ames at the time of the adoption of
the act, when was member of the
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