New Britain herald., 1914-05-08
INDEPENDENCE OF
 COURTS NECESSARY
Justice Emery Says it Must BcPTt.
 Sfrv5d and Even Increased.

New Haven, May 8.-In the fifth Storrs lecture in Hendrie hall yes- terday afternoon the subject, What Is Justice and How Can 1t Be Se- cured?' the lecturer, the Hon. Lucil jus A. Emery, considered the question of where, for the security of justice shall be lodged the power to deter mine the validity of executive or legis- altive acts affecting the individual. He said in part:
 '1t should be evident that neither the executive nor legislative is fit depository of such power. Both from the nature of their proper powers are aggressive. They have policies which they seek to enforce. Hence they are interested to maintain the validity of their acts. They are parties to the controversy. To secure alike the the people against anarchy and the individual against tyranny the power of authoritative interpretation of the constitution and laws must be vested in some impartial independent arbitrator.
 Department Not Aggressive. "The proper depository of this nec- essary power would seem to be the judicial department. That depart ment is not aggressive, does not ini- tiate. has no policies. Yet it is con- tended by those whose schemes of legislation break against the constitu- tional rights of the individual, that the judiciary should have no such power and that its exercise of the power is an usurpation.
 History, however, shows that such a power in the judiciary is necessary for. the security of liberty and jas i tice for the individual. The necessi- ty of an independent arbitrator be- l. tween government and citizen was recognized in republican Rome when the persons of the tribunes were | made inviolate. The medieval cities of Italy frequently selected their judges | from some other city that they might be free from sympathy with any fac- l tion. It is further necessary that 1 the Judiciary should be made inde- | pendent in tenure and maintenance. 1 For lack of an independent tribunal 1 to interpret the Petition of Rights, its l provisions could only be enforced by | armed resistance to the kings inter pretation. In the trial of the seven 1 bishops in the reign of James II. two | judges, Holloway and Powell, ven- l tured an opinion contrary to the | wishes of the government They were promptly recalled, and the people fin- ! ally had again to rise in arms. It | was not till the tenure of the judges | was made secure by the Act of Set 1 clement that Englishmen felt secure 1 in their rights.
 l Subject to Kings Will.
 "One of the principal counts in l the indictment of July 4, 1776, against l the English government was that it | had made the colonial judges depen- 1 dent on the kings will for their ten- | ure and salaries. As a consequence | of their experience with a judiciary | dependent on the government of the day for tenure and maintenance, the colonies in setting up their state gov l ernments provided a fixed term for | their judges, nearly all of them mak- | ing it during good behavior. The peo- l pie of Massa chusetts, who had suf- l fered much, declared in their consti- l tuition of 1780 that it is not only
 the best policy but the security ot
 the rights of the people and of every
 citizen that the judges should hold
 their office so long as they behave
 themselves well, and that they shall 1 have honorable salaries ascertained
 and established by fixed laws This
 theory was generally accepted by the
 other colonies and adopted in the fed. l eral constitution. 1.4
 Chafe at Restraint.
 ''It is true that in most of the states
 the official tenure of the judges has
 since been fixed at a more or less
 brief term of years. This, however
 is only another instance of the ten.
 dency of the governing power or fac.
 tion to lower, if not remove all the
 constitute nal barriers set up against
 it for the protection of the individual ] Majorities as well as absolute kings { like their own way. They chafe at any 1 restraint
 In the next and the last lecture will
 be further urged the necessity of pre-.
 serving and even increasing the dig.
 nifty and independence of the judi. | ciary as essential to liberty and jus. tice.