CIHM 
 Microfiche 
 Series 
 (i\/lonographs) 
 
 ICIVIH 
 
 Collection de 
 microfiches 
 (monographies) 
 
 Canadian Instituta for Historical Microraproductioni / Institut Canadian da microraproductiont historiquaa 
 
 • !• 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes technique et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original 
 copy available for filming. Features of this copy which 
 may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of 
 the images in the reproduction, or which may 
 significantly change the usual method of filming are 
 checl(ed below. 
 
 r^ Colou. ed cavers / 
 ' — ' Couvenure de couleur 
 
 I 1 Covers damaged / 
 
 ' — ' Couverture endommagee 
 
 I I Covers restored and/or laminated / 
 — ' Couverture restaur^ et/ou pelliculee 
 
 I I Cover title misRing / Le litre de couvenure manque 
 
 I I Coloured maps / Cartes gtegraptiiques en couleur 
 
 I I Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black) / 
 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations / 
 — Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 I I Bound with other material / 
 
 Relie avec d'autres documents 
 
 I I Only edWori available / 
 ' — I Seule edition disponible 
 
 I I Tigiit binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin / La reliure serr^e peut 
 causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de 
 la marge int^rieure. 
 
 I I Blank leaves added during restorations r.nay a^Mar 
 ' — ' within the text. Whenever possible, these have 
 been omitted from filming / II se peut que certaines 
 pages blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration 
 apparaissent dans le texte, mais, kxsque cela etait 
 possible, ces pages noni pas ete filmSes. 
 
 L'Institut a microfilme le meilleur examplaire qu'il lui a 
 et6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exem- 
 plaire qui sont peut-Stre uniques du point de vue bibli- 
 ographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, 
 ou qui peuvent exiger une modifications dans la meth- 
 ode normale de filmage sont Indiques ci-dessous. 
 
 I I Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur 
 I I Pages c" 'maged / Pages endommagees 
 
 D 
 
 Pages restored and/or laminated / 
 Pages restaurees et/ou pelliculees 
 
 r~L Pages discoloured, stained or foxed / 
 
 ^^ Pages decolorees, tachetSes ou piqu6es 
 
 I I Pages detached/ Pages detachSes 
 
 1^ Showthrough/ Transparence 
 
 D 
 
 Quality of print varies / 
 Qualite inegale de I'impression 
 
 I I Includes supplementary material / 
 
 Comprend du materiel supplementaire 
 
 I I Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 — ' slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image / Les pages 
 totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un 
 feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6te filmees 
 a nouveau de fafon k obtenir la meilleure 
 image possible. 
 
 I I Opposing pages with varying colouration or 
 ' — ' discolourations are filmed twice to ensure the 
 best possible image / Les pages s'opposant 
 ayant des colorations variables ou des decol- 
 orations sont filmees deux fois afin d'obtenir la 
 meilleur image possible. 
 
 I I Additional comments/ 
 
 ' — ' Commentaires suppl^mentaires: 
 
 This itwn it f ilmad it tht rtduction ratio chKkfd btlow/ 
 
 Ce dacunitnl «t film* au uux dt rtduction indiqui ci^doious. 
 
 lOX 14X HX 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 2tX 
 
 D 
 
Th* copy filmsd hara hu b«an rapreduead thank* 
 to tha ganaroiity el: 
 
 National Library of Canada 
 
 L'anamplaira filmA ful raproduil grica t la 
 gintroaiM da: 
 
 Bibliothaqua national* du Canada 
 
 Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality 
 pouibia conaidaring tha condition and lagibillty 
 o« tha original copy and in kaaping with tha 
 filming contract apaciticationa. 
 
 La* imaga* auivania* ont Ota raproduiia* avac la 
 plu* grand ioin. compt* tanu da I* condition *i 
 da la naitatt da I'anamplaira (ilmO, at »n 
 eonfermit* avac laa eenditiens du central da 
 fUmaga. 
 
 Onginal eopnt in priniad papar covar* ar* fllmad 
 baginning with tha from covar and anding on 
 tha laat papa with » priniad or illuatratad impraa- 
 »ion. or tha back covar whan appropriata. All 
 other original copies ara fllmad baginning on the 
 tint page with a printad or llluitratad impras- 
 sion. and anding on tha laat paga with a printad 
 or illuatraiad impraaaion. 
 
 Tha lait racordad frama on each microflcha 
 shall contain tha tymbol —^ (moaning "CON- 
 TINUED"), or tha aymbel V (meaning "END"), 
 whichavar appliea. 
 
 Mapa, platea, chana, ate, may ba fllmad at 
 different raduction ratio*. Tho*a too larga to be 
 antiraly included in ona axpoaura ara filmed 
 baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar, laft to 
 right and top to bottom, as many framas aa 
 requirad. Tha following diagrama illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Lea axamplairaa originaun dont la couvanura an 
 papiar aat imprimea sont filmaa tn commancant 
 par la pramiar plat at an tarminani sou par la 
 darniira page qui comporta una ampramia 
 d'Imprassion ou d'illuatration. soit par la second 
 plot, selon le caa. Toua lea autras axemplairas 
 originaux son. ">m*a an commancant par la 
 pramiOra paga i«ui eompona una amprainta 
 d'impraasion ou d'illu*tration at mn tarminant par 
 la dernidre peg* qui comporte una telle 
 ampreinta. 
 
 Un do* aymbole* *uivant« spparaitra *ur la 
 darnidre imaga da chaque microfieha. salon le 
 cos: le aymbole •^*ignifia "A SUIVRE". la 
 aymbole V aignifie "FIN". 
 
 Laa canaa. planchea. tableaux, ate. pauvant itra 
 film** d dea taux da reduction different*. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour atra 
 raproduit an un *eul cliche, il est filma e partir 
 da Tangle supOriaur gaucha. da gaucha 1 droita. 
 at da haut an bas, »n pranant la nombra 
 d'images nOcessaira. Lea diagrammet auivants 
 IUu*treni le methede. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
MKiocorr HKxuriON rcr chakt 
 
 lANSI Gnd ISO TEST CHART No. 2| 
 
 ^ti^^ 
 
 ^ APPLIED IM/IGE Ini 
 

 ^i 
 
 v^ 
 
 M 
 
 ' ^1 
 
THE ADMINISTRATION 
 OF JUSTICE 
 
 ADDKESS BT 
 
 WILLIAM RENWICK 
 
 Of TwoirTo. CAHAiii. Binai thi iixniiu 
 
 KriTJ IU« AMUCIIIIU »T CaiCAOO. 
 
 Mil 2>. IM4 
 
 
THE ADMINISTBATION OF JUSTICE. 
 
 William Renwick Riddell, of Tohonto, Canada. 
 
 The officers of your Association have paid me Oie very liieh 
 compliment of askinpf me to a.Mrcss you at this your annual meet- 
 ing; and I can think of no suhject o' more interest tlian that in 
 which wo are all concerned. The Administration of Justice And 
 believe me, I am fully conscious of the great honor you have thuB 
 conferred upon me, however unworthy may he its recipient 
 
 1 have no intention in what may be said to hold up our 
 methods, our Courts, as an eiatnple to te followed, much less to 
 criticise your methods, your Courts or the results you may attain 
 My remarks will he mostly of a general character; but if there 
 be found anywhere in them aught which will be helpful toward 
 the ends we all havf in common, I shall be glad. 
 
 It would seem tliat very shortly before historic times, man 
 lived m anarchy, vindicating his rights and avenging his wrongs 
 by his own strong right hand; when "wild in woods the noble 
 savage ran," he knew no law but his own desires, no master but 
 him who held him by force; everything was to him right iliat he 
 liked, wrong was what he disliked. The unutterable cruelty and 
 misery of those times may escape the poet, but never the sociologist 
 or statesman. 
 
