92
The Green Bag
"It may be that in such offenses as nuisance,
severe in one case as the other.
whether by nonfeasance or misfeasance, it is
Wood evolved the
better that a corporation should be proceeded against directly, but it seems to me that we will come greatly nearer to reducing corporate criminal violation when we get back to the common-law theory, and more convincing will be the thought that nobody can authorize anybody or anything to commit a crime. Then all agents of corpora. tions will be like agents of individuals. If they violate law there will be no force or power to stand between them and its vindication." "The Practical Features of Corporate Organi zation and Management." By Adrian H. _Ioline. 10 Phi Delta Phi Brief 201 (Jan.). "The creation of corporations and the pre liminary issue of their securities ought not to be devolved upon what are known as dummies. It is almost-a rule that in the organization of companies, the requirements of the law are technically complied with by conducting the initial proceedings with boards composed of
applied it to an inchoate o ense.
clerks.
The reason for this is not, I think, any
desire on the part of the real promoters to avoid any statutory liability, but only the natural dis like of men of large affairs to be bored by what they regard as mere legal formalities. They make their business plans and turn them over to their lawyers so that all legal requirements may be observed.
But, in my view, it would be
far better if these gentlemen gave their personal attention to the initiatory details and realized that the statutes regulating the creation of cor porations, in s irit at least, call for an intelligent
exercise of ju gment on the art of the organ izers and not the simply mec anical action of a few subordinates who only do what the lawyers tell them to do." See Federal and State Powers.
Criminal Law. “Statutory Abolition of the Defense of Insanity in Criminal Cases." By John R. Rood. 9 Michigan Law Review 126 (Dec.). The author is in sympathy with the recent recommendation of the New York State Bar Association that the defense of insanity be abolished. A statute of the state of Washington has been held unconstitutional on the ground that it violated the provisions of the state con stitution that "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law," and “The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate." This decision was rendered in the case of State v. Strasburg, 110 Pac. 1020. The writer subjects this decision to an impartial and extended criticism. He believes the judg ment, which was rendered last September, to have been unsound, and thinks the statute in
question perfectly constitutional. "Criminal Conspiracy Needing Overt Act to Make it indictable." By N. C. Collier. 71 Central Law Journal 387 (Dec. 2). “A man who conspires with another is as morally guilty under the statutory as the com mon-law rule of conspiracy. He sets in motion a wrong as much in one case as the other, and his responsibility for consequences should be as
locus
When judge
amilenh'ce
idea, he
When judge
Sanborn extended it, he wiped out a completed offense, and, thereby, seems to have created a
{ule opposed to that recognized by the common aw." See Corporations. Criminal Procedure. "Criminal Procedure in England." By Prof. John D. Lawson and Prof. Edwin R. Keedy. 1 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 748 0am). The second part of their report to the Ameri can institute of Criminal Law and Criminology (see 23 Green Bag 36). The detailed account of the English system is continued, with reference to attitude of counsel in trials, general comments of counsel, functions and attitude of trial judge,
summing up by trial judge, legal aid for poor prisoners, prisoner at trial, functions of police, jury and their verdict, expedition, the Court of Criminal Appeal, criminal appeals in general, rules of court and uniformity of sentence. The authors conclude their descriptive report with these highly important recommendations:— “1. All objections to the indictment should be made before evidence is heard, and errors in
matter of form amended at once. “2. The prosecuting attorney and counsel for the defense should before trial consider and dis cuss the qualifications of the individual members of the jury panel and agree to the dismissal of any one clearly incompetent to be a juror. "3. The voir dire should be limited to the asking of questions strongly tending to show incompetency or bias in the present trial. "4. All prisoners on trial upon indictment, who are unable to employ counsel, should be furnished with legal assistance throughout the trial, including the arraignment. "5. The prosecuting attorney, instead of being a partisan, should investigate the case from a non-partisan standpoint and should make an impartial presentation of the evidence to the jury. “6. The fee system, wherever it exists, for the compensation of prosecuting attorneys, should be abolished. “7. Counsel for the prisoner should defend him b endeavoring to disprove his guilt, and never y injecting error into the record. “8. The trial judge should not be a mere pre siding oflicer, but should take an active and controlling rt in the trial. He should restrict counsel to t e asking of relevant questions. He should promptly overrule and discourage techni cal objections. He should never permit counsel to intimidate or improperly to confuse a witness. He should sum up the evidence to the jury and direct them as to the law applicable thereto. “9. New trials should never be granted for technical errors, but only to prevent miscarriage of justice. “10.
Prosecutions for minor offenses, where
the accused is not likely to evade the hearin, should be begun by summons, as in civil cases. '
