The Bismarck tribune., 1925-09-10
LAWYER HITS
MOVEMENT TO
CURB COURTS
Unlimited Legislative Power
Would Lead to Tyranny.
Claims

Fargo. n. D.. Sept. 10. tR)-Elim-
ination of the right of courts to re-
view actions Of legislatures, thereby
making the legislatures supreme
would lead to tyranny in govern
mcnt, Royal Stone, associate justice
of the Minnesota supreme court, told
members Of the North Dakota Bar
! association at their convention here
. today
That substantial movement to
effect such changes is we'll under
way is shown by the fact that 4.OO0.-
600 persons voted to support them
in the election last fall, Stone said.
Pointing out that government can
on occasion be both the agency of
tyranny and the best preventative
of tyranny, Stone launched an at
tack on the proposal to make legis-
laturcs supreme in government.
Hits Movement
"The supremacy of the Legislative
power means what supremacy of any
department Of government has al
ways meant and always will mean
disregard and destruction of local
clf-govcrnment and the freedom of
the individual, both that which is
, qualified and that which is abso-
lute." the speaker said.
at leads straightly and surely to
tyranny. That statement many will
misunderstood and others may de-
ny. Let us examine it and see what,
if any. merit it has.
"To start with there are those
who crave more democracy than we
have, or ought to have. They are
entirely right when they say that
Legislative supremacy is necessary to
pure democracy. But who wants a
democracy for the government of
any considerable number of people
Who is there but does not know that
unlimited democracy is as evil and
dangerous to individual right as au-
tocracy? Has it not been demonstrate
ed over and over again that uncon-
trolled majority can be just as auto
cratic and therefore is in need of
the same control as the individual
ruler?
Cites Constitution
"The farmers of the constitution
knew that their task was to design a
government which would protect the
American people not only from
abuses such as had been perpetrated
by monarchs but also to protect the
people from their own majorities. In
addition, they were confronted by
the old problem Of preserving local
self-government. While the prob
lem was old it was accompanied by
new complication Of their own
making. How were they to protec
the local government of state and
community against the natural pro-
pensity Of the newly designed Fed
eral Government to expand itself at
the expense Of the states and their
subdivisions
zone hundred and thirty-seven
years Of successful and constantly
progressive administration had dem
onstrated the success of their un-
dertaking. for thus far, the United
States as a nation and its people
have been undisturbed by threats,
either from an individual or ma
Jority, of the return, in any shape,
OF tyranny. The manner Of that ac-
complishment, now known to every
one inclined to give the subject seri-
Gus study is simple enough.
"The secret lies in the establish
ment here of a government restrain
ed to its proper sphere and limited
not by words alone, but by three
main divisions Of governmental au-
thority. and the separation, as far as
practically possible, to the end that
no one department Of government
nor all Of them together should ever
become supreme over the people as a
whole or even its most humble in.
dividual component"