The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1927-08-15
The Legal Mind Again


The Legal Mind Again
Under the caption Of Legal Minds on Parade"
this paper not long ago took occasion to censure
that element of the legal profession which attempts
to have justice mscarried by leading courts into the
labyrinths Of techncaties and having cases settled
en- precedent rather than on basic law.
A few lawyers have taken exception to this stand.
calling it "curbstone chatter intoxicating in the
minds of great number Of people disrespect for
law and the courts" and declaring that "there are
many questions OF public concern. discussion OF
which would be beneficial than an attack upon
the law, the lawyer and the courts"
The editorial in question was neither an attack.
nor was it curbstone chatter. 1t was intended as
constructive criticism Of involved legal procedure
and as plea for general simpfication Of the legal
code.
This paper claims originality for this plea. In
fact it is plea made so often that it is becoming
trte, and in support of these views can be quoted
such authorities as the recommendations OF the
American Bar Association, Chief Justice William
Howard Taft and Dean Roscoe Pound Of the Har-
ward law school. Weightier testimony would be
hard to find. but there is plenty Of it.
Justice Taft some years ago went so far as to say
that, 1.-THE trial here is q game of chance in which
the advantage is with the criminal"
That is rather damaging testimony to the con-
tention that all is well with the law.
The same sentiment comes from ex- Governor
Charles s. Whitman of New York: 1.-THE laws Of
America, as at present constituted, protecting
the criminal"
The 1928 convention Of the American Bar Assoc
ciation meeting in Milwaukee, heard its special
committee on crime report that our laws must be
smplified that the legal system Of the United
States lacks in three great essentials for law en-
forcement-celerity certainty and fnality; and
that "n most courts of the United States for trial
Judge to attempt to correct false argument, to ex-
pose speci0us plea, when that plea is having
wrongful effect for him to expose an effort to in
jeet passion prejudice, to arouse sympathy in
order to shield the blacklist guilt if the defendant
is convicted may require new trial"
Writing under the heading 81 whats Wrong
With the Law" u. S. Attorney Bethue Matthew
Webster Jr of the southern district of New York.
declared that "The old machinery the old attitudes,
the old dogmas-all have been stretched and
strained by unprecedented changes, and only recent
", after twenty years of dstrust, has the profess
sion frankly asserted the need for fundamental al
t>rations."
"The prosecuting machinery is choked with cases
Of which it can make other disposition than to
dismiss them Wholesale" writes Dean Pound of
Harvard under the heading "The Crisis in American
Law"
Too Often he goes on 1.-THE rules and doctrines
by which business transactions scrutinized and
jedged are narrow and based upon ideas and meth
DDS of the past
:,s"Even after capture, the modern professional
criminal frequently finds way to eude justice
through the archaic technicalities of inherited
procedure" says an editorial in the current issue OF
ssPublic Affairs" discussing the same points for
which this paper pleaded previously.
';sCarryng the argument further public Affairs
continues as follows: HE (the crimnal) and his
advisers have learned to turn the very machinery OF
Justice to their own advantage-to make Device
which were designed to protect the innocent
means Of escape for the guilty.
" "Msspelled words. misplaced or omitted initials
IA the use Of even wellknown authorizations arc
stH sufficient in not few states to invaldate al
iqdictmsht,"
An example ct this last practice is offered in ths
celebrated "semicolon case" at Trenton. N. j., ir
which, attorneys for Sylvester Merra. condemned
sixye1 coutended that the accused should be giver
He imprisonment instead Of the chair because his
verdict cohtsined o. comma where semicolon wa
Such il the case against the law. This paper pre-
sents it not with disrespect for the law but with
wholesome desire to see the legal code 80 simplfiet
md brought up tqAste that simple justice shall
ndseary