Magna Carta, and Other AddressesGuthrie, William D. (William Dameron)
History
Magna Carta, and Other Addresses
Guthrie, William D. (William Dameron)
Constitutional law -- United States
Speaking of the first decision, Mr. Roosevelt said: "When I was
President, we passed a National Workmen's Compensation Act. Under it
a railway man named Howard, I think, was killed in Tennessee, and his
widow sued for damages. Congress had done all it could to provide
the right, but the court stepped in and decreed that Congress had
failed. Three of the judges took the extreme position that there was
no way in which Congress could act to secure the helpless widow and
children against suffering, and that the man's blood and the blood
of all similar men when spilled should forever cry aloud in vain for
justice. This seems a strong statement, but it is far less strong than
the actual facts; and I have difficulty in making the statement with
any degree of moderation. The nine justices of the Supreme Court on
this question split into five fragments. One man, Justice Moody, in
his opinion stated the case in its broadest way and demanded justice
for Howard, on grounds that would have meant that in all similar cases
thereafter justice and not injustice should be done. Yet the court,
by a majority of one, decided as I do not for one moment believe the
court would now decide, and not only perpetuated a lamentable injustice
in the case of the man himself, but set a standard of injustice for
all similar cases. Here again I ask you not to think of mere legal
formalism, but to think of the great immutable principles of justice,
the great immutable principles of right and wrong, and to ponder what
it means to men dependent for their livelihood, and to the women and
children dependent upon these men, when the courts of the land deny
them the justice to which they are entitled."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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