Review of Periodicals ascertaining precisely how the insane criminal is to be dealt with, unless he is to be treated exactly like the sane criminal, which would be unreasonable, and which he could hardly have wished to imply. Police Administration. "The New York Police in Politics." By Gen. Theodore A. Bingham. Century, v. 78, p. 725 (Sept.). "Under the present 'system,' which during my incumbency in office I made persistent efforts to break down, police officials are sup posed to pay for their positions by daily political service. When no election is immi nent, the district leaders are scheming for the next campaign. If a police captain or inspect or honestly enforces the law, this hurts the ward heelers, the saloon and dive keepers, the gamblers, the pawnbrokers, and all others who live by breaking the law; so this police officer must be suppressed or be transferred. To accomplish this, a visit to the Commis sioner, or even a letter from some one identi fied with the party, should be sufficient." "Policing our Lawless Cities." By Gen. Theodore A. Bingham. Hampton's, v. 23, p. 289 (Sept.). "New York is not ruled by her brains, her wealth, or her virtue—the city is ruled by the politicians who control the poverty-stricken and criminal aliens of the East Side." "The London Police from a New York Point of View." By William McAdoo. Cen tury, v. 78, p. 649 (Sept.). "The estimate in which the public hold the police is the measure of police efficiency. The New York police will, in my judgment, under able, honest, and wise leadership, eventually gain a position equal to that of the London police. When that is done, the police ques tion in New York will be solved. Practice. "The Lawyer in his Office." By Lemuel H. Foster. Citator, v. 4, p. 116 (Mar.). "The lawyer's duty to the public is to continue in the future as in the past to be a leader in every movement calculated to ad vance the public interests; to be first in peace and first in war; honest as a legislator, and pure and upright as a judge; to advocate those public measures that he believes to be right and condemn those he believes to be wrong; to be a good citizen and an honest man. The ethics of the profession have been too much neglected in the education of young men for the bar." , "Counsel's Fees." By Hugh H. L. Bellot, D.C.L. 34 Law Magazine and Review 394 (Aug.). "It should be a breach of professional eti quette for Counsel to accept a brief without the fee except for good cause. ... It is matter for regret that the attempt should have been made. ... to lend official sup port to that credit system which is one of the causes of the disrepute in financial matters
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in which the profession of the law as a whole is held in the public estimation." Procedure. "The Efficiency of English Courts: An Example for America." By Jesse Macy. McClure's, v. 33, p. 552 (Sept.). "Our attorneys do not appear to be domi nated by a feeling of veneration for the judi ciary; their whole attitude is far removed from that. In England it is the judge and not the attorney, who habitually interrupts, raises objections, and insists upon explana tions. If the attorney puts a question to a witness worded in such a manner as to raise a false issue, the judge instantly interferes. He may even assume the chief burden of the examination of the witnesses, or jurors or litigants may be encouraged to question the witnesses. In any event, the examining of witnesses is controlled in every detail by the presiding justice. If, in addressing the Court, an attorney makes a statement which the judge regards as false or misleading, he is immediately interrupted and the errors are corrected. Or, if in the opinion of the Court the remarks of the attorney are not edifying, they are promptly checked. . . "In the English county court, in which civil cases involving $250 or less are litigated, parties to the suit meet in front of the judge and state their own cases. If there are wit nesses, they have already been sworn and are placed at the right and left of the bench. In the most informal manner the judge, the parties to the suit, and the witnesses talk over the matter together. In this court plaintiffs and defendants conduct their own cases, it being quite unusual for them to employ attorneys. The judge comes to be an expert in getting at the essential facts. He settles suits involving a good deal of detail at the rate of one every five minutes. When no legal technicalities are recognized, when there are no opposing attorneys to make objections, with a trained jurist, familiar with the law, who has the litigants and the wit nesses before him, it becomes impossible to consume much time in reaching a decision. Procedure in both civil and criminal courts resembles informal arbitration, from which legal technicalities and extraneous topics are strictly excluded." "The Demoralization of the Law." By Ignotus. Westminster Review, v. 172, p. 146 (Aug.). "The jury system is, indeed, an apt illustra tion of an institution turned from use to abuse. Originally intended to assist the judge, it has degenerated into a permanent possibility, if not an absolute certainty, of placing in his path a series of snares and pit falls, which Solon himself could not hope to evade. The summing up is subjected to a minute and critical examination. Molehills are magnified into mountains, and then Ossa is piled upon Pelion until the original case is buried fifty fathoms deep. Now this tre mendous superstructure is almost entirely owing to the presence of the jury, and the
