Court Opinion

ID: 9606005
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:44:59.695575+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:31.544222
License: Public Domain

McCOMB, J.
I dissent. In refraining from expressing the reasons for my dissent, I do so because of my belief that there is not any fundamental principle involved in this case.
It is my view that Canon 19 of Judicial Ethics of the American Bar Association relative to dissenting opinions is in the public interest and should be carefully adhered to by reviewing courts. Insofar as material here it reads: “Except in case of conscientious difference of opinion on fundamental principle, dissenting opinions should be discouraged in courts of last resort.” (Italics added. Vol. 62, Reports of American Bar Association (1937), p. 1129, canon 19.)
The theory supporting this canon is well expressed in an article entitled, “Dissenting Opinions,” by The Honorable C. A. *88Hereschoff Bartlett, which appeared in Law Magazine and Review, vol. CCCXLII, November, 1906, at page 54 et seq.1
That the legal profession’s views on this subject have not changed during the past half century is well evidenced by certain statements made by The Honorable Prank B. Belcher, past president of The State Bar of California, past president of the Los -Angeles Bar Association, and a former member of *89the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, in an address delivered before the Los Angeles Bar Association on November 18, 1948, entitled “What Lawyers Expect of Reviewing Courts.”2
*90A petition for rehearing was denied March 1, 1949, and appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied March 31, 1949. Carter, J., voted for a hearing.

Mr. Bartlett’s article reads in part thus:
‘ ‘ The aim of all judicial systems should be the adjustment and maintenance of principles of law and procedure, and their proper application to the facts of given cases. The judiciary are the arbiters in the settlement of disputed questions of law, and it is through the judiciary that principles of inherent right and justice and equity are vindicated according to the new and fluctuating conditions of government and society; and it is this that has gained for the judiciary in all civilized countries public confidence and respect. Lawyers, it is well known, disagree. This is but natural, however, when one considers the personal motive and keen professional interest excited in behalf of one’s client, for the lawyer is but the champion of the cause which he advocates. On the other hand a judge stands indifferent, raised aloof from the influence of party interest, as the arbiter of right and justice. His duty it is, irrespective of personal inclination or prejudice, or the shortcomings of any particular individual, to analyse principles of law in their primitive and fundamental aspect and apply those principles to the facts before him. It is the duty of judges to be so impartial as to be not only willing but ever ready to change an impression that may be erroneous; to be willing to be convinced that they may be wrong. It is the duty of judges to agree and not to disagree; it is their duty to be united and not disunited; it is their duty to be harmonious and not acrimonious; it is their duty to render judgments that the wisdom of the majority should make final and conclusive when the consensus of judicial authority outweighs their individual opinion. Judges should be independent, fearless and unbiased, but they should not be obstinate. Tenacity of purpose and principle is one thing, but tenacity of will that blocks the wheels of justice and brings judicial learning and authority into contempt, is quite a different matter.
“The tendency of dissenting opinions is to bring unrest and doubt not only in the minds of the legal profession but among the public. Certainty of the law is the life of the law, and where principles are so unsettled and disputed as to enable the highest Courts to be almost equally divided, the tendency is to lessen the dignity and authority of judicial decision. Any system is wrong which permits the rendering of dissenting opinions and printing them in public reports of cases—in permitting anything more than the rendering of the judgment of the Court as a Court. What the individual judges think, the arguments they urge among themselves in their private chamber in discussing a ease matters little to the legal profession, and certainly- less to the public. What the public demands, and what the legal profession asks for is a united judgment either for or against the appellant: what they demand is the full weight and authority of a united Court; and where the minority are over-ruled by the majority, the minority should be suppressed and not permitted to vent their discontent in juridie analysis. The frequently delightful but yet purely academic discussion of the minority is like the wailing of a dog whose tail is caught in a trap—you hear it, Zmt the dog is eaught all the same. What possible good can result from *89a dissenting opinion? It certainly cannot control the majority, nor can it in any way affect the law as determined by them. It simply litters up pages of law reports with divergent views, the dissenting judge frequently posing as the champion of a lost cause. The better rule would seem to be to follow the course adopted by some Courts and to make it imperative that the opinion delivered shall be the judgment of the Court. . . . What the legal profession wants are the judgments of its Courts as a united body and not the individual opinions of judges. When a Court decides an important question, its judgment should have the full weight, respect, dignity and authority, which a Court composed of able and distinguished judges is entitled to. As it is, it too frequently happens that judgments of Courts of final resort are but the judgments of one judge, for the Court is so evenly divided that the vote of one judge sways its final determination either to the right or to the left. This difference and confusion of judicial opinion among judges, especially in Courts of final resort, is pernicious in its result; it tends to the decline of judicial authority, and weakens the confidence which the public should be encouraged to have in its highest Courts. . . .
“It is evident, therefore, that what was in the minds of the framers of the Constitution was a Court as a concrete whole rather than a disintegrated number of judges. The judicial power of such a Court, pronouncing its judgment as such, would be unquestioned, whereas the purely academic opinions of a confused and dissenting number of judges leaves the matter in dispute still disputable. . . .
“Nothing is gained by such wide-spread divergence of judicial opinion, for it only tends to bring judicial authority into contempt. . . .
“No one can question the learning, the ability, and the indisputably untarnished character of the judiciary of the United States, but the custom of allowing dissenting opinion is, to say the least, unsatisfactory; it is pernicious in its result and tends to unsettle principles of law. Instead of quieting disputes and permanently defining the straight, broad road of justice, they demonstrate the unstability of the law and how the ‘House of the just is divided unto itself. ’ What humble layman can say he is right or wrong, when we daily behold the ablest jurists on the bench publicly disagreeing among themselves?
“If we wish to avoid the decline of judicial authority we must avoid judicial dissension, judicial divergence of views, judicial discontent, judicial obstinacy; we must have a united Court and a united judgment. Judgments of the highest Courts should be their judgment pure and simple, in which all individuality of the members of the Court disappears and is absorbed in the united opinion of the Court pronounced by the judge who renders it. ... ”

