Show A COMMENDABLE RULING In deciding a case of but little gen general general general eral Interest the other day the Utah supreme court laid down a most com corn commendable commendable principle The court said in effect that hereafter mere technical errors of minor Importance would not be b considered as constituting sufficient ground for tor reversing a lower court pro provided provIded provided vided substantial justice had been done donen In n the court of ot original Jurisdiction This is a principle of which the general public will thoroughly approve There has been latterly a great and growing impatience with the handling of cases appealed from lower to higher courts In a great many instances and some could be cited in Utah ver verdicts verdicts diets have ha e been reversed because bec use of the most ost trivial trivia errors These errors did not in any way affect the finding of the court below the rights right of ot no defendant either criminal or civil were Jeopardized jeopardized jeopardized And so it has been with higher courts generally And particularly is this true of criminal cases It Is a poor lawyer lawer indeed that can cannot cannot cannot not find technical errors In the proceed proceedings proceedIngs proceedings ings of ot trial courts Courts are but human whether they the be great courts or I I II small and they are prone to err But j their main purpose Is js to do substantial I justice to litigants and to those whose who e i lives Jives or liberty are placed In jeopardy iy i 1 When that substantial sub justice has been done It is not for the higher court to undo it Many a man is free today who should be in prison or in a dishonored grave because his lawyers were clever enough to find technical errors and the courts of appeal were weak enough to regard them as cause for reversal reveral rever al The reason for tor the establishment of courts of appeal was to prevent the doing of injustice and so eager nave nave some of them been to prevent injustice to crim criminal crimInal inal ma defendants that they have done in injustice InjustIce Injustice justice tp society public will await alt further decisions decisions ions lona of the Utah supreme court with much interest It expect the court to follow the line UneIt ft It has marked out Where the guilt of a defendant has been conclusively c demonstrated dem in the trial court the supreme supreme court will wiil not order ord r a new trial because the trial judge permitted p the attorney for the prosecution to inquire as to t the color of the eyes of the defendants uncle by marriage Justice will be done to so society society as well as to criminals |