 When man began to be gregarious and formed clan, and 
 sepU, It was soon recognliied that no community coul'" prosper 
 whose only rule was the ruie of might, where each was judge of 
 *iat he was entitled to and was permitted to acquire and keep 
 all he could. The desires of one crossing the desires of another 
 one must give way or be made to give way— the weaker slain 
 or disabled by the stronger, by so much weakened the community 
 and laid it the more open to conquest and destruction by other 
 communities— while even if matters were not pushed to that ex- 
 tremity, the rankling sense of injustice which corroded the heart 
 of him who had been forced to submit, was itself a deleterious 
 element. . , 
 
Accordingly it miiBt early have hcon di'termineil that con- 
 fliclintr intorcsts of two ihciiiIk'™ of 'lio same ootnmunity muit b* 
 detcmiineil liy an in(!i'|)<ii(lf nt triliunal. At first, no doubt, the 
 King or I'ricst— !lic words were long aynonymoui — the wite or 
 kenning Kl' r— wa» the ,I..dgc. For long the Judge receired 
 inspiration from the god, not unconiiiionly the c|>onymou( hero, in 
 each parti'ular case, "itory cane wan treated on its own merit*," 
 and tlie ..ceision of tiie god v;o8 sought on the particular ca«c 
 witliout regard to general t.,]e. 'I'he litigants re<eiving the judg- 
 ment of the god. The (ireat Master, must needs be satisfied that 
 what was said to tlieni was as the (ireat Superior wished — He 
 could always say sic volo, sic jnbro. slat pro ratione voluniat. 
 Even when the dwtrin • of special liispirntion grew shaky, the 
 judge continued to adjudiciite on the particular case before him 
 almost if not quite irrespective of what he had decided in a previous 
 case and with little or no thou),'ht of how he might decide in * 
 subsequent, principle being far in the future. 
 
 Nor did this wholly cease to he the case when record or tra- 
 dition gathered the "themistes" which had been pronounced, and * 
 fauiily or order of functionaries, priests— call' them what you 
 will— were the guardians of past judgments and considered aa en- 
 trusted witli knowledge of the will of the gods. Something like 
 principle did indeed creep in— something approaching a general 
 rule was gradually appreciated, but still there was not law in 
 our modem sense. 
 
 That was practically the condition of the Indian when Amer- 
 
 ice was discovered; (it is said "the ludians had few laws but they 
 were well violated"); and it is the condition of many inbcs of 
 so-called savages today. It is a great mistake to suppose that 
 there is more litigation in Chicago or in Toronto in proportion 
 to population than there was among the Iroquois or 'i among the 
 wandering tribes of the desert. The difference is that In these, 
 every law suit is a thing by itself, in those every law suit is con- 
 nected with thousands of others which have preceded it. There is 
 no satisfactory ividenc3 of the advantage of one method over the 
 other in doing substantial justice. 
 
 In ancient Ath#na_p_rina»pJ«'did not quite make its way, did 
 
. , t ,n „.„„, ,.„,,„.. l,.«-i,. «„.at n,.™„r.. whut .. wi,.,„. J 
 IK' 1 * .ns law, »n<l |„, ,l,v|,|,.,| aifunlinffly. 
 
 tlH full tLrnry of l„w „« „ primipl,, „, a ,o||,...tion of binding 
 
 i:t:;i'. '"""■"' "' ""■ ""*- •-•■- ^' »-''' -- .« ::'; 
 
 Our T,.ut„ni,. nno..tor. I„„l their own l„w, cruel, JlloKi.-al 
 
 n ono , ."• ■" '''•*■'•"''''"•"• «- ''-V in^'i-et and cdu ation 
 prone (o look u|K,n ,t with not „,u.h le-s pride than they. 
 
 The history of Knglih civil luw for over e ght centuries ha. 
 b..en .„ «roat ,„e„M,re „ .„.,tory of conflict hetw.'n the o i™ 
 
 of he leuton „nd the polished law of the Kenan; the ,„or! 
 -v.nz..l law, with but f, ,v »ot.back,, ha- be..n all th^ whil « 
 -Mnrtng a sreater and Rreater aaeendancy. Now in Kngland and in 
 ntar,o, when. ,1,.. rule, of Kquity and of Common Law eonfliJt 
 
 lieally all derived from the law of Home. 
 
 From the earliest ti„,es, the tribunal to decide right, might 
 be of a temporary character an,i pro hac dee. or it might be of . 
 permanent or quasi-pemmnent natur.. In tl.e fom.er case how- 
 over d,sgu,sed it was in substance a board of arbitration; 'in the 
 lat er, by whatever name it might be known, it wa, a court. The 
 Court has grown upon the Board as a means of settling dispute, 
 and I, now triumphant; and whenever an arbitration i, pref^rd 
 o a Court dee.s.on it is a disgrace either to the substantive aw 
 and therefore to the legislature, or to the practice, and theXe 
 m most .nstances to the-Courts-in eve-y such instance tlTiZ 
 h.- proved a failure nnd the Courts incompetent. 
 
 In international disputes indeed the progress just spoken of 
 does not appear. When two nations do not determiie thdr right, 
 by the cannon and bayonet, by ,,„unds and blood and death by 
 the ehmmation of their bravest and strongest, "wet eyes of w L, 
 broken old mothers and the wh„.e dkrk futcheiy »;*«.t a i"" 
 
Ilicy liavc lii^n'tndirc in nxwt i as<ii fominl a temporary Uoard and 
 left it to tlio Ronrd to decide without any principle but "llct ill 
 you eiin, give up wlmt you numl." Tuo often it ii fouuil thit the 
 ape and tiger still survive in that jungle 
 
 Within the nation, we of modern timet have deeiilc<l that our 
 rijjhti must be determined on principle— on principle that c«n b* 
 certainly known, for they con lie expretsed in writing. 
 
 In what I am now about to say, I speak in the main of civil 
 litigation. I shall later on s|icak oi criminal justice specially. 
 
 The function of the Court is to determine rights according 
 to principle, tliot is, according to law; and from one point of view, 
 in so far as it docs that, in so far is it a success and no furtlier. 
 
 It is not enough that the Court shall give litigants their right* 
 uci'ording to law. The Court was invented to prevent strife by 
 determination of right by and through a just and impartial 
 referee; and unless it is twlievcd that the Court is just and im- 
 partial, it fails in a most important part of iti object and loaea 
 much of its value. 
 
 Moreover such a course should be pursued that those 
 who have disputes shall le desirous of having them decided on 
 principle; that is, the superiority of the professional agent of 
 justice, the Court, should be manifest over tlio non-profetaional, 
 the Board of Arbitration. The medical profession should feel no 
 more regret at the prevalence of resort to the quack than the legal 
 profession at prevalence of resort to arbitration. 
 