Mr. Belcher said, among other things:
“I come now to a brief discussion of what to my mind is one of the most important features connected with appellate court work, and one which I feel in this state is probably subject to greater criticism than any other. That is the matter of unanimity in decisions. It is something that should always be present whenever it is possible. I express the opinion, purely personal to myself, that the failure to secure unanimity in the decisions handed down by our reviewing courts is very frequently due to the one or the other of three things. Either a lack of industry on the part of members of the court to ascertain exactly what the law *90is; or, two, insufficient discussion between them in an effort to wipe out what differences may exist; or, three, an unwillingness on the part of some of the members of the court to adhere to the law as it is, coupled with a desire to promote some new concept which has not yet properly found its way into the law.
‘ ‘ I am sure that all of you will agree with me that split decisions undermine the respect and the prestige of courts. It destroys confidence in their opinions, it leaves doubt as to what the law may be, it creates wonder as to whether the dissenting opinion in one case may not be the prevailing opinion in the next. It undoubtedly renders a great deal more difficult the task of lawyers and of trial judges. I feel that the greatest thing which could possibly take place in order to relieve against this flood of dissenting opinions which we have had would be greater discussion by the members of a court. I am tempted to draw upon personal experience in that regard.
“In a great many cases offices receive requests for opinions. In many of those it is of sufficient importance that two or more members of an office may collaborate in preparing or rendering that opinion. If properly approached they should go their separate ways at first in their research and consideration and then come together and agree upon an opinion. I have never had the experience in my own office when after a full discussion, unanimity did not exist. I have yet to see an opinion go out of a law office in which some member of the firm may have dissented.
“This matter of dissenting or split decisions is really quite a serious problem in this state. . . .
“Now, I am not unmindful of the fact that not all men see a legal proposition the same and I realize that on occasions we must expect a diversity of views among the justices of any court. But I do recommend . . . that every effort should be made to avoid the large number of dissents which we are receiving in the opinions from the higher courts in this state.
“Perhaps an all time high or an all time low, as you may choose to regard it, arose in the case of Green v. Burch, decided by the Supreme Court of Kansas this year, which appears in [164 Kan. 348] 189 Pacific Second, 892, when a Justice Burch, I assume no relation to defendant, wrote the prevailing opinion for the court and then proceeded promptly to dissent. He opens his dissenting remarks with this phrase: ‘With regret I realize that I cannot agree with what I have written in behalf of the majority of the members of this court.’ ” (For the entire address see vol. LXI, No. 281, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, p. 1, November 23, 1948.)