The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1917-07-12
HARD JOLT GIVEN
IOWA BLUE LAWS
DECISION WRITTEN BY JUDGE
MASON BACK IN FoRTlEs.
APPLIES TO LAWS OF TODAY
Judge Nichols, Formerly of Perry,
Iowa, Now of Billings, Mont, Dis
covers Old Decision While Look.
ing Up Another Question.

Perry, Iowa, July 9.--It has been
discovered that the Supreme court
of Iowa many years ago decided that
law which long had been dead let
ter could not be revived and enforced
The decision was written by Judge
Charles Mason way back in the for
ties. Lawyers who have examined
it find that it applies perfectly to the
blue law situation in Iowa today.
| They declare that the Supreme
court, If the Mason opinion was for
the majority, doesn't reverse itself.
must decide that the blue laws of
Iowa are non-effective and are not
enforcible. . >
And it is insisted that until the
Supreme court does reverse itself
| the people and the lower courts are
justified, required in fact, to assume
that the blue laws are no longer a
part of the Iowa statutes.
Judge Nichols Found II.
Judge Edmund Nichols, formerly
of Perry, Iowa. and now leader of
the bar of Billings, Montana, discov.
cred the Mason decision so vitality af-
fecting the blue laws. -..
Judge Nichols formerly was on the
bench of the fifth district in Iowa,
serving from 1903 to 1910, when he
| resigned to go west. He was regard.
ed as one of the best lawyers in the
state.
In a personal letter to Frank NJ
Hoeye, editor of the Perry Tribune,
Judge Nichols disclosed his discov.
cry of the Mason decision.
His letter was the result Of the
reading of the blue law agitation in
/ Iowa and Mr.. Hoeye's editorial COM
ment on the situation, coupled with
an accidental disclosure of the inter-
! esting decision by the highest court
of the state. &c ".s
"In looking up question of anoth-
er character this morning, said Judge
Nichols to Mr. Hoeye-his letter was
dated June 2s, ;ilp came across de
cision reported in one of the early
Iowa reports, the opinion written by
Chief Justice Mason, in which there
is some language that is entirely ap,
plicable to your present situation
with reference to these ancient stat
utes."
; What Mason Said.
Judge Nichols quotes the language
of Judge Mason, to which he refers.
The supreme judge said:
History furnishes us with a
parallel example and one which
it may be profitable to contem-
| plate for moment. Henry the
VII, of England, in order to re-
plenish his treasury, had recourse
to a measure which lin order
that the plaintiff in error should
succeed)) must be legitimate
here. Awaiting himself of the
services of two judges the
supple instruments of his tyranny
- he caused a general sys-
TEN of prosecutions to be insti-
tuted upon penal statutes which
had never been repealed, but
which by long disuse had become
forgotten and wholly disregarded.
"Empson & Dudley, when aft
erwards brought to trial for their
share in these transgressions,
pleaded that it belonged not to
them who were instruments in
the hands of supreme power to
determine what laws were recent
or obsolete, expedient or hurtful,
since they were all alike valid so
long as they remained unrepeal
ed by the observation-disclosures
History Of England.
But this plea neither availed
them with their judges nor with
posterity. They were consigned
to dishonored graves, and their
memories have ever since been
coupled with judicial infamy
at is true, that public opinion
would frequently be very I'M
safe guide for judicial decision.
The fluctuating feelings of the
multitude frequently operated
upon by momentary excitement,
by prejudice or by caprice. would
very improperly be adopted as
the standard of truth or sound
reason.
Safe to Follow.
But where the same opinions are
concured in for centuries, and after
passion and prejudice have wholly
subsidized, such opinions are always
founded in truth and justice, and can
more safely be followed than those OF
the most learned and able judges.
Fortified by this authority, we pro-
nounce it contrary to the spirit of
that Anglo-Saxon liberty which we in
herit, to revive. without notice, an
obsolete statute. one in relation to
which long disuse and a contrary
policy had induced reasonable be-.
lief that it was no longer in force.
IF custom can make laws. 1t can,
when long acquiesced in. recognized
and countenanced by the sovereign
power. also repeal them.
sSuch has been the case In the ex.