634
The Green Bag
added to them, but is not the reward she promises. There are some who call her arbitrary. True it is that we have to learn her speech, but when we have learned enough of it to speak it freely, we know that open discussion and un
Swinburne in praise of Liberty. If there
fettered criticism are the very light of the law. Some complain of her tongue as bar
has ever been done.
By that spirit Our Lady has embold ened her servants to speak the truth
barous.
before kings, to restrain the tyranny of
Well, the Latin of Roman law
is any virtue in the common law whereby
she stands for more than intellectual excellence in a special kind of learning.
it is that Freedom is her sister, and in the spirit of freedom her greatest work
falls short at best of classical perfection,
usurping license, and to carry her ideal
and when one gets below the surface of our mediaeval books, French and Latin, one finds them at least as human as The
of equal public justice and ordered right
into every quarter of the world. By the fire of that spirit our worship of her is
Digest and far more living and human
touched and enlightened, and in its
than Justinian's Institutes and the glos
der power, to her knowing is freedom, that we theclaim service no we inferior
sators. Rather we may praise-our Lady the Common Law in the words of a poet who was not a lawyer, words not written concerning her, and nevertheless appro priate:—— Our lady of love by you is unbeholden; For hands she hath none, nor eyes, nor lips, nor
golden Treasure of hair, nor face, nor form; but we That love, we know her more fair than anything,
fellowship of our brethren of the other great Faculty, the healers of the body’
and the comforters of the soul, the lovers of all that is highest in this world and beyond. There is no more ar'dllolls enterprise for lawful men, and none 1110“3
able, than the perpetual question 0f justice laid upon all of us who are mon pledged Law. to serve Our Lady of the C011!‘
This was written by Algernon Charles
The Adoption of the Recall in California HE results of the vote of California,
October 12 on twenty-three differ ent constitutional amendments were striking. Official returns from 2,877
precincts out of 3,121 in the state gave these results: for woman suffrage 119,830, against 117,779; for the initiative and referendum, 138,181, against 44,850; for the judicial“ recall, 148,572, against
46,290. The closest fight was over the amend ment placing under the jurisdiction of the railroad commission public utilities
of all sorts. The commission will have power to fix passenger and freight rates on railroads, and to veto rates fixed by
the companies, while none of its dfic" sions shall be subject to court revlew except on the plea of confiscation. Another amendment adopted was that providing that hereafter “no judgfl'lent shall be set aside or a new trial gral'lted in a criminal case on account of improper direction of the jury or the admissiOI1 of rejection view of the of evidence whole case, unless, including upon the re‘
