The American JudiciaryBaldwin, Simeon E. (Simeon Eben)
History
The American Judiciary
Baldwin, Simeon E. (Simeon Eben)
Courts -- United States; Law -- United States -- History
This spirit of confidence is, of course, not universal and
unqualified. It is often not found in bodies of working men,
associated as Labor Unions. They have repeatedly found a court
enforcing public order in a way that interfered with their manner
of conducting a strike. They have been met by injunctions, and
more often by criminal prosecutions. The membership of a Labor
Union, in many parts of the country, is apt to be largely of
foreign birth. The leaders not infrequently know little of the
English language and less of American institutions. They have
been led, in their native land, to regard the law and its
officers as their enemies, and they look at them in the same way
here. It is believed, however, that a large majority of the
Unions regard them with respect, and it is certain that such is
the prevailing feeling of non-union men.
But that the public trust in our judges is less than it was when
the first edition of this work was published,[Footnote: See
_supra_, page 340.] is indicated by the favor with which, in
many quarters, the doctrine of the "judicial recall" has been
received. The dangers incident to its practice are obvious, and
seem far to outweigh any attending advantages.
In the United States, of all lands on the face of the earth, it
is important that the judges should act with resolution and
without thought of the consequences personal to themselves.
Elsewhere in form, but here only in fact, are judges armed with
the power of declaring legislative action void which is in
conflict with a higher form of law, that proceeded directly from
the people, and mainly from the people of a former generation.
To expose one who exercises this power to immediate displacement,
by a popular vote--largely, perhaps, composed of his political
opponents--is to invite the enactment of questionable statutes,
and still worse--to weaken the attractions of the bench for able
and honest men. Our judicial terms, in most of the States, are
already too brief for the public good. To make them determinable
at the will of the electoral constituency tends powerfully to
keep good lawyers at the bar, who might otherwise have done honor
to a judicial station.
End of Project Gutenberg's The American Judiciary, by Simeon E. Baldwin
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account