YMCA Night Law School - Triangle Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

Page 79 text:

- . 6, 5 . ,-X Q28 . -V i Q- D . Q Q an X-.. e As the title of this discourse involves the implication of another phase known as logic, it is deserving of consideration in introduction. Logic is the source in creating the principle upon which to base the foundation of legal jurisprudence. To dig at the firmness of the foundation dislodges the law and all that is built thereon tumbles in a ruinous heap of destruction. A mere shoot or sprout arising at the roof of a plant, sucks away the life of the plant, and at the same time destroys itself. So the law sprouts from the fertility of logic and grows into beauty and justice, then the sucker of corruption catches hold and until it is plucked, it takes away the full strength of proper administration. This consideration leads us to separate discussion of the subjects involved and their combined applications so that one may vizualize the importance and dependence of the two factors, law and logic. I Law is benejicience acting by rule.-Burke. The most important basis of modern civilization is law. Authorities tell us that law is a science of reasoning involving rules of conduct which are formally recognized by a supreme authority. Law termed in this sense includes these well known forms, as an edict, decree, rescript, order, ordinance, statute, etc. We have traced thus far some of the path of our basiclearning guided, perhaps, by a somewhat different arf rangement and in a more crude form. To the average layman, law is usually accepted without definition and without thought as to its importance upon present living conditions. In noting the social and scientific development of other countries one can easily recognize a state of lack co-mf pared to our own domestic progress. Without hesitation it may be said that the great American freedom is afforded by the Constitution which stands as the strong foundaf tion of our supremacy. Datmg back to 1787 when the wise men of this young nation saw the need of a stronger government, a constitutional convention was called in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. Men who were instrumental in gaining our freedom met there, among whom were Franklin, Hamilton, Madison and Washington, the latter being the most trusted man in all America. Washington made a noble speech in which he said, If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterward defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair, the event is in the hand of God. Through the trials and difficulties that were weathered, the great instrument of freedom was drawn up. Today, with a number of amendments, this document stands foremost in reverence and respect of all true and loyal lawyers and judges serving in the name of justice. The laws of this people have been guided thereby and the highest judiciary in the land is the supreme court of interpretation. This constituf X7 '- es- ' fi fl, XF l k as T QT Pi 2 li 0 X712 ' 1 f x I-. - . a . t ff XJ QYI1

Page 78 text:

-:SK 'T 47 J Q 51592 miners ex ij W2 Xf TX xestf 2-'RG 213 j A Iota ambda Pi7s ssay Contest HE essay printed below is the winner of the Iota Lambda Pi Fraternity's annual prize legal essay contest. It is the practice of the fraternity to award a prize each year for the best essay submitted by a student of the Law School, not a member of the fraternity, on a legal or quasiflegal subject. The essays were judged this year by three members of the faculty, Mr. Herbert Shaffer, Mr. Henry B. Street and Mr. Charles Stephens, Jr., and three laymen. The winner was Mr. A. Howard William-s, a member of the class of 1950. ' LAW PLUS LOGIC By A. HOWARD WILLIAMS '30 'LCessante 'ratione legis dessat ipsa lex, .i Reasons is the soul of the law, and when the 'reason ceases so does the law itself. -Legal Maxim. INTRODUCTION T Is it true that the modern apprehension of intellectual reasoning in law enforce' ment has been mired and swamped by kraken monsters in the form of corrupt practices? Is it true that present legislatures have been pressing their quota with persons of questionable reputation and character? What do these signs, if answered in the affirmative, imply? Each reader can answer from his own deductions and draw from such some form of remedy either, in a general way, or, in an expressed and formulated outline. Newspapers, magazines and other current literature are now in complexing discussion over situations arising from the same germ that has prompted me in making such inquiries as are sampled here. The Lord Chief Justice of England in a recent address before the American Bar Association said: 'kThe administration of justice, as l am sure you do not need to be reminded, is of greater importance to the people than anything else. And it is conf fidence in the administration of justice which beyond anything else makes a people contented and happy. In the administration of justice we must follow the law. Those who make our laws represent the populace and are morally bound to abide by their needs. Law is generally accepted to mean a system of rules established by legislative authority to enforce justice. The laws that we have been led to recognize involve the rules for order assembled by the customs of a growing society. ff D we V 'Q X -. 'f.w?Ts:v1' w ,427 -- g w Mk . ,, f-qi, Y ' A ? x 1 Nx1..g!T?'iT- -- T x - 'i fi V 'X r- 1. MT PTX'Q7iff-laffjgfli e '53 Veil' id! SX ,Ci 44: W .V Q -1 if' -A-k , 1 f - 1 N4 t 7,1 . r ' 1-g -Y' ,.i.fffj,,X-4.:1Z:i,,,5:?- -in-:Ai .xl ILB K flex ,x.,,,.,5..c ,WX V VJ, ,. 4, ia. 7,7 fjrpj ff,,1. C.f'?7Sf L kj ' ill ,LJ xxx fj Y, ,eff U 'lj -Qsgje-1,1 sf Qjfx, dx Z, Xlifxr?

