the ever present elements of bias and self-interest, it is not possible for him to discharge with absolute precision, and then to punish him for errors which unwittingly he might make. It would be as extreme to maintain that a jury, a judge, or any extra-judicial body should be held to the strict accountability of absolute accuracy in all of their conclusions. It is not proper for the Act to make the dealer the judge as to when prices are reasonable, fair and not excessive, and then to punish him for error in the judgments at which he arrives. For instance, the Interstate Commerce Commission, necessarily upon the most unsatisfactory and speculative data, has had to pass its judgment in rate cases on so difficult a basis that it has resulted in errors of millions of dollars, so it has been asserted. What could be said of a law that would contemplate that the conclusions of the Commission should be above and beyond all error, or otherwise its members held to a ruinous responsibility?
As was also said in the Sparf case:[1] "I do consider that this power and corresponding duty of the Court, authoritatively to declare the law, is one of the highest safeguards of the citizen. The sole end of courts of justice is to enforce the laws uniformly and impartially, without respect of persons or times or the opinions of men. To enforce popular laws is easy. But when an unpopular cause is a just cause; when a law, unpopular in some locality, is to be enforced, there then comes the strain upon the administration of justice; and few unprejudiced men would hesitate as to where that strain would be most firmly borne." A statement of fact and of law well applicable to the matters under discussion.
The first cases arising under the Act which have
- ↑ Sparf vs. United States, 156 U. S. 51 (see page 107). 1895.
