EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT attorneys have printed blanks for bills for injunction in labor disputes which are granted by the court as a formal adjunct to every strike. The statistics as to the number of these injunctions issued in the last few years is certainly startling, but the most striking statement of the author is that the labor offi cials have ceased to regard these injunctions as worthy of their attention. It is said that they do not attempt to oppose the applica tion or give any heed to the terms of the injunction since experience has taught them that in practice they are not strictly enforced, and in very few instances, it is said, the attor neys for the plaintiffs succeed in punishing violaters for contempt. This is a new phase of the argument against the indiscriminate use of the exceptional process of equity, for if familiarity is to breed contempt, which the dictates of policy allows to go unpunished, there is a new danger confronting our courts of justice. JUDGE BREWER ON MUNICIPAL BONDS. Another blow at the legal trickster, and that from a high authority, came in the recent address of Justice David J. Brewer of the United States Supreme Court at the meeting at the People's Forum at New Rochelle, New York, in which he called attention to the enormous issues of municipal bonds being put into circulation and the consequent increase in the tendency to contest the validity of these issues by every possible device. He is re ported to have said " nearly all the litigation in respect to municipal bonds has ceased to be conducted along the higher levels of hon orable and fair dealings but has sunk to the lower levels of smaller technicalities and trivial omissions. On the one hand stands Shylock waiting for his pound of flesh, and on the other hand the legal trickster, who strives to make the omission to cross a ' t ' or dot an ' i ' an excuse for repudiating what was fairly issued and honestly earned. It is not too much to say that the reckless issue of bonds has not only burned the future, induced extravagance in the present, but has also lowered the general moral tone." Any lawyer who has engaged in the lucrative but some
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what wearisome occupation of passing upon the validity of the municipal bonds and has become familiar with the extraordinarily tech nical problems which have been litigated will appreciate the force of Judge Brewer's con tention. PRACTICE REFORM. Few of our readers outside the state of Illi nois will realize that its legal practice is nearer the pure practice of the old English common law than any other jurisdiction, not excepting England itself and its colonies. The conserv atism or indifference which has maintained this ancient system of pleading and practice is, however, being awakened by the report of a commission appointed to suggest reforms in practice and by the submission of a special jury act by the Chicago Bar Association to the coming session of the legislature. The absurdly extended contest over the empanel ling of jurors in some hotly contested criminal cases in Chicago in the last few years has em phasized the necessity for the latter reform. Other states which are considering the same problem will be interested in the details of this act which it is impossible to discuss at length here. The National Corporation Re porter says, however, " It doubtless will se cure a much more intelligent class of jurors, and, in the hands of a judge who has a whole some contempt for the jury system and who will allow special juries with great liberality, the law may lead to excellent results. It does not remedy and does not attempt to remedy the most serious evil of the jury system — the evasion of service by those most compe tent to serve, on one pretext or another. This can be met only by a radical reform which would remove the serious hardships neces sarily incident to the system as it now exists, the mere enumeration of which would tax the space at our disposal." A suggestion, how ever, that it will be better to impose a charge or fine upon those claiming exemption and to increase the fees paid those who serve seems unlikely to be effective since it would be im possible to offer adequate financial induce ment for services, and the very ones who are the most desired on the panel would find it easiest to escape.
