Mexico weekly ledger., 1918-01-10

books are full Of them. The result
has been n general loss Of respect for
the courts and our entire system Of
jurisprudence on the part Of the pub
lie. This criticism is not directed
towards the courts or judges, but
against a system Of court procedure
under which such a condition Of az
fairs is made possible.
The great volume and technical char
acter Of u code covering every step
of the procedure from the issuing Of
summons to final judgment, has
tended TO breed a class Of code law
yers, acute and skilful in battling the
efforts Of honest men seeking to get
their rights, and with apparently no
convention of the fundamental prin-
ciples Of jurisprudence or of the high
duty Of the lawyer to ecure sub
stantial justice for his client. At.
their hands, with our code, justice Is
easily tangled in a net of form. Inc
public estimate of the profession Of
law is lowered, public confidence IN
the administration of justice is
weakened, and daily men suffer gre
vious wrongs in silence or yield to IN
equitable settlements rather than
hazard the assertion Of their claims
in the courts. Referring again to the
case of the old woman mentioned
her petition, as last presented to the
trial court, was in two counts, IN
eiectment and the other to declare, de-
termine and vest title. The court in
eiectment was tried before a jury and
the other, of course, before the court.
The trial of the law court before the
Jury was had first and upon a verdict
being rendered in favor of the plain
tiff, Judgment was at once entered
upon same by the clerk without wait
ing for the Judgment of the court on
the equity court, which was not ell
tered until some days later. But
alas, plaintiffs attorney had over
looked the fact, and the courts and
clerks attention was not called TO it
that safely slowed away in the one
thousand and more pigeon holes Of oul
code was q statutory provision to tn,
| effect that the judgment on the on
count must await the trial on tn
other, and for this oversight alone, tn
case, on the last appeal, was revers
ed and remanded and the old womal
required to start on her weary rounI
again"
Referring to the cumbersome an
extremely technical rule, Of eyidenc
governing the examination of wit
nesses in both criminal and civil cas-
es, Judge Harris says:
"The fundamental disadvantage o
the rules Of evidence obtaining i
Missouri, in common with her siste
states, is that when strictly an
technically applied they do not CORE
spond with the instincts or the nah
its or the common ems of any plair
sensible layman in the world. Thei
strict application continually i'm
presses litigants with a sense of un
reasonable and unjust restraint, CIV
ing a feeling of being bottled up an
prevented from telling the Who'll
truth, and leaving a m of not nav
ing been allowed to present thei
whole case to the court. = =
l think we stand alone among civiliz
ed countries in the obstacles that W
interpose to the giving of testimony i
the most natural way. How commo
it is to see a witness trying to tell hi
story, hindered and worried and con
fused by being stopped here an
there again and again by objection
as to ~irrelevancy and immateriall
and heresay, when what he is tryin
to say would not do the slightes
harm to anyone and would merely hel
him to state what he knows that
really competent and material"
/. Concerning u criminal code, Judg
Harris says;
"The just and humane principle Q
law that every person charged wit
/ crime is, and should remain, clothe
with the presumption of innocenc
until his guilt has been proven b.
: yond a reasonable doubt, shoul
: neither be abandoned, changed q
: amended, but we should recognize tn
= fact that We have long since reache
the point where the criminal or tn
' person charged with crime no longC
: needs protection from society q
: from harsh and inhumane laws an
t procedure, but where society neeC
r and should be given reasonable prC
= lection from the criminal. In tn
days of Jeffreys and at a time whel
under the British law, there WEI
e scores Of ~offenses punishable b
: death, many Of which are now COZ
sidered minor, there was good reaso
= for many Of the rules then designed 9
5 a shield and protection for the innC
j cent, but which now serve no purpos
but that of a means of escape for ii
! guilty. The reason for the rule hay
i ing disappeared, the rule should no loi
: ger be retained.
S "The great trouble with crimini
= procedure in Missouri, and in most {
: our sister states, is that, in our zei
to give persons charged with a GRIN
/. a fair trial, we have gone too far-s
far, in fact, hal in eases where Il
r defense has plenty Of money and alb.
r counsel IL il yerv hard To c~onvice ar