 The relative importance of two great ends of the admin- 
 istration of justice, that is, determinatioi. of right according to 
 principle, and satisfying the public that justice is properly admin- 
 istered, may depend upon circumstances. In a judgment of my 
 own it was said: "all magistrates should remember that while the 
 most important thing for them is to be impartial and right, it ii 
 not much less important that litigan's and the public generally 
 should believe in their impartiality a.id rectitude," Bei t. Mc- 
 Arthur (1906), 8 0. W. H. 694. Nay, I am not at all sure that 
 it is not sometimes more important that the litigants and the 
 community shall think justice is being done than that the de- 
 ..aieieq jshaW-Jxf/itriclly/ip'.aceoijjAith precedent. Not many yean 
 
»K", m conv<.r8..hon will, o rdirwl Jui«F<, of the Supremo Court 
 of the ir„,tod Sint,*, I v,.nlur«l to cx|,r,«. the opinion that no 
 inrni «oul,l huv.. ,„,tm..,| jf t«„.tl,ir,N „f ||„. ,„^,, j„ „,„t ...^^ 
 
 '»'' '"■''" '''••■' ' 'I I'" «">■; !"■ ..n»»vr«l, -If vn„ l,.,,v« „ut 
 
 the ™n«t.t»tio«,.l r«„., I ,1,„„1.1 „Kr.T, nnd i .„! | ,„i„), ,.„« 
 
 miKlit incn'.i,L. the ixrcentn^-e consich.nihly." Th.. ni„.|«tv „f one 
 not ilioronKhl.v ,|mmil,.,| «ill, ,l„. Cnn.tiluti.m, of k' VnU.i 
 SmUs an,] of th, .St«t„ of th,. t'nion, on,, who live. ,„ countrr 
 without ., C.n.titution (an,l lik..» it), prev,.nt,.,l nu- .en .peak- 
 "IB to an authority on the.,., from ,p.e»tionins <"V frien,!'. ,.,ee|,- 
 ti"n I v,.ntur,., however, here to suhioit to vo.i the <.on»i,l,.ration 
 -i...at harm woui.l have {...en ,lone if Ilaniel W.lmter iia.l fail,.,! 
 in the Dartmouth ('oll,.Ke ease? Your law wmil.l have km ,lif- 
 
 ferent, hut wouhl it have h, vors,.? h v.ur law he!t4..r for 
 
 the |».ople at larRt^-an,! it i.- the ,K.opl,. it must ulwav. have in 
 ll« eare-lhan if i» were as in Kn^'hin.! an.l Ontario? ' Are ..yen 
 jour rorporatums riuR the sittings of ConRn-ss an,l rx-Rislaturf 
 an.v more eomf.)r. .„e than oure or those in Kn^laml ? .An,i after 
 all, has th,. em.et lH.en niueh more than to ohiig,. l,.Ki»latur,.a to 
 introdu,.,. into private charters a clause reserving the power to 
 reimil or „ll,.r them-just as it i .i,l (hat practically the whole 
 clfct of the Stutut,. of Uses w. o intro.lucc live wor.ls into 
 conveyanees? 
 
 ni,l the decisions, or cither of them, on the constitutionality 
 of taxation of incomes do any good? an,l would any linrm have 
 beK>n done if they had bc.t.n the otlier way? No constitution.! 
 amondmem would have k*n necessary, hut what of it? Would 
 any one liave been injured if he wore validly taxed under the 
 constitution as it st.jod, rather than under an amendment? And 
 do,.« It feel any more ph.asant or hurt any less l„ pay an income 
 tax than if it had been levi,.,| under the ,locument of the Fathers? 
 Did the "Drci Scott" division settle anything? Perhaps 
 It hastened an inevitable conflict, but did it do more? Was the 
 conflict not inevitable under any decision, and was it rendered 
 less intense, costly, bloody, terrible by the decision actually 
 given ? ■' 
 
 Most hesitatingly and meekly (as bcomes an outsider* I 
 venture to suggest to you that all the decisions of the Supreme 
 
Court are overborne in importanee by the one deeision of the 
 Senate of tlie tlnitcd States wlien that body refused to dismiM 
 Andrew Johnson; for in all human probability there will never 
 be anotlier inipeaehment of a I'residcnt of the United States for 
 the reason that lie does not agree with the majority of the people 
 or of Congress; the President is (S firmly seated on his throne 
 and is as truly a monarch for the term for which- he is elected 
 as any king or emperor in Christendom. Benjamin Robbina 
 Curtis' success before that tribunal was of vastly more significance 
 and of vastly greater importance to the United States and iti 
 people than would have been success in the Supreme Court when 
 he deli .>red the superb dissenting judgment which will continue 
 to be the greatest glory of his name so long as Courts endure 
 and lawyers reason. 
 
 Does not the decision of the New York Court of Impeach- 
 ment that a Governor of that State, their two year King, must 
 behave himself according to their views of honesty and propriety 
 before as well as after his inauguration, overtop in importance 
 the decision of the unconstitutionality of employers' liability legis- 
 lation? Did this do more than call for an amendment, inevitable 
 if the people wanted it? And what possible harm could have 
 been done had the decision been the other way? 
 
 It is the regular and conventional thing to speak of the great 
 principles of the common law as something sacrosanct ; to say that 
 the common law is the perfection of human reason. So far as 
 these principles are identical with enlightened reason, with the 
 teachings of the moral law, there can be no complaint. But how 
 do they differ from Justinian's triad? Praecepta juris sunt haec. 
 Honcste viverc, a//crwm non laedere, suum cuique tribuere. The 
 maxims of law are those, to live honorably, to injure no one, to 
 give every one his due. Any principles outside of these, of what 
 avail are they? And wliat harm if the rules laid down by the 
 Courts had been different? The laws of real estate at the com- 
 mon law no civilized nation would now endure; in your country 
 and in mine, the Legislature had to intervene so to change them 
 as to make them consistent with common sense. What advantage 
 is it that (or if) the laws of distress by landlord for rent be 
 retninod? AVlio woidd now lay down the "Rule in Shelley's Case?" 
 
nnthin t ""! '""''•""»"'»' principles of honesty, therfC 
 notlnng either good or bad in law but thinking „,ake; itZ- 
 
 ZLcZ "•""'^"''r,"/"^ "•« -S^' "f the la." Braeton l": 
 leton Coke, ,8 as well founded as admiration of the middle a« 
 ehoolmen and no more so. Extraordinary ability, profound 
 
 learning eonsummate subtlety, oharaeteri^e lx,th elas,esf but no 
 
 one wou d be much the worse if they had deyoted their attVntion 
 o heraldo. or the tracing of pedigrees; or if in eight o,t r en 
 
 cases they found the law diau,etrieally opposite to that tKy did 
 
 tTfit^d ^1 f^ f '".P'^P'" "' '° ^' determined aceording 
 fixed rules la,d down e.ther by binding deeision or by legisla 
 
 C urt" as" '■ ^"^ ''°"' """' ""'^'"'"'^ "- conseryatiyef he 
 to elint .."""' ",":" *" ^'■''"«'= "■« '"- "« it finds it than 
 to ehminate the word "nof from the commandmenta; the S 
 pie are en .tied „ their law as it stands and must submit tHt 
 whether they hke it or not. We probably all agree Lt 
 .peakmg generally) the very first consideration underly ng Tur 
 ounding and going beyond all others, is that justiee slfll be 
 don according to the existing law. If the people do not like 
 the law let them change it, the Court cannot change it for them 
 
 nenf K I" • """ '"' ^™'* ''"'"''' ^ '"""^^^J ^ **» judg- 
 ment by the opinions of litigants or of any other person whoms!- 
 
 rin'„„?™rf °''' ■"*{ "'"' °"™ "'" ^ '^'^^ ">»' judgments 
 wm not ony be unpopular, but they may eyen be rr..pug,^t to 
 the sense justice of the community; and yet the CouTmu t 
 give precisely these judgments. 
 
 But that does not imply that the Court should so act as 
 to g.ye rise to the impression among the people that it is wholly 
 indifferent to a just public sentiment. Lord Mansfield could say 
 I wish popularity," and he showed himself a good public seir- 
 ant when he said so. if a better when he added, "but it i, that 
 popularity which follows, not that which is run after, it is h' 
 
popularity which soonor or later never fails to do justice to 
 tlic pursuit of nohle ends hv nohle means. • * • 'fjgo hoc 
 animo semper fui. ut invidiam lirtutc partam, gloriam, non tn- 
 viiliam pnlarem.' " (I have always been of this opinion— that 
 unpopularity gained by doing one's duty is a glory not a dis- 
 grace.) 
 
 Now justice is not administered in the abstract, it is 
 justice to the litigant in the particular case that must be sought; 
 and the one essential of a Court is that the law is administered 
 in the particular cases brought before it. 
 
