| Show MR IDEA OF JUSTICE justice Is something very difficult to measure or describe A snob once asked carlyle to define itt it justice Us Is whether I 1 define it or not replied the greel scottish philosopher undoubtedly there is an extremely wide lati defor tu varying ideas of what justice justic e is but it Is a question whether G P F putnam esq assistant county attorney of salt lake county co unity has not gone far beyond the widest permissible bounds in elucidating his notion of the divine attribute attrA bute in the criminal branch of the third district court yesterday a young man was placed on trial on a charge of committing oom fornication mr putnam who had charge of the prosecutions prosecution arose and stated to the court that chilt the man was willing too to make reparation StIon by marrying the yoong woman with alth whom he had com committed commett mitt d the wense but that she had refused 10 to become his wife we oh these grounds the pro prosecuting officer moved that th case be dismissed and the order was wad made the doting yoting man whose guilt of twe the crime with which lie he was wa s charged vats freely frealy admitted went soot scot tree free Prfto selY what too took place be between tween the young mian and the young woman in this case I 1 leading 1 n g up ta to and ing the commission 1 xi ot orf the offense offe nae to Is nm known baa probably the th maary ot of the oje battet is taji trally as 03 the young persons met he be tena tendered ered and she abe received his attentions under mider ot of mariag he his purpose ad then har entreaties aind laughed at ay hr Ai Us atress tress a bu burning aning sense oa 0 wrong vong she at the law and tn id a prosecution against her ae betrayer he I 1 then en in n ardo to escape the pea alay 07 oaf the liaw lia w expresses hda bits willIn willinar gr ns to mim marry the sitt but who bh having learned by bitter bilter expert what in IS 18 that he to la both amr immoral and ofle that ha offer 0 og mArr la arriage is 90 t dua to affection affect ton for rot her A nor or to an hon 1 aa ble purpose to aown juat dut SOW aay to his 10 f I 1 cpr fr a go e t t u og ta t aft apte care aw aa 6 to become e corn 6 h his c f t Is edg tory does not mot fit this particular case cam then this particular case varies from the standard type the refusal ot of the girl to place herself for the rest reat of her iffe in the power of cut the scoundrel thohas already betrayed her to her ruin removes from him the stain of gum guilt he immediately becomes spotless justice has no mo claim against abst him the law which makes crimes of seduction and f fornication is to be enforced only on an perpetrators of those crimes who are not willing to marry their victims there is ot of course no such provision in the law but mr putnam has supplied the deficiency the theory heretofore held by legislators and jurists that the libertine I 1 lag an enemy of society and that his acts of debauchery are crimes against the state Is all wrong he is in not the enemy of society but only of the girl he has wronged the crime of seduction Is not an offense against the state but only against the single direct victim of it if that victim declines to further sacrifice herself and her future by marrying the scoundrel who has refused to f fulfill his vows and do her justice until the grip of the law has seized him the courts will not interfere such seems to be the doctrine of G P F putnam esq assistant county attorney of seat salt lake county though he probably would not state it quite as elaborately as has here been done his for the of a criminal whom it was his hie duty to prosecute in connection with the reasons he assigned for it Is the proof that his view are an a above set forth por for the information ot of mr putnam and of his principal county attorney van cott cot and of all concerned the news will state that mr ms idea of justice in such a case as the one under consideration does doe snot not harmonize arith the views of the people by the grace of whose suf suffrage frages sl the county attorney and his assistant hold office on the contrary mr ms course is grossly of their sentiments ti as well as of the spirit and letter of the law in the opinion of the news judge norrell who wao was presiding gravely erred in grantling granting the motion to dismiss he should have overruled it should have re rebuked baked the prosecuting officer ot of his hie court for making it should have ordered the trial to proceed and had a convIct conviction lon followed should have intile inflicted teda a punishment severe enough to meet the demands of justice vindicate the law and be a warning to seducers and libertines when prosecuting officers and presiding judges lend such quasi endorsement to immorality as has hao been extended in this cased cae vice receives am aai impetus religious workers are discredited the true standard of morals to is scandalized and the ruin of tahe innocent and unsophisticated to is facilitated i |
