The Legal World Attorney of Wyandotte county.' He was the nominee of the Republican party for judge of the Circuit Court, which office was subse quently declared unconstitutional. Compara tively few men, cast upon their own resources at the age of sixteen and handicapped by the loss of both legs, had risen to greater heights and overcome greater difficulties. Crime and Criminal Lais Justice Zeller, in the Court of Special Ses sions in New York City, suspended sentence Aug. 31 on Felix L. Droit, a professional chauffeur and participant in the Vanderbilt cup race, for speeding when the latter promised never again to drive an automobile in New York state. The mayor of Des Moines, la., has declared in favor of allowing defendants in criminal courts to plead under assumed names. Com menting on this, the Haverhill (Mass.) Gazette says: "To make procedure less public would decrease the probability of fair trial and equal justice, at the same time taking away that greatest check to law breaking, a fear of public criticism through newspaper public ity." Thomas Dudley Wells, chairman of the committee on the parole of life prisoners, says, in his recent report submitted to the American Prison Association, that in states where the life sentence is rigidly enforced, the ratio of insanity among life convicts is nearly three times as great as in the general body of felons, and that only the dictates of social safety justify the state in putting a prisoner's reason in peril. The New York police department have re ceived a long report from the detectives Tony Vacris and John R. Crowley, who went abroad after the assassination of Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino in Palermo on March 12, to continue the Black Hand investigation which he had begun. After Police Commissioner Baker had conferred with the detectives, he said that their report had been decidedly encouraging, and might lead to the detection of the assas sins of Lieutenant Petrosino. The American Prison Association has lately held its annual meeting in Seattle. Topics discussed included the abolition of sheriffs' fees, the indeterminate sentence, the juvenile court, outdoor employment for prisoners, the sterilization of criminals, and medical ex amination before trial. Amos W. Butler of Indiana was elected president. Mr. Butler is not a practical prison administrator. The next session will be held in conjunction with the International Prison Congress, which will meet in Washington, D.C., in October, 1910. This meeting will be of deep interest to penologists and criminologists everywhere. "The grand jury ought to be abolished or
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the city magistrates should be done away with for the advantage of the community, said Magistrate Cornell Aug. 27 in Yorkville Court, New York City, in connection with an alleged swindle in a horse deal. Counsel for the defendant asked for his discharge on the ground that the complainant did not appear, and said that the grand jury would throw out the case. Magistrate Cornell made the above statement, and added: "The magis trates are trained in law and when after an examination they hold defendants for trial there is a miscarriage of justice when a grand jury composed of laymen who are over whelmed with business hastily throws out the cases." Meeting of Attorneys-General The National Association of AttorneysGeneral, meeting east of the Mississippi river for the first time, held its annual convention in Buffalo, Aug. 27-28. Attorney-General O'Malley of New York, who was instrumental in bringing the conven tion to Buffalo, delivered the opening address. He said that the conservative states of the East might learn from the young and vigorous methods of the middle and extreme West in almost any matter of state administration, for they had profited by the mistakes made in early days by the East. Little of the state's legal business being with the average citizen, the state in dealing with large interests must contend not only with lawyers of great ability, but also with unlimited means to conduct litigation. Legal departments must be effi ciently organized. "In my judgment," said Mr. O'Mallley, "an efficient state legal depart ment must of necessity embody at least three essential things:— "First—Salaries should be paid sufficient to attract to the public service, if not the best, at least lawyers of high standing. "Second—There should be a sufficient num ber of deputies or assistants to take care of all the ordinary legal business of the state. So far as possible, special counsel should be done away with. Special counsel is generally expensive, and the work done is not, on the whole, as satisfactory as with an office force. The terms of deputy attorneys-general should be for a longerperiod than thatof the AttorneyGeneral. The term of Attorney-General in this state is for two years. In my judgment this is too short. "Third—I believe all the law business of the state should be conducted by and under the Attorney-General." The second day of the convention was marked by a discussion of the problems of delinquent corporations and of liquor asso ciations. Resolutions were adopted favoring a radical change in court procedure by requir ing dilatory pleas to be presented at the same time as the answer and summarily disposed of; against the practice of employing special counsel by an Attorney-General; against the indiscriminate use of the federal injunction to stay the hands of state officers in the