 .\ story is told of an importer who had been required to pay 
 $800 ns duty upon goods which he had brought in. He claimed 
 that no duty was payable, and paid under protest. He brought 
 his action which made its way by slow degrees to the Supreme 
 Court. In that Court all the Judges gave learned opinions, but 
 none said whether the unfortunate merchant was to have his 
 money returned, and the Court was shocked to hear a troubled 
 voice, "Do I get my $800?" Sc non i vero, i ben irovato. 
 
 The Court is not (at least in my country) the master of the 
 people, but their servant, supported by them for tlieir own use 
 and in their service; t)w judge is paid by the people to do their 
 work, and just as soon as the Court is not worth, directly or in- 
 directly, what it costs, it should he abolished — directly in adju- 
 dicating upon the rights of litigants, indirectly in preventing civil 
 wrongs, turmoil, assaults, thefts, trespasses, in the time-honored 
 phrase "maintaining the King's peace." 
 
 A Court docs not exist for itself; it is not an end in itself. 
 .\ Court is an evil and the less it is called into play the better 
 for the community unless the evils arising from this course will 
 be greater than those arising from the more frequent exercise 
 of its functions. 
 
 When Congress was proposing to give American coasting 
 vessels a privilege in the Panama Canal not granted to other 
 ships, and Britain made a protest, basing her claims upon treaty 
 (I am not going to discuss the rights and the wrongs of the 
 matter, the American people are guardians of their own honor 
 and need no advice or opinion from me or any other non-Amer- 
 
ope .„erc will be n., n«.e.ity, 1 i.ope'tha, ,he na. ^n ^^'J 
 le the nmtter without litigatio,,, then: i« no saying what heart 
 bnrnmg, an,l ,l,sco„tent« ,„„y arise over the deciron wo ^n' 
 Canada still re„,e„,her the Alaska Boundary AwarT and no o^" 
 - a r,g t to ex-peet a repetition of the e/traoTdt^r; good f" 
 une whah followed the Fishery Award at The Hagul f^ other 
 
 '" ' "■''™ ™''' P-'-V ^■l"i' 1 -bstantial victory. A s ttlemen 
 
 be ueen the parties fhen.selves is infinitely to te preferred to . 
 
 mv.need; he was an American and consequently thought O.at 
 there is nothing like a court." ^ 
 
 The court was made for man, not man for the court No 
 consHlerations of dignity, tradition, espHt iu ,,.,, Zui eve 
 induce a judge o forget that he is a servant of the peo le 
 paid by the people to do the people's worlc-if he fail to apprt: 
 eiate this elementary truth and to act upon it he is ant To 1^ 
 an unfaithful servant, a dishonest recipi'ent of wag s p' i %^ 
 work which he fails to do. Fortunately this class of judge is 
 rare; here is no "1 Won't Work" associations for tliem ^ 
 
 The Court does not exist for the e:<hibition of the personal 
 dignity of the judge. Personal dignity in a judge Ly iTa 
 valuable asset to the community which he serves it maTLlp to 
 preserve decorum and thereby advance public Liness' bu? U 
 may be a detriment ,f of a certain kind. If the back be so 
 Iff that u cannot bend itself to work, and if the business of 
 the Court i„„.st be delayed because the judicial dignity craves 
 twenty-three hours rest of the twenty-four, the public can very 
 well manage to' get along without it. And the' dignitv whjh 
 
 Court-rrT. ^fj'^'^^ ^- «>'SWs and "coltompts of 
 Court that .t has little time for anything else, is bettor placed 
 e ewhere than on the bench. Ut a judge do his w rk S 
 
 S;o'';:rKt::,r "^•■^' ^"" "" ^^^-"^ -^^ «— "^ ^ 
 
 Tradition is sometimes of much value: but it is tradition 
 of what ,s good ai^d useful; a traditional method of doiLg ZT 
 
10 
 
 ness is cooTenient and not infrequently is the best srailable 
 method ; but a tradition, if there be one, of dilatoriness or in- 
 efficiency were better forgotten. What ia old is not necessarily 
 good, nor what is new, necessarily wrong. 
 
 I'erliaps tlie most frequent complaint made anywhere of the 
 administration of the law, is its delay — the law's delay. One of 
 the promises wrung seven centuries ago from a reluctant king by 
 a resolute aristocracy, was NuUi vendcmvs, nulH negabimua aut 
 differetnvs rectum aut jusiiciam; to none will we sell, to none 
 will we deny or delay right or justice. He who delays justice, 
 denies it — a truth profound though it lies on the very surface, 
 patent and obvious, so patent and obvious indeed that it is often 
 overlooked. 
 
 A very short time ago I read an able article by an eminent 
 judge of one of the United States, in which he said that delay 
 if not too long is a good thing in litigation. I then absolutely 
 repudiated that doctrine, as I do now; I assert most confi- 
 dently that every unnecessary delay is wrong if not asked for by 
 the parties concerned. The ideal method of determining righta 
 would be for the parties when diflRculties arose, at once to lay 
 the farts before a judge and have an Immediate decision. We in 
 Ontario have that method in substance where there are no facta 
 in dispute but the only question is the interpretation of a writ- 
 ten document whether will or contract. This cannot always be 
 done, there are generally in dispute facts upon which the rights 
 depend ; and these facts must be determined in some way. The 
 very speediest method of bringing them to a determine 'ion con- 
 sistent with thorough investigation is the best; and a litigant 
 has a legitimate ground of complaint if there is a day'i delay 
 beyond the time really necessary. 
 
 Delay in bringing a case to trial may be due to the people 
 themselves; their representatives may not have constituted a Buf- 
 fieient number of courts, elected or appointed a sufficient number 
 of judges; or they may have clogged the courts by an intricate 
 and dilatory practice. In that case the people cannot complain; 
 they have the courts and the practice they deserve. If they want 
 fomething better, let them do sgrnething better. It is idle 
 
11 
 
 wliining about an evil ,.|,uh i. due to one.', self «n,l „n»-. ™ 
 
 hTat::;" "''''-- ""^— « - "-" ^'^ 
 have th: Sr;iir,:: rs:/rir^" r <""" 
 
 are derelict in their dut'y if a 0":;:"^ ^"n„ tZ'*' 
 iiglitly to be made. I have no hii!)! ouininn „f .1 „ « ■ j , 
 
 rn'rrr';-;^ '^-^ ^^^-"^ "^'- -- » 
 
 men as those of the present time, and "there is a ereat ded of 
 human nature in man;" but any institution that Imslod thf 
 
 erlon ti T "^^' '""' ^' '^' non-reverent gen- 
 
 eration. Still everything must give wav to fh,. n„i,i,- j 
 
 reven-nee for antiquity included. ^ " ^'""'• 
 
 Speaking generally, if either litigant eannot compel the trial 
 
 practice, no skinnisliing of lawyers, should prev nt the t^Ul of I 
 case w.thin the time 1 have mentioned. 
 
 It is a matter of the most profound astonishment to those 
 
 States of the Union submit: our people would not stan.l it for ! 
 year, there would be such an outcry'in the pi^s 'n"^ "J™ 
 hat no government would refuse to bring in, no legis IZ 
 
 fuse to pass, amending and corrective legislation 
 ifow is a case to be tried? 
 
 There may be constitutional provisions which must be 
 obeyed or the legislature may prescribe. In Ontario theit a^ 
 very few cases in wh cli a jury is of ri»hf ■ ;„ . 
 the presiding judge is ..J J Z IX' m^aTt;"?!:: 
 with or without a jury as scms beat. At Toronto ^n To ?i 
 the lowest court, the Division Court, not oL p^t^t we"' tri^ 
 
13 
 
 wilh n jiirv,' in tlu' next lii;,'liiT, llic ('diinty Court, IH';; »'cri' ti-iod 
 
 with n jurv, iinil in (lie Siipicnic CiHiit, 211'.;. h st ol' tliiw 
 
 I'liBi's the jury wtTP not iillowptl to find a general vcrdiet but were 
 conlincd to answering certain questions of fact suliniitted to tliem 
 l)V tlio judge, he reserving everjtliing else to himself. In iioro than 
 thirty years' ;'Xi)erienee I have known of only two appeal? against 
 the action of a trial judge in striking out a jury notice — loth un- 
 successful. 
 
