V ^ n^ks IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I III 1.25 iii tSi JM lilM m 1.8 i.4 Iii 1.6 <^ "cr-l "^W c^: t?-^ •Jf *:'? v> r '# '^ v^v ^ '^ y Photographic Sciences Corporation ^1. *v. fV ^> V "^ y.^^''* '%'■ 23 WEST MAIN aTKEET WEBSTEP.N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-45C3 (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V {meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les Imsges suivantes ont iti reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de ia condition at de la nettet« de l'exemplaire film«, at en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimte sont filmte en commen^ant par le premier plat at en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont fiimts en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration at en terminant par la derniAre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un dee symbolf s suivants apparaftra sur la dernlAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbor ^-^ signifie "A SUIVRE ', lo symbols V s'g lifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmte d dee taux de rMuction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est filmi d partir de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 LoREDANO. We have decided. TlIK DOGK. Wo ! J ,OKEDANO. Tlie ten in Council. ABUSE OF JUSTICE. Lord 1!yr(jn. our To all whom it may concern : — Do nut be alarmed l)y the portentous words at the head of this article, fhere is already ''sail's snperqiic" enough— and more than enough of grave matter in the subject ; and, although the .abuses of ju-itice may afford littl opportunity for sprightliness and wit, we shall, at least, forbear to propose crude suggestions, with dogmatic and oracular solemnity upon a subject, which has long been agitating the public mind. Pamphlet ujjon Pamphlet, and Review auer Review may Ijc stuffed with long and vehement diatribes upon the defect^ and enormities of the administration of Justice in the Province of Quebec, l]y seme it is called strange, anomalous, incflicient, barbarous, and a hundred hard names into the bargain— with many ofthe.se remarks we cordially agree. The freedom of our citizens is not only to be found in rational and humane laws, but in an efiective and enlightened nngistracy ; and in the judicious and l)roper selection of officers of Justice, in ^,hose hand.s, as conservators of the peace, executive duties are legally placed. The annals of our Recorder's Court are something monstrous: pour, shelterless persons apprehended by the Police, and convicted, mulct of money, lined, and imprisoned .or sleepiiig, and even walking in the streets— men and women apprehended on suspicions, the Police aided and abetted in their habit ot n.sing a preventive power, indisciiminately, harshly, and oppressively— an unfor tanate man or woman takea to the Station House because the policeman think?;, in his sagacity, that he or she might be disorderly if they walked about the street^ any longer, as if it was not the right of any m.an or woman, citizen or stranger, t'^ walk about the streets at any hour of the day and night ; whereas petty offences arc often connived at, rather than detected. An occasional drunkard, or rather drunken man or woman is a fittsr subject for the Recorder's Court than the unmatured thief, the juvenile depredator, and the open violator of the city by-Iaw'5 In our Superior Court— Guibord appeal s ! Come thou in the likeness of a uicmber of the Institut Canadien ! Come from thy Charnel House as a witness 10 the arbitrary rigour and inquisitorial conduct of Clergy and Judges ! Confront these ministers of the Gospel, of Christ (?) and the Law of the land (?) Come ye incendiaries ! Come ye, guilty of arson ! Come forth and petiti'.vi the Corporation for the office of Fire Marshals, and get the Judges and Juries— for there is nothing base in the conduct of the one, nor venal in the verdicts ot the other — to recommend you as Fire Inspectors to the " Citizens Insurance Company." Vou burners, you know not to what h.cight you may eventually raise resources yet untried, and capabilities hitherto umleveloiKd. Voii have scarcely passed your infant state ; we indulge the disinterested hope, fur llie Iiappiness of the owners of liouse property, that your niaturily may be L;loriou'>. These principles which are inherent in your natiues camiol !jc destroyed — like sonic of the aldermen yni may write " .Vi-' rv//-/,///;- " in your margins. What can be