THE APPLICABILITY OF ENGLISH METHODS which Magna Charta and the constitutions of nearly all the states guarantee to all men, justice without delay. A juridical system which denies a party his first hearing for three years, and then starts him in a series of appeals and new trials, with almost even chances of several in each appeal, whatever may be said of it, is not, properly speaking, a system of justice. For the conditions which prevail in New York the lawyers of the city and state are responsible and no one else. Timidity and indifference, and the habit of never speaking for any cause except under the stimulus of fee are, alas! the common vices of our noble profession. There is no other calling that does not protect its own interests with jeal ous care : labor men starve for their unions; scientists brave every peril and die often times unostentatiously in an effort to lift their science to some higher plane, and add some troph y of discovery to its hoard of knowledge; medicine, engineering, and the church have their unnumbered martyrs. The law alone is left by its votaries in this commercial age to work out its own salva tion. This is the cause of causes. It is useless to talk of legal reforms until the profession is thoroughly aroused to a sense
of its responsibilities in the matter. Our over-worked judges cannot do it: the Press cannot do it; its writers are brave and en lightened, but the counting-room has its policy of commercialism and hesitates to offend the courts by suggesting innovations which may not be acceptable to the judges who try the libel cases and dispense the valuable newspaper patronage : the business men cannot because they have not sufficient legal knowledge and have to depend upon the lawyers: the politicians would like to, but in their own way. The "Law's Delay Bills" pending to-day in the state legislature are by far the most important and far-reaching measures that have been before that body for many years, and still they are the least regarded, and their passage is imperiled by the apathy of the members of that great profession to whom the cause of justice has been en trusted. It* was Alexander Hamilton who said, "Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it be ob tained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit." J. NOBLE HAYES. NEW.YORK, N. Y., April, 1905.
