Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 21.pdf/370

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Review of Periodicals The federal rule, and that of some of the state courts, is that in personal injury suits, including those for medical malpractice, the plaintiff cannot be made to exhibit his injuries without his consent whether to the jury or to a committee of physicians ap pointed by the court. "Medical Expert Testimony." By A. T. Clearwater, LL.D., North American Review, v. 189, p. 821 (June). Judge Clearwater was chairman of a com mittee of the New York State Bar Association which prepared a bill authorizing the designa tion of medical experts by the courts of New York State. (See 21 Green Bag 66). This measure was rejected by the New York Senate after it had passed the Assembly, and will be presented again to the New York Legis lature next year. "The Legislature cannot prohibit a party to an action from calling such witnesses to the facts of the case as he chooses although it is within the discretion of the trial court to limit the number of expert witnesses; this discretion must always be judicially and not arbitrarily exercised, and unless it affirmative ly appears that it was abused its exercise is not reviewable. "It should always be borne in mind that the competency of a witness to testify to an opinion is a question of fact for the determi nation of the Court, but there must be a limit to the reception of expert testimony, for an army may be had if the Court will consent to their examination, and if legal controversies are to be determined by the preponderance of voices, wealth in all litigations in which expert evidence is important may prevail almost as a matter of course. . . . "It is within the power of judges at Nisi Prius to require a greater degree of com petency upon the part of persons claiming to be experts by the simple but effectual method of defining to a jury, with force and precision, the distinction between a witness proven to be thoroughly qualified to speak upon the subject regarding which his tes timony is offered, and one whose claim to speak is predicated principally upon the fact that he is paid to do so. "If trial judges will pursue this course and are sustained in so doing by the Appellate Bench, courts of justice will be rid of corrupt and worthless so-called experts, provided the judges themselves are animated solely by a wish to see justice properly adminis tered." Foreign Relations. "Les Etats-Unis et le Pan-Americanisme." By Achille Viallate. Revue de Deux Months, v. 51, p. 419 (May 15). "Le pan-am£ricanisme, . . ambitieux seulement de conqufites economiques et morales, deviendra de plus en plus un des articles capitaux de la politique ext6rieure des EtatsUnis. Malgr6 les obstacles qui se dressent devant lui, iL n'apparait nullement comme irrealisable."

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"America and the Far Eastern Question." By Ex-Judge L. R. Wilfley. Outlook, v. 92, p. 282 (May 29). A review of the new book by Thomas F. Millard (Moffat, Yard & Co., N. Y.), bearing this title. Government. Address of Judge Peter C. Pritchard before the Richmond Bar Asso ciation, "The Constitutional Power and Relation of the State and Federal Courts." 15 Virginia Law Register, 89 (June). "The individual who insists that the courts have no power to declare an act of the national or state legislature invalid, proclaims a doctrine no less dangerous to the public welfare than the conduct of him who by cor rupt means seeks to pollute the fountain of justice so as to prevent a fair and impartial consideration of questions which may be presented to the courts for consideration." "The Method of Amending the Federal Constitution." By Justice William P. Potter. 57 Univ. of Pa. Law Review, 589 (June). "The authorized method of amending the federal Constitution should permit the people to signify and enact with reasonable ease, as part of the fundamental law, any permanent change in the form of their political thought. And in doing this, I can conceive of no safer way than to follow the general system which has been well tested by and has given wide satisfaction to the same American people, in performing the same office in the various states of the Union. "But whatever the method of amendment may be, I am sure we will all agree that loyalty to the Constitution, the supreme law of the land, demands that every lawyer, at least, shall stand fast in support of its plainly expressed provisions until they are altered in the legitimate and authorized way set forth in the instrument itself." "The Growth of Judicial Power." By W. F. Dodd. Political Science Quarterly, v. 24, p. 193 Qune). The author of this article asserts the doubt ful propositions that the courts declare un constitutional whatever they happen to dis approve, and continually trespass on the field of legislative action. International Arbitration. "Allegiance to Humanity." By Rt. Hon. James Bryce. Outlook, v. 92, p. 317 (June 5). Prepared for delivery at the Lake Mohonk Conference held in May. "Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is owed also to justice and to humanity. Patriotism con sists not in waving a flag but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. A state is not the less strong for being resolved to use its strength in a tem perate and pacific spirit."