New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1930-05-22
Law Should Be Flexible

| CONSCIOUSNESS OF the people OF the
era"
Law Should Be Flexible
The speaker emphasized that the
| law must not be regarded as inf1ex-
ible, but on the contrary is a devel-
oping and constantly changing So
cial science, saying on this point in
| part
| The law is progressive and de-
! yeloping social science, which must
/ be studied in conjunction with the
! other sciences, and. in particular,
| sociology, philosophy, ethics and po-
litical economy. These sciences have
an inspiring and profound signif-
canoe to one who believes as | do,
! that the law is q reflection of pro-
crossing life, and not an unchanging
set of words, craven on tablets of
stone: that it is a part of life and
not apart from life; that it should
( meet the eVer-Changing needs of the
present hour, and that its life is not
| imbedded in the logic or precise
! technique of game of chess but
| hinges and depends upon a progress
| Sive ability. to solve the novel prob
| lens continually developing in a rap
| idly altering economic and social era.
To believe, or even to hope, that
We can ever have certainty in the
law, convicts one of futile attempt
idly to dream of the impossible. The
! tabled 'Sisyphus' will accomplish his
task before We can hope to attain
certainty in the law. At the risk
of being deemed a hereto, I am not
even so sure that absolute certainty
is altogether desirable.
Room for Discretion in Courts
While not for one moment do
advocate the unrestrained exercise
of what the particular judge believes
to be justice in the fashion Of an
oriental potentate, yet it seems to
me that there is room for the play
of nicely of discretion and subtlety
of administration, to the end that
substantial justice may be achieved
and pleas both tanned and corrupt
fail. though supported by technical
precedent.
In the last analysis, the law is
| not, and it cannot ever be, an exact
science, like physics or chemistry It's
very life consists in its expansive
ness and in its ability to embody in
tangible form the customs and social
usages of the age. Older laws and
decisions. based on bygone usages
and customs, when they have lost
their vitality and are no longer we'll
adapted 20 social needs, should be
slowly sloughed off, The inevitable
tendency of preCedents is to become
rigid and inheXible, and where the
sioughing-o process Of the common
law is too slow, legislative relief is
often necessary. Never laws based
on developing and changing customs
and usages must replace the old,
precisely as the swinging bridge,
which met the demands of a rural
community, becomes absurdly out Of
place when a city takes the place OF
the village and We then find the
magnificent steel suspension bridge
in its stead. So in the Law also; in
place of the punishment for the
crime of Witchcraft, existent in New
England as recently as three cen
turtles ago, We now find the resort
to the psychological laboratory for
the study Of cases of abnormality.
And without reference to technical
details, it is common knowledge that
that which one era treats az crime,
another regards as a disease"
Law Not Exact Science
Tho speaker also indicated that
the law cannot qualify as an exact
science, no more than justice itself
can be reduced to an exact science.
| and that the door must be left wide
open to meet new developments and
changing conditions, saying on this
subject:
/, The failure Of the common law
! to qualify as an exact science is one
of its greatest assets and advan-
| tages. 1t leaves the door wide open
for new development TO solve the
many and unusual problems con-
tinually emanating. even from mo-
ment to moment from changing
| economic and social developments.
| Any attempt automatically to apply
the law of the era of the stage
coach and the covered wagon to
the era OF the Rolls Royce and of
the airplane, IS as foolish as it is
dangerous.
ANY attempt TO formulate an
exact restatement or Codifcation of
Q ~,