Page 80 text:

-.195 e er me 5 I tt i I 1- tional government has received comment by a late noted American jurist which should be of importance to the student of law, spoken as follows: -American scholars look out on the world from a height-that on which their education has placed them. They observe that the tendencies of modern political thought in most countries are towards greater and greater centralization of power in the hands of one man or a few men, subject to checks by the people, either by direct vote or through their representatives. The educated man is especially liable to be affected by the current of worldfpolitics. He naturally wishes his own country to be in line with the advance elsewhere of political thought. I' do not think he al' ways appreciates how the difference in history and conditions between the United States and Europe renders impossible here, under our constitutional system, much that is possible there. This point of view is of immense importance, since it shows that the student should consider the varied distinctions and contrasting elements of the several govern-ments of the world. Courts and laws of all nations are interestmg in their different functionings and their various means of meting justice. The famous judicial combination of this age is one known as the Permanent Court of International justice. With no intentions of stirring up political debate upon something that our own country has not seen fit to enter into, but merely to show how farfreaching is the extent of the hand of law and justice, a somewhat brief discussion will follow upon the court that has heretofore been mentioned. The policy that the United States has taken in the matter of the Pernian-ent Court of International justice has been not to negotiate but to legislate, but it seems that treaties cannot b-e legislated and because of the refusal of the Powers involved, to accept certain reservations, we have not entered. The Court of International Justice is empowered to decide unsettled portions or unsatisfactorily interpreted provisions of various peace treaties and under the mandates. The court sits at hearings of disputes arising over the international regime of maritime ports and of railways and various other vital states of controversy. One can easily see the vast importance connected with the functions of this court and how reasonable law must be applied to serve as a means of prof tection to many nations. Q This continual growth of rules upon which man has founded his judicial stage has evolved from the earliest period when man reasoned only within his primitive bounds. When the safety of his fellow men was to be ascertained, he planned the rules that were to weigh their acts. Through the long hall of legal fame are the busts of Hammurabi, Justinian, Williani the Conqueror, Edward the Confessor and well can we add some of the early judges who sat on the benches of England. These men have established precedents of worth that may be found upon the pages of modern legal records. The whole body of rules of law are summed up by deduction to mean the provisions for the control or regulation of society, brought about by the existence of reason to conform with the social requisites of the time. 'Q TEX Wa, 54525: f '- Q , fe . I fi JL? tm X ,Ez 'fy-ig-'ffiggigl ..ij,.,'e'. k . ,,l., V ,,,.f'l l ' , ' I fly-112-17.111 o Ki GXQ7-f Qidiix Ellilz ., i45 a -621, Jifnfs X JF -9 'sifffo 'ff 9 W