 The saying of time — and wind — is enormous. The oi>ening 
 and closing speeches of eouni.cl to the jury and the charge of the 
 judge are done away; in argument there are very few judges who 
 care to he addressed like a puhlic meeting and quite as few who 
 are influenced hy mere oratory - all indeed must ex officio be 
 patient with the tedious and suffer fools gladly. Vehement 
 assertion, gross personal attacks on witnesses or parties, in- 
 vective, appeal to the lower part of our nature, are all at 
 a dincount; and in most cases justice is lietter attained, righti 
 according to law are better ensured. Moreover during the course 
 of a trial a very great deal of time is not imcommonly wasted 
 in petty objections to evidence, in dwelling upon minor and al- 
 most irrelevant matters which may influence the jury, wearisome 
 cross-examination and reiteration, etc., all of whii.i. ^re mini- 
 mised before a judge. 
 
 But it is never to be forgotten that the courts belong to the 
 people, and ihc wishes — even the prejudices — of the people must 
 be borne in mind. If for any reason the body of the people were 
 to come to the opinion that a judge trial was not a just trial, 
 justice won'l not be satisfactorily administered if that form of 
 trial were adopted. There I leave the matter. 
 
 Very often during the course of a trial, facts will come to 
 light which give a new turn to tlie case; some courts are so ham- 
 pered, or so hamper themselves, that they cannot go outside of 
 
 •The official report of the Inspector of Division Courts for 1913, 
 .just to hand, shows tiiat in 1913 the total number of suits entered in 
 these Courts in the whole Province was 6^.675, and the number of 
 juries called for 117, a little less than one-fifth of one per cent. The 
 whole amount claimed in the suits broufjht was about two and a half 
 millions; the cost of tho juries averaged a few cents over $10. 
 
1,1 
 
 me i)ioa(linj,'a, nml gnat injustco may result Wl.pnnv.., k 
 any l.ide-bound practice « c„,.rt cannot do u.iee TlL / 
 l.oca,.e a lawyer ha., n.ade a „.i„ake, there' fa „r „ t I 
 
 elementary duty „t the court. ,n the ideal state, every llrt 
 
 I-aw ,s not a game where the smartest man win, it i, , 
 
 'ay. I^t me not be nii.,understood. I nitv tl„. I,iwv„; , 
 
 .lit very lew fields of knowledge which mav nnt K„ „f i 
 in enlarging the mind and unders Inding pin d ™°i'^'' 
 in the older authors will do no g at hlr^i if 11° f^, r"^""^ 
 to fill the mind with antique viewT „ tl™ d Z . , " ""' 
 
u 
 
 (liniinicli the signiliianco of the fact that tlie lawjer is a busineu 
 irmn, hirt'il to do liis ilii'iit's businoss. 
 
 A Holl pdiicntid Bar is a prcat ilpsideratum ; a 8clf-res[)ect- 
 ing liar i» of gnat value— a liar. wluLh never forgetting the rights 
 of the elient, does not think it ineonsistent with duty to assist 
 justice hv eoiirtes.v to ojiponents, by civility to witnesses and 
 others, by respect to the ec.urt. by a due regard to the exigenei.^s 
 of public business. The noisy showy barrister, who phus to tlie 
 gallery, seeks (o iru|iress his clii'nt or the populace with his abil- 
 ity nnil inip(jvlance by discourtesy to others, insr)lence (more or 
 less veiled) to (lu; court, inteririinabli' oratory to the jury, i- an 
 evil, a public nuisance. That class will always be met with where 
 the people wont it. Xo one can expect total self-abnegation and 
 disregard of his own interests even in a coun.sel ; ami "for peo- 
 ple who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing tliev 
 like. 
 
 What about appeals? 
 
 The ideal method would be for tiie losing party to take all 
 the evidence, pai>ers, etc., in the case, at once before the appel- 
 late tribunal, and, both parties being heard, the case to be dis- 
 posed of without delay. The nearer the practice is assimilated 
 to that ideal system the better, other things being e(iual. Tlie 
 Appellate Court should, if required by the amount of business, 
 lie continuously in session witli only such intervals as are neces- 
 sary to consider the cases presented. The material before the 
 Appellate Court should be all the material in the trial court; 
 tills should be got before the Appellate Court at the earliest pos- 
 sible moment and with the least possible expense; the proceedings 
 should be as little technical and complicated as possible, and in 
 this court as elsewhere ju»ti<e delayed is justice denied. Of 
 course there will often be circumstances causing delay, there may 
 bo facts alleged or statements made at or after the trial which 
 must be investigated ; people will die and even the counter-irritant 
 of a law suit will not always keep them alive. Leaving aside spe- 
 cial cireumstances and speaking generally, if a losing litigant 
 cannot have his appeal heard and disposed of in three months from 
 trial there is something wrong. In a certain country, a Chief 
 
IS 
 
 Just'ce ileolined to tit in an appeal because judjfment might not be 
 given before the expiration of hi» term, more than three monthi 
 distant ; tliat fact and the circumstance tliat it excited no aston- 
 ishment vill furnish their own commentary. 
 
 Moreover there arc often trifling errors (generally against 
 technical rules) at the trial; even judges are not exempt from 
 the imperfections of humanity. An Appellate Court should pay 
 no attention to such defects unless some injustice results. Tiiere 
 may he some fact left unproved or Inter discovi-reii. Why should 
 not the Appellate Court allow the fact to he proved before itself? 
 What is the sense in sending a case down for a new trial with all 
 its risks, expense and trouble? 
 
 'I'liere is one failing witi: which courts of appeal are very fre- 
 quently afflicted : they are apt to forget that the main obj«t of 
 litigation is the determination of the rights of the litigants be- 
 fore them, and to imagine that what they are for is to write 
 dissertations on the law. To i. lawyer, there is nc stronger tempta- 
 tion than to follow up a point suggested in a case and to exhaust 
 the law on such point, although it is not really material in the 
 case under consideration. There can be no objection to that 
 course, but it should iiot he followed so as to delay a decision 
 unduly and thereby deprive the litigant of his right to speedy 
 jii»tice.t What is important is, "Uo I get my $800?" 
 
 tl i)rudiice to you the list of our Appellate Division, 
 the Court of Appeals in Ontario, for tlie May, 1914, sittings. 
 
 There arc eighty-one ca-es on the list. The judgments from 
 which these appeals are taken were delivered as follows: 
 
 Before January 1, 1914 n 
 
 In .Tanuary, 1914 ,. 
 
 In February, 1914 j. 
 
 In "Search, 1914 44 
 
 In April, 1914 11 
 
 In all g. 
 
 Of those before Januarv 1, 1914, two are cases of a Municipal 
 Street Railway which is being reorganized, and all parties desire 
 time to complete the financial arrangements. The parties have 
 
1(1 
 
 had •cviml opportunitici to arffiic the appc-nls if Ihoy bo dwire, 
 and the caaci arc kept ou the liHt ex abundattii cauMa for foar the 
 arrangement may fall U.rough. Three otheri have stoo<l by ar- 
 rangement of counnel ; and one to enable the appi'llanl to proeure 
 a preliminary onler from a county court judge, per>otm ,le»ifnata 
 under the statute. All of there have had at least one chance to be 
 argued. The tevonlh is a case tui gencru. \ wife |g ,u|ng !,„, 
 huslrand and conducting her own case. Two motions have been 
 made by the defendant to dismiss the appeal for want of proaccu- 
 tion, hut the court has extended the time. Much of the evidence at 
 the trial is said to bo irrelevant, and the plaintiff is linding diffi- 
 culty in extracting what is material. She scorns professional help 
 and is perhaps looking for a grievance. At all events we Ihuugbt 
 we should not cut her out of an appeal. 
 
