One day Dunning (whose exterior graces were by no means commensurate with his personal vanity) had been cross-examining a young woman at considerable length upon the age of a person with whom she professed herself well acquainted. Finally he asked her, " How old, now, do you take me to be? " and was considerably dumfounded by her promptly replying, to the univer sal laughter of a crowded court, " From your appearance I should take you to be sixty; from your questions, sixteen."
NOTES. When Colbert, the great French minister, sent for the merchants, and, anxious to promote their trade, asked them in what way he could serve this purpose, they made the memorable reply, "Leave us alone! " The principle which prompted this reply is the precise antithesis of that which guides many of our modern legislators. At the last annual meeting of the Ohio State Bar Association, Hon. J. T. Brooks, referring to what must be recognized as a growing evil, — the miscarriage of justice in criminal matters, — said : "The devices of the profession in criminal prac tice are the scandal of the age. Murder is com mitted in open day for greed, hate, or revenge. The astute lawyer pleads emotional insanity, or finds justification in the barbaric instincts which still linger in the human breast, and the mur derer goes unhung. The constant acquittal of criminals, through technical objections to the record, and by emotional appeals to the jury, are the deepest stain on the profession. A few years ago a school-teacher in Chicago, standing in his home, in the presence of his wife, in broad daylight, was shot dead by a ruffian who bore against him a personal grievance, and had come to his home for the express purpose of murder ing him. Eminent counsel was retained for the defence, and an acquittal secured. It was spoken of as a great professional triumph. But the assassin should have found a grave beneath the gallows, and the lawyer been expelled from the bar. A few years ago the Chief-Justice of Ken tucky was murdered by a man against whom the Supreme Court had affirmed a judgment. The assassin is free; but, unfortunately, murder is so
common there that the fact of his freedom is no reproach to the State. But these cases are but two in hundreds. Shall a prisoner then be tried without counsel? No; but if guilt is certain, let the facts and the law be stated, and the accused put upon the mercy of the court. The law should be vindicated, even at the expense of an ancient legal maxim; and if I can secure that dominion of the moral sense for which I con tend, I will risk the lawyer doing justice to his client when there is reasonable doubt of his guilt. There are omens in the air which indicate that the people are not satisfied with certain conditions of law, nor with the present course of the administration of justice. Most of them may be traced to the want of moral purpose and patriotic spirit among lawyers. It is well that we should heed them." Trial by jury does not appear to be restricted to the human race; certainly the feathered tribes are acquainted with its forms and ceremonies. "Crow-Courts " and " Sparrow-Courts " are in some parts almost as well known as those in tended for the arrangement of man's disputes. In the Shetland Islands, according to the au thority of Dr. Edmonson, a regular assembly of crows of the hooded species is observed to take place at certain intervals. It is composed of deputations from different localities. All business is abstained from until the convocation is complete; consequently early comers have fre quently to wait a day or two for the arrival of the later deputies. A particular hill or field suitable for the impending work is selected; and when all the expected members have ar rived, the session commences. The court opens in a formal manner' and the criminal or crimi nals are produced at the bar; but what is his or their offence, the human spectator cannot divine. The charge is not made individually, nor the evidence given by separate witnesses : but a general croaking and clamor is collectively raised, and judgment delivered apparently by the whole court. As soon as the sentence is given, the entire assemblage —" judges, barristers, ushers, audience, and all — fall upon the two or three prisoners at the bar, and beat them till they kill them." Directly the execution is over, the court breaks up, and all its members disperse quietly.
