debet."[1] A fundamental principle of justice not departed from by the Roman Law, and long since declared in our own jurisprudence. "Nemo debet esse Judex in propria sua Causa,"[2] That the ablest Judges have always realized these difficulties in such cases is abundantly shown, but nowhere better than in the opinion of Mr. Justice Holmes in the Northern Securities case:[3] "Great cases," he says, "like hard cases make bad law." For great cases are called great, not by reason of their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment. These immediate interests exercise a kind of hydraulic pressure which makes what previously was clear seem doubtful, and before which even well-settled principles of law will bend. What we have to do in this case is to find the meaning of some not very difficult words. We must try, I have tried, to do it with the same freedom of natural and spontaneous interpretation that one would be sure of if the same question arose upon an indictment or a similar act which excited no public attention, and was of importance only to a prisoner before the Court."
Indeed, when the principle of universal justice, stated in these foregoing maxims, is applied to the "erroneous" interpretation of the Lever Act, the most inconceivable results instantly appear. The Government makes no provision whatever to instruct those
- ↑ The maxims that "no man ought to be his own judge, or to administer justice in cases where his relations are concerned," and "No one should be judge in his own cause" are repeatedly found in the decisions of all our courts.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Northern Securities Co. vs. United States, 193 U. S. 197 (see page 400). 1904.