 Of the five decided in January, 1!)14, two were delnved by 
 illness of counsel, and counsel on the other side agreed to "let the 
 eases stand; two by reason of omission of stenogi nphers to get out 
 evidence in time; and in the fifth, counsel mislaid his papers and 
 the other side consented to delay. All these have liad at least one 
 chance. 
 
 We do not allow cases to stand from month to month without 
 inquiry. From time to time all cases looking stale are called on 
 to be spoken to; and if the reporters are found derelict tliey arc 
 brought to time. If the parties are not really intending to go on 
 with the appeal promptly, it is dismissed. 
 
 During the May sittings all the appeals from judgments de- 
 livered in .January, 1914, have been disposed of; of those before 
 Januiiry, the two about the Street Railway still stand ; one other 
 will be disposed of June 1, another June 5 ; all others have been 
 heard. 
 
 There have been added to the May list 3 cases in which judg- 
 ment was given in March. 
 We have heard 
 
 Of those in February, 11 leaving 3 
 Of those in March, 35 leaving 12 
 Of those in April, 9 leaving 2 
 In addition to those fully heard, two involving disputes 
 
17 
 
 hitwccn till- Muniiipniity ami privato indiviilualt hive been beard 
 in part and ntnml for a proponed «;ttliiiicnt. 
 And wimt Inw Hliould be adniininterwl ? 
 M(wt of dm KnKli«li-»|HiikinK |Kopl(« In c llio tradition of the 
 fundiinicntiil dJHtinrlioii of Ijiw iind Ivpiitv. TIiIh riiHiinplion i» 
 hifrniiiid nnd hionc from ou.- luurstorn Imvin),' ii liiw of their own of 
 which thiv HIT.. inonlinuti'l> and stuhlHirnly prou.l and tonacioni. 
 "NnUmtis lrge.1 Angliae. miilare" «aid the barons on a fnuniorable 
 orcnfion; nnd nolumiis hgm Angliiie mulare tlicy continuwl to 
 think (»ome indeed eonsider that the Imrona have not ceased to 
 be intensely conservative even at the prenent day). The jfrosa 
 and palp«l)le injustice done by these venerated legri Angliat 
 became intolerable, and after legal fiction had failed to permit 
 justice to be done in the law courts, Equity was invented. 
 "Equity mitigated the rigor of the common law" is the conven- 
 tional and euphemistic way of putting it; hut this clooks the ia- 
 famies which the common law enjoin.d or pennitted. 'I'he Itiw- 
 yer was not till comparatively late entrusted with this new 
 weapon; the churchman was the early chancellor. But it got at 
 Ingth into the hands of lawyers and became as technical and 
 as formal as the common law whofo rigor it was to alleviate. 
 These two systems of law ran along side by side, administered 
 by different courts for centuries, and the English lawyer came to 
 think that this division subsisted in the very nature of things. 
 
 It is hard to dislodge inveterate and traditional opinion! 
 even when they are wholly without solid foundation. The colo- 
 nial lawyers raised on English pncedents as pabulum, absorbed 
 the English idea and it stuck. I have before me as I write a 
 letter on the subject of the Courts of Law of Upper Canada ad- 
 dressed to the Attorney General and Solicitor General in 1847. 
 This was written by a member of our bar of the highest standing, 
 one who «as afterwards Chancellor and then Chief .Tusticc of 
 Ontario. Addressing the "Chief law officers of the Crown for 
 ITppcr Canada upon a subject interesting alike to the profession 
 and to the country— the due administration of justice," and at a 
 "time when changes iinocar to he contemplated in some of our 
 ConrtF of Justice," ,ic-s that "law and equity ought to be 
 
18 
 
 con.i.lereU «. di.linct ..,t..,n.. .„,! ,h.t the, are « con.idered 
 .n.l kep apart in K, ,il„n.l, i,, porh.p., „ne of the be.t pro.i.ion. 
 of our ton.t.tutmn." If,, approve, the .tate.i.ent of LorJ Ehlon 
 a. to the mwMity „f that teparation of Court, of l^w u>,\ 
 Kquity which ... mainly contribute, to the tomplcte anj effectual 
 «.linin,.tration of jn«ti™ to an extent and in a degree ,uch a. 
 are unknown and n.u.l 1« ever unknown where thai .epar.tion i, 
 not effectually made and „h,efved." In Upper Canatla we had 
 got along without a "ourt of K.|uily lili 1837, and there wa. in 
 1S4, talk of gettrng rid of it. Mr. Spragge (,|,e writer .poken 
 of) . eprwta e, ,ueh a ,our.e, .li.pute. the statement of th.«c who 
 
 '"■' Z'u , 'iT/'" *'"""" " *^''""' "'" f'o'-rt "f Chancery 
 WH. estabh.hcd," for, he .ay,, "the .„,nmon law wa. never n.eant 
 nor I. ,t calculated by it,elf to form the juri.prudence of a coun- 
 try. Without being tempered by equity law, it would often work 
 injustice, and in it. actual operation in thi. country the applica- 
 lion of lU rule, did work injustice until a language began to l 
 used m our Court of King'e Bench which would have «,unded 
 B rangely in the ear of a common lawyer in England." He think, 
 that without separate courU "the law • « . would degenerate 
 into an uncertain hybrid system neither common law nor equity 
 but an incongruous compound of both, so that no man could tell 
 what h,s rights are." "We mu.t • • • have English law, a 
 combmed system of law and equity, or we must abrogate the 
 Engl.8h law, throw our whole system of law to the winds and 
 adopt the c-vil law. But were so mad a scheme proposed me- 
 thinks Upper Canada would answer as with one voice nolumut 
 yg,s Angha, mutare." This reasoning was adopted, and a. at 
 the Parliament of Merlon so at our Canadian Parliament "Omne, 
 comites et barones una voce respondentni quod nolunt leges in- 
 gliae muiare quas hucusque usiiatae sunt et approbatae. 
 
 If any lawyer were asked to lay down a code of laws for a 
 new community he would be thought insane if he laid down two 
 codes, one of laws to govern the people and another, to modify 
 and to that extent to nullify the f! .t; and yet because from his- 
 toncal reason, that system grew up in England, many lawyer, 
 thought it a necessary system. Even in 1847, some could not 
 
11 
 
 conceive o( tlio IcgUliturc cdinbining the two iyitemi into one, u<l 
 dirwting the fuwd .v.lcm to Ik- upplie.l in ill courti. And tn 
 we liail law anil oiuilv for over thirty yean longer. In 1S81 
 when a •iiiiplc proiuion wai niaili^ that where the rulea of law 
 differ from the ruica of «|uity, the rulea of efjuity nhall prevail, 
 and this waa appliid to all court*, many were the mournful 
 lamer .« for the <leparted glory of our juriiprudence. Rarhel 
 we..ping for her ihildren eould be ai eaiily comforted aa the 
 "e<iuity lawyer" when he found that a proceeding to foreeloae 
 a mortgage could Iw taken hy writ in the Queen'i Bench Divi- 
 Bion, or the purely common lawyer when he found that the be- 
 loved principlci of llie cr.irimon law were ruthlcialy aubdued to 
 the alien rules of eiiuity. I have myself heard a practitioner, atill 
 living, curse what he i lUd the •'confueion" of law and equity; 
 but time is the great assuager of grief nn.l the change haa vindi- 
 cated itaclf. No one now would think of going back to tlic old 
 •ystem. 
 
