The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1922-08-11

tice to the opposite party and only
then after an opportunity given him
to appear in court and state his side
of the case. The fathers of our coun-
try said mo taxation without rep
resentation" The Montana supreme
court has said mo injunctions until
both sides have had their day in
court" And even then the policy of
the court has always been to use
every precaution to prevent the abuse
of this extraordinary remedy. Our
court has always recognized that no
power lodged in the courts is more
liable to be abused than the power
of issuing injunctions. In states
where this fact has not been recog-
nized, anarchy has sometimes result
ed from the abuse of injunctions dur
ing labor disputes.
The humanitarian spirit of the
court was also plainly shown when
it held that debtors have a year in
which to redeem real estate from a
sheriff's sale. In early days the stat
ures of Montana did not give debt
or this right. Many of the foremost
lawyers of the state were of the opin-
ion that until the legislature passed
such statute, the right did not exist.
But the supreme court boldly took
was no more than every debtor was
entitled to, and they gave it to him.
All authorities now agree that
under broad construction of the
principles of the common law, the
court was entirely justified in giving
this privilege to Montana debtors. A
technical or narrow view of the COM
mon law, however, would have caus-
ed the court to deny it. Then the old
story of delay and confusion would
have had to be gone through with un-
til the legislature could meet and en-
act the necessary statute.
Consistency of Decisions
But perhaps the most remarkable
thing of all about the Montana SUI
preme court is the wonderful consist
ency of its decisions. The supreme
court of the United States has re-
7ersed itself time and again. Nearly
LII the state courts have done the
same. California, the state from
which Montana copied nearly all of
is early statutes, has reversed itself
10 many times that even Philadel-
)hia lawyer can hardly tell what the |
aw of California is today on many |
questions.
But no such condition prevails in |
Montana. Not once has our supreme
curt reversed itself. On the con-
rary, its decisions have been uni
ormly consistent and harmonious.
n some states if you hire three diff
erent lawyers to give an opinion as
o what the law is on a certain point,
ou will get three different answers,
nd the worst of it is that each
nswer will be right The three law
ers simply guess differently as to
1hich one of its own decisions their
upreme court will follow.
But in Montana one lawyer and
q novice, can generally tell you
xactly what the law is. If our SUI
RENE court has ruled on the ques-
ion, its decision will be so clear and
lain, and so in harmony with its
revious decisions, that almost any
oungster just out of law school, can
I'll just what the law is.
Students of Jurisprudence say that
mere are three principal reasons for
his most fortunate condition of the
Iontana decisions. First the judges
the Montana supreme court have
lmost without exception been men
unusual ability. The publishers
f the great law encyclopedias and
,xt books have continually cited the
ecisions of our judges in way
hich shows they consider them some
the ablest in the union. Not in
'equently decision by one of our
ldges will be referred to by these
ublishers as the best decision on
lie point involved to be found in the
W books. Repeatedly Montana de-
sions are. accepted as good law by !
lie courts of states much older and !
II more important than Montana.
Continuity of Service
The second great reason for the |
,ntinuity and uniformity of the
ontana decisions has been the long
sriods of continuous service of our !