Study And Report For American Federation Of Labor Upon Judicial Control Over Legislatures As To Constitutional Questions

Author : Jackson H. Ralston
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331037941
Total Pages : 90 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (379 download)

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Download or read book Study and Report for American Federation of Labor Upon Judicial Control Over Legislatures as to Constitutional Questions, 1919 (Classic Reprint) written by Jackson H. Ralston and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-09 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Study and Report for American Federation of Labor Upon Judicial Control Over Legislatures as to Constitutional Questions, 1919 Says William L. Ransom, in "Majority Rule and the Judiciary" (page 4): "The judge has no more right than any other official to be set up over the people as an irremovable and irresponsible despot. He has no more right than any other official to decide for the people what the people ought to think about questions of vital public policy, such as the proper handling of corporations and the proper methods of securing the welfare of farmers, wage workers, small business men, and small professional men." Mr. Ransom, on page 168 of his work, quotes "The Nation" (page 203), by Elisha Mulford, as follows: " ... To make the opinions of the judiciary a finality in the political order would fetter the free spirit of the people, confining it, not in the assertion and regulation of law as the determination of the organic will, but in the conformance to a mere legality. The past, by its precedents, would impose its authority upon the present. The energy of the people perishes when precedents become the substitute for the action of a living will, and the strength of a living spirit.... The formative political power must belong only to the. power which is representative of the political will." Professor J. Allen Smith, in "The Spirit of American Government" (page 92), expresses himself to this effect: ..". But however much the convention may have desired to give to the judiciary the power to veto legislation, it could not have been done by an express provision of the Constitution. Any such attempt would have disclosed altogether too clearly the undemocratic reactionary character of the proposed government and thus have prevented its adoption. This end was attained indirectly through the general system of checks which the Constitution imposed upon the other branches of the government and upon the people, since it made it possible for the judiciary to assume and exercise this power." Again, on page 116, he says: "With the progress of democracy it must become more and more evident that a system which places this far-reaching power in the hands of a body not amenable to popular control, is a constant menace to liberty. It may not only be made to serve the purpose of defeating reform, but may even accomplish the overthrow of popular rights which the Constitution expressly guarantees. In proof of this statement we need but refer to the recent history of our Federal judiciary. The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right of trial by jury in all criminal prosecutions; but it is a matter of common knowledge that this time-honored safeguard against the tyranny and oppression of ruling classes has been overthrown by the Federal courts. With the ascendency of corporate wealth and influence, government by injunction has become an important feature of our system. The use made of the injunction in recent years in the conflicts between labor and capital has placed a large and important class of crimes beyond the pale of this constitutional provision. Moreover, this particular class of crimes is the one where denial of the right of trial by jury is most likely to result in oppression. Under this mode of procedure the court has virtually assumed the power to enact criminal legislation, and may punish as crimes acts which neither law nor public opinion condemns. It ensures conviction in many 'cases where the constitutional right of trial by jury would mean acquittal. It places a powerful weapon in the hands of organized wealth which it is not slow to use." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com