Judges and their Environment. The trial thus being ended, the court ad journed, but a day or two later the counsel for the accused appealed from the verdict to the higher court, and the appeal being heard by the Court of Cassation on March 31st, last, the finding of the jury was sus tained; but it applied to Zola what is called the Berenger law, remitting sentences im posed upon first offenders, and set aside the sentence — similarly as twenty years ago the New York Court of Appeals sustained the
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conviction of William M. Tweed, but an nulled the sentence. The Zola result was undoubtedly suggested by the government who desired to stop the Zola—Dreyfus — Esterhazy—Semitic agitation. This cursory review of the Zola trial, which has assumed international importance, will, we trust, serve to throw additional light upon French methods in criminal trials and prove of interest as well as benefit to Green Bag readers.
JUDGES AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT. By Henry C. Merwin. IT is almost a matter of course that an American judge should be honest; and it is seldom also that a man reaches high judi cial position unless he has the gift of looking at both sides of a question, and of reserving his judgment upon it until all the material facts have been considered. There are, however, more subtle forms, not exactly of partiality or of prejudice, but of preconcep tion which arise from association and envi ronment. A crude but interesting novel, recently published, entitled, " The Federal Judge," deals with this subject in a sugges tive but not quite satisfactory manner. It will be remembered that several years ago a circuit judge, sitting in the West, issued a sweeping injunction, the practical effect of which was to forbid the employees of a certain railroad, then in the hands of a receiver appointed by the court, from striking for higher wages. This, undoubt edly was a gross violation of individual rights, and, on appeal, the injunction was substantially modified. " The Federal Judge " turns upon this incident. The au thor, with some boldness, but not without truth to nature, represents the Federal
judge, before his appointment, as being noted for a prejudice against corporations. This prejudice he has shown, or has been thought to show, in his capacity as judge of a local or county court. Nevertheless, the manager of an extensive corporation, who is the villain of the tale, thinking that he sees in the rural magistrate a possible tool, pro cures his appointment to the Federal bench. The new judge removes to a large city, joins a fashionable club, at the instigation of his friend and adviser, the corporation-man ager, and forms intimacies with bankers and speculators. The result, as the author de scribes it, is that the former opponent of cor porations gradually becomes convinced that their officers are more honest, more just, less grasping than their employees, and he ends by taking a set in their favor, as vio lent as that which, at the outset, he had held against them. Now, as to whether the au thor of this book makes out a probable case there will be two opinions; but it is certain that judges, being human (or, at least, nearly so) are affected more or less, even in their judicial capacity, by their bringing up and by their associates. This
