The New York herald., 1920-01-08
STATE BAR SEES
PERIL To SPIRIT
OF CONSTITUTION
Committee Report Says Fair
Play and Square Deal Must
Be Safeguarded.

rear Tor "all that we have saved in the
evolution Of human justice, when so much
OF constitutional liberty and protection is
hshtly set aside simply because it seems
inconvenient TO the single-tracked mind
was expressed in n report of the New
York State Bar Associations COMMITTEES
on law reform made public here yester-
day.
Ine report. which will be presented to
the association at its annual meeting in
thls city January l6 and IL adds that, as
result of war conditions, there is
danger that this fundamental spirit OF
individual liberty may be seriously inn
paired In the supposed interest OF public
safety and efficient administration"
Those OF conservative prepossessions
believe that the spirit of the constitution
is broader than its terms and that public
safety and greater happiness lie in the
| application of the spirit of fair play to
| new situations rather than in the in
vention OF intellectual devices to esca De
| it's letter." declares the report which con
| tinues:-
Laws may scrape through without
| being declared unconstitutional which
| nevertheless impair its spirit: courts may
| exact bail from those who have incurred
the animosity or fear OF public prose-
cutors which 1t Is not within the power of
| the normal member of the community to
secure; a censorship of the press may be
tightly established under the guise of
law; the police may cause the cancellation
of an appointment for the peacea bic
assembling of the friends of good order.
out of fear Of inability to cope with dis
order; Legislature may deem il wise to
curtail the ease with which a house
holder may keep arms; court may find
| 1t consistent with it's idea of constitution
atty to drag an accused person into a
jurisdiction on theory of constructive
presence; and a parlor socialist may sin
cerely chafe at the bonds Of a constitution
which interferes with his efforts to revo-
lutionize the habits of world; but they
all together are the constant dropping
which wears away a stone.
THE tendency to disregard the inhibi-
tions OF the constitution is widespread: It
leads to devices to obey the letter while
violating the spirit; the spirit Is fair play
and the square deal; and ii has kept us
headed in the right direction, both for
domestic we'll being and in world affairs
Whatever may be said of the writ of
habeas corpus and it's functions: of venue; /;
OF the power of Congress to fix the status
or crimes OF omission, the fact will remain
that it is not a square deal nor fair pla 2
to take even an enemy under the guise Of
judicial process to a distant point for
trial for an omission"
Referring to the decision of the United
States Supreme Court in the case OF Dr.
Edward A. Pumley, whose reputed ac-
tivities in the interest of Germany ac-
quired for him an unenviable notorety."
the report says that he was not only in
dcted by federal Grand Jury in district
of New York for offences of commission.
but also by a Grand Jury of the District
Of Columbia for an offence of omission.
1T could not possibly have been fore
seen by the trainers of this sixth amend
ment" continues the report, that by n
fictitious ascertainment of the district,
crime could be imputed to have been COM
mitted at a distance, so as to secure the
removal of the accused thither for trial.
though he had never been there to COM
NIT the crime nor yet could 1t have been
foreseen that by making an act Of omis-
sion a crime. person who had done moth
ing but refrain from performing a pre-
scribed duty, could be indicted and tried