lowing is a clause: "Whereas, The records show that police-captains, bailiffs, and judges anarchistically violated established precedent and justice in imprisoning those Governor Altgeld recently released." And the editor •of the Grand Forks " News " (N. D.) finds solace in Altgeld's assault upon the Judici ary by saying : " He shows that the man who threw the bomb was never found, and that there was no way of legally connecting the men who were prosecuted, with the bomb-thrower. In fact, the Governor makes out a clear case of murder and conspiracy against Judge Gary and the Chicago police that could not have been more strongly fortified, or more truly professed by the most radical Anarchist." There is no great cause for complaint
that three misguided men who now doubt less see the error of their way are pardoned; certainly the Governor is clothed with abso lute power to pardon; but when he in exercis ing the pardoning power — the remission of a penalty inflicted by a court of justice — usurps judicial powers, and in his official capacity declares that the Supreme Court of the State and of the United States have affirmed the sentence of men who have not committed a crime, then it is that society must, by its duly constituted machinery, brandas untrustworthy such utterance, — un trustworthy because, in addition to its being a usurpation of power, it is the passing of judgment by one man without the presenta tion of both sides of the case, or the assist ance which the argument of counsel gives.
LONDON LEGAL LETTER. LONDON, Sept. 9, 1893
Г MENTIONED in a former letter the vacancy •*• that had occurred in the professorate at Ox ford, through the resignation of the Chair of Civil Law by Mr. Hryce, now Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. After much delay the Government made an appointment which occasioned great sur prise in every quarter; they selected Professor Goudy, the occupant of the Civil Law Chair in the University of Edinburgh, a Scottish advocate, who had not even been educated at Oxford or Cam bridge. Mr. Goudy was admirably qualified for the duties of his office at Edinburgh, where the lecturer does not require to do much more than give a plain statement of the principles of Roman law in daily prelections, continued through a win ter session of five months and a summer session of two; the results of original research would be out of place, and certainly quite beyond the grasp of the majority of the students, very few of whom attend the class of Civil Law for any reason except the requirements of their professional curriculum. In Oxford it is far otherwise. The professorial chairs are not agencies for ordinary tuition; this service is performed by tutors and lecturers. The ancient seats of English learning reserve their chairs for scholars and thinkers, who enjoy disCo
tinction superior to the mere possession of compe tent knowledge. These illustrious professors break the silence of the cloister seldom; their position is not demeaned by daily toil, and therefore the greater need that on the infrequent occasions when their voices are heard by small and select audi ences, a new idea, a fresh fact, should be contrib uted to the sum of human knowledge. We wish Professor Goudy well in his new sphere : but if he wishes to be more than an academic stipendiary, he must invent a hypothesis. Can none of our foremost jurists take a hint from the fruitful labors of Biblical critics, and demonstrate that few, if any, of the great treatises on the Law of Rome are really from the pen of the writers with whose names they have hitherto been identified? Mr. Goudy might profitably commence such an on slaught as we have indicated on the obscure and frequently unintelligible writings of which Gaius is the reputed author. As I stated in my previous reference to this matter, Mr. Thomas Raleigh, Fellow of All Souls College and Vinerian Reader in Law, was, on all hands, regarded as the man most highly qualified for the position, and keen regret was felt when it was found that his claims had not been recognized. Several other Oxford and Cambridge men possessed the necessary equip