 This fusion of law and equity haa had lomcthing to do 
 with the gradual decay of the jury system. 
 
 A word or two as to the administration of criminal justice. 
 The abominable cruelty of the Knglisf, law, whether the com- 
 mon law as interpreted in curly times by the high placed judge 
 or made in later times by th high phiced member of parlia- 
 ment for the gove-nance of the lower classes in either case (. 
 mandate in the vast majority of instances of the superior to the 
 inferior— revolted the humane. Rules were .xtended or invented 
 to save the shedding of blood for petty nr even serious offenses. 
 The law was bnital, and its brutality was mitigated or evaded 
 by the ingenuity of less blood-thirsty judges. Trifling defects 
 errors of form, omissions to prove immaterial allegations, mat- 
 ters of no importance whatever were laid hold of to prevent 
 a judicial murder. Consequently the result of a prosecu'ion be 
 came very much a matter of chance; criminals looked jpon a 
 verdict of guilty as a bit of bad luck. A chaplain of i-Tewgate 
 of the time has left an awful account of the view taken by prii- 
 oners of trials, an account which haunU the reader aa a horror 
 for years. 
 
 Accordingly, the proiecution of w aUeged offender became 
 
a kind of sport. The prisoner had so much of a start, so many 
 proceedings were forbidden to liis pursuers, he might double and 
 dodge, and in the end, in spite of facts wholly proved, might 
 escape. It was a kind of glorified fox hunt, the quarry having 
 a much greater chance than a fox. 
 
 This was about tlie condition of the law in England when 
 the United States branched off and when Upper Canada was 
 given legislative independence. Both took the law with them. 
 The rights of the accused, the protection of the accused, gave 
 the watchword; and some courts have not forgotten it yet. In 
 not a few courts the prisoner has so many and so sacred rights 
 that no one else has any, the State included. Instead of a crim- 
 inal trial being a solemn inquiry by the State into a crime al- 
 leged to have been committed against it, a criminal trial is apt 
 to degenerate into a game, a play, a spectacle for the curious and 
 a subject for lurid newspaper writing. That provision made by 
 the State for its own protection that no one shall be punished unless 
 and until convicted by a competent court is made a cloak to shelter 
 those who have undoubtedly committed crime; the pettiest of 
 all petty technicalities are invoked as though they were the most 
 profound of principles, on the violation of which the heavens 
 should fall. Time seems not to be considered of importance in 
 many jurisdictions; and in one the members of the bar say openly 
 that a conviction for murder is but the beginning of the criminal 
 trial. 
 
 Solemnity and formality in a criminal trial have great in- 
 fluence upon the criminal classes. Severe punishment has not 
 at all the same deterrent effect as certain and speedy punish- 
 ment. Many a degenerate or wilfully wicked person would be will- 
 ing to be made the central feature of an eight days' or eight weeks' 
 show with a good chance of evading punishment. 
 
 Is all this good for the State? 
 
 Once again, if the people really want that sort of thing they 
 must have it; but do the people really want it? Of co.urse the 
 criminal claeses, the potential criminal, the lawyer who" is p/ud 
 by the length of time lie can make a case last or who seeks glory 
 from teclmical ingenuity or florid rhetoric, tlie yellow and near 
 
21 
 
 yellow paptT and its rcailers, all are in favor of it. But the man 
 wlio has to pay for it, the soher-mindcd citizen who takes an in- 
 terest and a pride in liis eoimtry, who is jealous of her honor 
 and reputation— what of him? and is he not to be considered? 
 
 If a criminal trial is a game, well and good. The fox hunter 
 who was expostulated with on the cruelty of his sport said, "The 
 men like it, the horses like it, and nobody can be certain that the 
 fox does not like it." But even fox-hunters pay for their game 
 out of their own pocket, and if a ta^a docs get away now and 
 then, there is no great harm. We in Canada are too poor to be 
 willing to pay for sucli a sport and too busy to be willing to waste 
 weeks on an investigation for which days or even hours are am- 
 ple. \Vc think that except in very grave offenses, sucli as mur- 
 der and the like, an accused should have the option to be tried 
 by a judge and witliout delay, instead of waiting for a jury sit- 
 tings. If one charged with crime be desirous of trial by jury 
 we allow him a copy of the jury panel in sufScient time to" make 
 inquiries as to any objection to the jurymen, and when a trial 
 is set we insist on it being proceeded with, with due diligence 
 and reasonable speed. The first time I met your ex-president, 
 Mr. Taft, he s))oke of the intolerable delay in criminal trials in 
 the United Stales. I told him that a short time before, I had gone 
 to a Canadian city to hold the Assizes on the same day that a few 
 hours further along the same line of rail but across the inter- 
 national boundary, a judge began to get his jury in a murder 
 ease; that I had tried four criminal cases and seven civil cases, 
 and was homo in Toronto before my American brother had half 
 his jury. 1 told the New York Bar Association that in my thirty 
 years experience I never saw it take more than half an hour to 
 get a jury. Let me add that I have never but once heard a pro- 
 posed juryman asked a question about reading newspapers, form- 
 ing an opinion, or anything else. I have never known even a 
 murder case (except one) take four days; very few indeed take 
 more than two; none tried before me has taken as much as two 
 full days; and meilical or other exports are not allowed to drag 
 out proceedings. We tliink four on each side enough except in 
 special circumstances and we keep tliese well in hand. 
 
 
88 
 
 la fair play not the only natural right of one accused of 
 cnme? It may bo that in some courts the proceedings are pro- 
 tracted by (he gladiaiorial spirit. The prosecuti g counsel feel, 
 that he has a brief for conviction and that he is vannuished and 
 d.8graco.l ,f he fails in procuring it. He strains every nerve 
 to that end. .trctchcs the law and colors the facts; and if 
 per fasaulper nefas he hears the jury say "Guilty" he is tri' 
 umphant. I venture to think that that tl.eory and the practice 
 based upon it are wholly vicious and debasing. In an investi- 
 gation by the State into an alleged offense against itself, the 
 counsel representing *!.. State has the plain duty to investigate; 
 and the State not desirmg that an accused be pronounced piilty 
 If m fact or .n law he is not, it is the plain duty of the pios^ 
 cutmg counsel to bring before the court and jury all the facta and 
 all the law-what helps as well as what incriminates the accused. 
 The wholly brutal system of the judge being the moat determ- 
 ined and effective prosecutor has long gone out; the only excuse for 
 It was that not seldom the judge had been the investigator and 
 had become certain of the guUt of the accused. Howell's State 
 1 rials are appalling reading at the best; and a judge who would 
 act now as the most venerated of the sages of the law acted in 
 the past would be cursed and despised of all men. 
 
 Has not the spirit of these judges descended to some prose- 
 cuting counsel? *^ 
 
 In Canada, the theory is that the Crown Counsel rcpresenta 
 the State. He has no concern with whether the accused is found 
 guilty or not. His whole duty is performed when he has brought 
 out all the facts by direct evidence or by cross-examination of 
 witnesses for the defence and has summed up to the trial tribunal 
 fairly all the facts. If the judge or, in case of a jury trial the 
 jury think no case has been made out, that is no concern of' his; 
 he is not to blame. Of course, human nature is human nature' 
 Counsel will instinctively want to fight the eoimsel on the other 
 side. It is difficult to be impartial, particularly when one has a 
 strong conviction of the guilt of tlie accused ; but if counsel wilfully 
 concealed or failed to bring out facts favorable to the prisoner's 
 innocence, if lie imduly pressed for a conviction, if he were to urge 
 
83 
 
 unfair arguments to the jury, he would lay himself open to un- 
 favorable comment of his professional brethren and the public, 
 as well as to stem rebuke by the trial judge. The method of 
 candor and fair play brings more convictions than the opposite 
 course. A jury like fair piny, and if they see a prisoner is not 
 getting it, they are not at all unlikely to feel resentment and to 
 ••help tlie under dog." I am an old Crown Counsel, and I speak 
 whereof I know. 
 
