THE LAW'S DELAYS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 617, 21 September 1909, Page 5

THE LAW'S DELAYS.

AMERICAN EVILS. , ; COMPARED WITH EMW.ISHSYSTEM. \ TAFT'S CRITICISM. (By Telesr&»h.—Pt«ra-.Ai»oolatton.l (Roc. September 20, 9.30 p.m.) New York, September 20. President Taft, speaking at Cbieago, condemned tho administration of the'criminal law in the United States' as a disgrace, to civilisation. ,\ He contrasted the legal delays—by means, of which accused persons postpone sentence* indefinitely, or perhaps escape scot-free-— with the speedy, business-like procedure, of English Courts. He etatcd that be had also found undue delays in the United States, Civil. Courts. It is reported that President Tafb faronrs the appointment of a commission to devise a scheme of reform of the Federal Cburts; the scheme to serve also as a model to the. State Courts. BAD SELECTION OF JUDGES. '; "While the bitter criticism of the London press concerning the faults of our criminal procedure, as they are disclosed by the Thaw trial, is by no means undeserved (writos the American correspondent of the'"Argus") it is well to poiut ont the origin and cause of some of these faults. Tho main immediate causes of prolonged trials, and of the introduction, of apparently irrelevant or superfluous testimony ara the improper method of selecting judges, their inadequate salaries, and tho superincumbent burden of almost unending appeals. Trial judges here are elected upon the nomination of political leaders, frequently of political bosses. The salary is, I am told, less than one-quarter of the salary of judges performing similar duties in England. One result of all this is that our eminent jurists are not, as a rule, found upon tho bench in the courts. '■ "The promotion of judges of poor quality to tho appellatecourts has ; produced a complicatcd body of judge-made law, and in 6Uch a trial-as the one under consideration; both the prosecutor and the trial judge must: continually have in mind tho possibility'of reversal on appeal. To restrict offered testimony, to exclude this or to, cut down that, may lead the higher Court, on appeal, to order a new trial. There is a cure fpf a part of this,- it is true, in legislation,, but many of our influential legislators are lawyers engaged in defending rather than In prosecuting. They prefer appeals' and delay and hair-splitting decisions. Again6t the lhfluenco of- soph legislator? and of the. political bosses, our people prevail occasionally, but not -continuously."