Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-06
LITERARY STYLE IN LAW

COLOMON wrote we'll. That Is one of the
~ reasons why we still read him and re-
member many of the things he said If
people know more about ancient laws than
they know about the laws under which they
live. isn't it because most judicial opinions
are terribly hard to read?
A Judge In the common law courts passes
his working hours in the intimate contem-
plation of troubled humanity and souls un.
adorned. Thieves in an armor of arrogance
and good clothes, misery mistaken for crime,
romances dragging their tatters in public
place, men and women dsillusioned and
bitter, love transmitted into hate by the mere
progression of days and seasons, felons say.
ing good-by to the living world they
wronged, are sights that surely should be
an inspiration to literary style in those
whose duty it is to record their meaning to
society.
But the written opinions of Judges are
almost always rigid In manner and color
less They are reminiscent of studious twi-
lights and old bindings, and too often they
suggest q concern for legal principle so
overpowering as to exclude even reasonable
concern for bewildered humanity. Were it
otherwise people might know far more about
the rights and wrongs which law Is supposed
to define. The text of important decisions
might appear more frequently in the news
papers. They might be as widely read as the
opinion with which Judge Horace Stern has
just brought divorce suit to an unusual
end.
There was nothing outwardly strange or
novel about the case. A man was suing his
wife for divorce, and a master had recon-
mended that the decree be granted. In re.
viewing the evidence, Judge Stern OBJ
served the significant fact that the woman
was sixteen years older than her husband.
The plaintiff had been happy enough until
he became prosperous. The marriage had
lasted for twenty -four years. His wife
wouldn't cook for him, this husband said.
She became angry when he insisted on hold
Ing long and secret telephone conversations
with people she didn't know. She became
jealous, and she appeared in court, a woman
of sixty-sx, charged with cruel and bar
barous treatment.
Judge Stern, maintaining keen sense Of
what the law required, seems to have re.
membered that law alone does not and can
not run the world His opinion is Gals.
worthy with a dash Of Shaw and the ease
and directness of good journalism. The
decree was refused, despite the recommen-
dation Of the master who first heard the
evidence. Judge Stern did an unusual thing.
He looked for the truth behind sthe legal
with 1t. One OF the grievances expressed
by the complaining husband related to a
switch" of false hair worn by his wife, a
matter of which he 'said he was unaware
until after his marriage.
"If," said Judge Stern. "the Court were
n rule out artificial adornment such as the
one here called in question, where is the
line to be drawn? At rouge and the lin
stick? Is a becomingly arranged gown to be
taboo on the ground that 1t acts as a snare
TO entrance an emotionaly inclined mascu.
line temperament? To grant this request
would be to make the divorce laws of the
State a refuge for persons who lack the ten
der sympathy and conciliatory disposition
that married life should bring.
Jealousy IL an exaggerated form o. love.
1t is often the hest evidence of the
existence Of affection. The truth of the mat.
ter in the opinion of the Court, is that the
| real reason for the lbellant's desire for n
| divorce is due to the disparity between his
| own age and that of his wife. The differ
| cnce still exists, but difference in ape is
more marked in the dawn and again in the
| twilight of life than in the midday GLOW of
| the sun. The libellant Is perhaps bit
| ashamed and tired of his wife, and now be
| comes into court after twenty four wears IN
| have the matrimonial tie dissolved -
| Much else that Judge Stern has IA saw
about the underlying causes of divorce is
ncculiarly interesting because OF its sim"
plcity and truth. Divorces of the routine
kind are relatively small and unimportant
things. Divorce itself is something rather
ominous to society In its present form and
extent.