By Irving Browne.
CURRENT TOPICS. Election of Judges. — The result of the late judicial elections in the State of New York has been to confirm the Easy Chair in its old opinion, that direct election by the people is the best way to choose judges. We know it seems to be deemed of late rather the elegant thing to denounce this method, even in the States where it prevails, and to point to England, the Federal Supreme Court, and Massachusetts as a demonstration of the better policy of appointment. But when we compare the quality of the appointing power in those instances with that of the partisan and wild-cat governors of many States, the argument loses its apparent force. After all, experience is the best test, and in New York, considering the great number and the good quality of the judges since 1846, it is evident that the governors would not have chosen so well. In the last two years that State supplied an excellent object-lesson on the subject, with a result in favor of the people. In the election just passed both parties nominated worthy candidates. In several instances the nominee of one party was adopted by the other party. In the case of the Court of Ap peals, the Democratic party made two perfectly unexceptionable nominations, the first nominee de clining to run. The Republicans named and elected a gentleman of the highest character and abilities, who has been on the bench twenty-two years. He and his antagonist had sat in the. Court of Appeals at the same time. There really was little room for choice between them personally. Another result of the election is to demonstrate that the people in such matters are not apt to be unduly in fluenced by newspaper and platform abuse of candi dates. There never was a judicial candidate more grossly and persistently libelled than Judge Haight by the New York " World." He was accused of cor ruption and dishonesty, and of being a "corpora tion judge "; charges utterly absurd in the estimation of all his townsfolk and of every man who knows him. By them, without respect to party, he is deemed a man of the purest integrity, the keenest sense of justice, the most moderate judgment, the coldest impartiality, and the most conscientious
determination to do right. We have reason to believe that his excellent antagonist, Judge Brown, has despised and denounced those base attacks. No one even deemed it worth while to reply to them. The result was that they did not harm Judge Haight; he was elected by a plurality a thousand larger than that of Lieutenant-Governor Saxton. Sometimes "a lie well stuck to " is nol so " good as the truth."
"Born Free and Equal."— A writer in Mr. Astor's " Pall Mall Magazine " sneers at the assertion in the Declaration of Independence of the American Colonies, that "all men are born free and equal." Probably the Cnglish snob, or the American truckler, who wrote the article would have sneered just the same if he had quoted the passage correctly. The Declaration does not assert anything of the kind. It is speaking of the natural, not of the social, condition of mankind. It says that "all men are created free and equal," and so they are, and as the Declaration continuing says, "endowed by Nature with certain inalienable privileges, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." (We quote from memory.) When Mr. Astor desires to play the lick-spittle to the English, he should be careful not to misrepresent matters. Now let him set his writer to commenting on the English poet's declaration that " Britons never can be slaves."
"Judicial Irritabilitv." — Several law journals have recently been speaking upon this subject, in spired by some remarks in the " Sun " newspaper upon a judge who increased the punishment of a convict because of contempt of court, in that he laughed at the sentence. The judge was unwise. Indeed it is difficult to see how contempt of court can be predicated of such conduct. It may well be that the prisoner laughed purely out of light-heartedness because he got off so easily. Or it may have been hysterical, like laughter so common at funerals. Such severity of judges toward helpless criminals deserves censure. But great allowance should be made for judicial 37