 Speed is called for in an appeal in criminal matters. The 
 deterrent effect of punishment varies inversely with the delay 
 in punishing: while if there is to be a new trial, it should be as 
 snon as possible, witnesses disappear or "forget" more quickly 
 and effectively in criminal than in civil matters. 
 
 Punishment should follow swiftly; we think, in the Dominion 
 if a Canadian murderer is not lianged within a year of his crime 
 be is justified in complaining of being deprived of his just rights 
 given him by Magna Charta. 
 
 There is abroad in some quarters a feeling of unrest and 
 dissatisfaction with the administration of justice, civil as well as 
 criminal. It will not do to say that this is due to machinations of 
 demagogues, to the ambition of politicians out of office. No dema- 
 gogue or dissatisfieil politii : , can long make any considerable 
 number of the conmiunity lielieve in what has no foundation in 
 fact. The causes of dissatisfaction should be sought out and if 
 possible removed. 
 
 Some part of this may be due to a misunderstanding of the 
 .rue function of the court. It seems impossible for some, and 
 those not the most ignorant or least American, to understand that 
 the court does not make tlie law. Just as it is said we have in our 
 bodies remains now dormant and useless, even harmful, of or- 
 gans which were alive and active in the reptile stage through 
 which we are told our race has come, so there is away down in 
 many minds the relics of what was real when the early judges 
 laid down the law to suit themselves. As the nightmare which 
 frights the bravest before a danger which does not exist is said 
 to be a rominisccnco of the terror of the ancestor, the naked sav- 
 age running through the dark forest of old, fleeing a very real 
 
 /I 
 
24 
 
 ilangcr, bo the present nightmare— if it is right to call it a night- 
 mare— may he, at least in part, an atavistic reminiscence of what 
 was .,n<e a grim reality. It may bo that means can be foun.l and 
 used by the liar or others to correct such misapprehension. 
 
 But is that the only reason? Of course substantive law is for 
 tlie legislature, but there are many ways in which the Court can do 
 much to make the administration of laws accord with the require- 
 ments of the people. 
 
 Conservative, Courts must needs be from their very constitu- 
 tion, but that does not imply that they must be unsympathetic to 
 any suggestion of im,,rovcment or grudging in giving full effect to 
 amendatory nu-nsiires, permi.ssive or imperative. Dignified tl-- 
 should be, but that does not imply otium cum dignitate with oUam 
 mncty-five per cent of the prescription. Deliberate, too, but tlmt 
 doi^ not mean so slow that before judgment is given the litigant 
 ■s dead or hope deferred has made the heart sick. Independent of 
 public opinion every judge must be, but that is not synonymous 
 wi h indiflTerencc to the manner in which the public receive his 
 judgments and the opinion the people have of his honesty Like 
 Ix.rd Mansfield, while he should despise the ponularity that is 
 run after, he may well prize that which follows. He is called 
 upon for imperative public reasons to avoid the very appearance of 
 evil and see to it that nothing in the manner of his judgments 
 IS unnecessarily ofiPensive to his fellow-countrj-men, however un- 
 palatable the matter may be. That judge received no commenda- 
 tion who, while be feared not God, neither regarded he man- 
 and no judge may use the objurgation, so well known as attrib- 
 uted to a multi-millionaire, "the public be damned." 
 
 The position of a judge is one of the very highest to which a 
 man can be called in a free country; the influence for good of an 
 upright and conscientious judge is incalculable; and when he ex- 
 hibits defects of manner, lack of prudence and decorum, contempt 
 of the commonalty, he grieves the judicious and does as much or 
 nearly as much harm as if he were ignorant of law, indifferent to 
 the soundness of his decision, partial in his treatment of the Bar 
 or litigant and subservient to sinister interests. 
 
 It is a matter of frequent comment and almost unbounded 
 
25 
 
 wonder to those under another system that in these United States, 
 judges wlio achieve tlie Keneli tliroiigh a method wholly repugnant 
 to the sentiment of the British peoples are so almost universally 
 found to be of high legal attainment, sound judgment and indi 
 pendent mind. It is a matter of pride to all Knglish speaking 
 lawyers that the method of election or appointment has heen 
 tounri to be wholly immaterial; the honest liiwyer, who the satir- 
 ists says is the noblest work of God and about tlie scarcest, is 
 not scarce on the Bench of the Union or any of its component 
 States. 
 
 It is a matter of congratulation that it is almost unknown 
 that even the bitterest critic charges want of learning, ability or 
 honesty in the occupants of the Bench. It is, however, alleged that 
 dissatisfaction has been felt with an apparent indifTerenee to the de- 
 mands of an advancing society, an unsympathetic attitude towards 
 the masses. So far as that means that the courts should cliange 
 the law laid down for them by decision or statute, the criticism is 
 unjust and cannot be accepted. If it means that rules are allowed 
 to crystallize into technical language so rigid that the letter can 
 ilefeat the underlying spirit and purpose, "the case is different." 
 The application of rules "must correspond with the practical ne- 
 cessities of the times." At least that is so in my democratic 
 country; and I ghnlly adopt the language of the great lawyer 
 whom many of you heard last summer in Montreal, the Lord 
 Chancellor, Viscount Haldane, delivering judgment in the House 
 of Lords, (1914) A. C. at pp. 37-38. 
 
 IIow far tliose in a land in which a system different from 
 ours prevails can go in making the rules "correspond with the 
 practical necessities of the times," I cannot say ; hut is not some of 
 the real foundation (as distinguished from the political pretext) 
 of this agitation, based upon the conviction that the practical 
 necessities of the times have not been considered? 
 
 Be that as it may, it is perfectly certain that in every free 
 
 country the people will and must have their way in the long run 
 
 with courts as with all else. It is the part of the patriot and the 
 statesman to see to it that that way is the right way, and that 
 the right way is found with the least possible delay. The 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
riKM way in litigation implies ju.ticc cheap, gpeedv full and 
 certain; and anything i„ ,he constitution a'nd practice of the 
 courta wh,ch ,s not conducive to that end i. wrong and must b^ 
 amended; ,f by the courts themselves, so much ,he better and tim 
 sooner the better, but in any case it must be amendii 
 
 We live in an age of unrest; the principles underlying in- 
 t,tut,ons are be.ng investigated as never before; nothing ifak™ 
 
 .terated and rc.:terated .,uestion is "Why?" "Why?" .'^ny" 
 1 he courts should not and cannot hope to be an exception. "If 
 our „rtues d,d not go forth of us, 'twere all alike as if we had 
 
 ^"L vl^e:? '"'°'""°'' "' "'"- '^ - "' '^'»'- ^^ 
 So long as there is a moral law ga^.erning the universe so 
 long as ,ts affairs are governed by the Divine Law. the vdi" 
 must bo certain. With a Bar alive with a keen sense of ^i „ f 
 w^^h a Bench whose men.bers can say with truth and prL, 'iZ; 
 judged the people w.th righteousness and the poor with iudgmeni 
 -J..dgmen have I aid to the line and righteousness to the pL 
 .net-I have executed the judgment of truth and peace in the 
 
 lese-I have done no unrighteousness in judgment-I did not 
 r spect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the migMy 
 but m righteousness did I judge my neighbor-for I did noT „: 
 spec persons m judgment but heard the small as well as the 
 great and was n^t afraid of the face of man-I did not wres 
 judgment nor ake a gift, nor did I ask for a reward-^ id no 
 take bribes and pervert judgment-but I judged righteous iX 
 
 "'"*\"'f,i",^"""' "'''^'' ™""^"' f™"' the Lord"-the ve^dt 
 must be "Well done, good and faithful servants »