Show CHANGES NEEDED IN LAW Under the caption of ot Legal Minds on Parade this paper not long l nJ ago took occasion to censure that clement element of ot the legal profession profession sion slon which attempts to have jus ins justice tice tice miscarried by b leading courts into the labyrinths lab of ot technicalities and having cases settled on prece prece- precedent precedent dent rather than on basic basla law The The editorial was intended as constructive criticism of involved In legal lebal procedure and as a plea for or general simplification of ot the legal lebal code This paper claims no originality for or this plea In fact act it is a plea made so often orten that It is becoming a n trite end ond in support ot of these views can be quoted such authorities ties as the recommendations of ot the American Bar association Chief Justice William Howard Taft Tart and Dean Roscoe Pound lound of ot the Harvard law school chool who was in Ogden a month ago Justice Taft TaCt some years ears ago went so far ar as to say that The trial here hero is a game of chance in which the advantage is with the tho criminal That That is rather damaging testimony mony to the contention that all is well with the law The same sante sentiment comes from Governor ex-Governor Charles S. S S Whitman of New York The laws of ot America a at present constituted are pro pro- protecting protecting protecting I the criminal The 1923 1123 convention of ot the Amer Amer- American AmerIcan ican kan Bar association meeting in Milwaukee heard Its special com corn committee comm m on on crime report that our laws must be simplified that the legal system of ot the United States lacks la ks in three great essentials for forlaw forlaw law enforcement enforcement celerity celerity certain- certain certainty t ty r and and that in most courts of ot the United States for forn n 51 trial Judge to attempt to correct a false argument to expose a specious specious cious plea even when that plea is having a wrongful effect for him to expose an effort eort to inject passion or prejudice or to arouse sympathy in order to shield the blackest guilt if the defendant Is convicted may mayre require re a new trial tria Writing under the heading of ot That's Wrong With the Law U. U S. S Attorney Bethuel Matthew Webster ebster Jr of ot the southern district of ot New York declared that The old machinery the old attitudes the theold theold theold old dogmas dogmas all all have been stretch stretch- stretched ed cd and strained by b unprecedented changes and only recently after twenty years ears of distrust has the profession frankly asserted the need steed for fundamental alterations The prosecuting machinery is choked with cases of ot which It can make snake no other disposition than to dismiss them wholesale writes Dean Pound of ot Harvard Han under the heading The Crisis In I American Law La Too often oUen he goes on the rules and ami doctrines by which busi busi- business business business ness transactions are scrutinized and judged are narrow and based upon ideas and methods of ot the past Even after aUer capture the modern professional criminal frequently finds a a. way to elude justice through the archaic technicalities of ot our inherited procedure says an edt edl editorial tonal In the current issue of Pub Public Public Public lic Affairs discussing the thet be same points for or which this paper plead plead- pleaded ed previously Carrying the argument further Public Affairs continues as fol follows lows He lie the criminal and his advisers have learned to turn the very machinery ot of justice to their own advantage advantage to to make devices which were designed to protect the innocent a means ot of escape for tor the guilty gu guIlty lit Misspelled words misplaced or omitted Initials and the use of ot even well-known well abbreviations are still stilt sufficient in not a few states an indictment An example of this last practice i 1 in the celebrated semi semicolon semicolon colon cIon case at Trenton N. N J. J in which attorneys for Sylvester Mer Mer- Merra I ra condemned slayer contended hat the tho accused accuser should he ho given hiven lIre Ire Imprisonment instead of the hair bail because his isis verdict contained a comma where a semicolon olon was intended Such Is the case against the tho law This paper presents it ft not with disrespect for lor the law bUt with ith a n wholesome desire to see tho the legal code so simplified and brought up to date that simple Justice shall not miscarry |