said of the 1 'oybcrry who is the presiding fJcni'is of the Police Court? As long as he is i^crmittcd to play iho " a^;, " we nu;st wrap nurselvcs for ever in the dark mantle of despair. His natuial and passive igno- rance arc assuredly no csseritial nor cpiality of a man to take in deli'h're the char- acter and liberty of Her Majesty's lieges. We instinctively recoil and shrink from comlcmi)latiun of a man that smites contrary to the law. There is about him, if we may be allowed the expression, a positive as well as a native igno- rance. The one consists in the want of knowledge of the Law he is supposed to minister, the oilier in the adoplii)n of inconsislenc}' and error. Those who appointed this iJogbcrry to the Bench may be honourable men, they may have had most excellent intentions, they may have duly considered his private worth, his great learning and unbounded integrity, but ihcy could not comprehend the grasp of his mind ; (>f the latter, there can be no smer test cr argument thai: the man's irresolution — he always seems to be undetermined w hen the case is so plain, and the necessity so urgent. We should be sorry to cxi)ose this Dogberry to ummerited obloipiy, but we think, in common with h\mdreds, that he may be advantageously removed from a Court, the duties of which he is utterly iicompelent to discharge. There are many reasons and sufficient grounds, for an address to the Minister of Justice, for the removal of this Dogberry, though no legal crime can be i)roved against him, yet, the commission of acts which ilisqnalify him for the judicial office arc alone sufficient. Some recent decisions in the rdice Court deserve the most serious consi- deration, and we have no hesitation in saying that a remedy ought to be applied to the evil, and that the evil ought to be checked in the only speedy and effectual manner, which is, in our judgment, the removal of this Dogberry from the I'ench wliich he neiihei dignifies nor sheds lii.stre thereon — for there is an almost unani- mous conviction in the ni'nds (fall who jiraclice in the Court that he is thoroughly unfitted for his duties. The man has neither sagacity, self jiossession, nor the quality of discerning between right and wrong. — Nothing but expediency i-x inclination weighs in his balance. — How then can the scales of Justice be poised ? An anxious and conscientious desire to promote the best purposes of Justice is not sufficient for his office, even supposing he possessed it. The services of a man of talent in such a Court arc required ; of a man yet in the prime of life ; and in the full vigour of his understanding ;a man alxiui whose purity there can be but one opinion ; assuredly, such a man is to be found, if so, there would not be the cliancc, as there now is, for the commission of great injustice towards individuals and the infliction of a serious injury on the public service. It is neither wise nor just to kee]) such a Dogberry in office — Would it not be a benefit to the cause of Justice if such a man were removed to a sphere where his talents mav be turned to the good ofllie Public ? 'IIO- Tlic liberty of the subject cries aloud for an alteration. We d(- not want Justice clicatccl by caprice, nor pcrverlcd l)y ii^norance. — Wc do not want the davs of llildebrand, or l.oui.s the XiVlh. — In spite of the Minister of Justice, reforms in the administration of Justice in this I'rovincc must be carried. !\fagistrales and Judges must, like Ca.'sar\s\vife, Ijc above susjjicioii. — Our Courts of Justice must be reformed, therefore let those who appoint the Magistrates and the Judges be content to guide that movement of reform which they cannot stop — Let us have by Kefn'ni what other nations and peojilc seek l)y Revolution — At all events, and at all hazards, the Reform must come. That (jur Courts ot Law want reforming is only too evitlent. IIcw are they to be reformed ? If the salt shall lose its savtnn-, wherewith shall wc season it ? The distrust with which the i)ublic regards our Police Court may be unjust. But what then ? Can the distrust be removed ? That it exists cannot be denied. Palliatives, and Anodynes and Expedients will not do — Let us cut out the can- cer, the lejirous spot, let the cause of the disease be removed — a diseased judg- ment seat is intolcrab'c. Men without either brain )iower, or heait power ought not to rcmaiii on the judgment sc;il. 'I'hal is not the easy chair for political hacks, at least so thinks THE COUNCIL OF TEI^.