THE STRATFORD EVENING POST WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1924. DRASTIC ENGLISH LAW.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXXI, Issue 22, 24 January 1924, Page 4

THE STRATFORD EVENING POST WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1924. DRASTIC ENGLISH LAW.

The comparative freedom ; of Great Britain from ’ crimes 1 of ( violence is ascribed by i 'J\lf v ! f Ellis, s of the American'’Bar Association, chietly .toUhGT 'fabl that Enfjlisfi law has, y 5 >V ' <| kV*' • • „■ • been made a real terror ‘tb the, evil-} ‘ doer. 1 ' Mr .Ellis, in company with 'Mr C, S. Wih|tson, former Governor of Now York, and , Judge Marcus Kavanagh, of the' Superior Court ,of Chicago, spent .two months in. England and France, studying the" judicial procedure ’>: v of jth'6'se|countries:*' The comparison makes, in r an' .artiplo in-i;the V‘ Washington Post,”, between the administration of crim-, inal law in > England, France, and America,-are : distinctly in favour of European riiethods.% The homogeneity olbthe England Prance is sne which. Mr Ellis gives for the absence of violent crime, “but more important than else,” he adds, is the fact that “in England and France in criminal cases there is celerity of action, certainly of conviction, and adequacy of punishment.” The knowledge

that a man who commits murder is liable to be hanged within thirty days is a powerful deterrent. The backbone of the legal system in England and France is the judge, Mr Ellis observes, who has tremendous powers to shorten trials and hasten them to a conclusion. A place on the bench is a badge of honour, and the courts are well supplied with judges chosen solely for merit from the picked men of the Bar. There are ten to twenty times as many murders in New York in a single year as in all England. Scotland, and Wales, and ten times as many murders every year in Chicago as in all France. Other crimes maintain the same proportion. What is the reason? Mr Ellis believes that in America, while there is nothing wrong with the basic judicial system, there are not enough judges to handle cases, and the judges lack sufficient power to control trials. The delay in 'the State courts in the trials of major criminal offences tends to destroy confidence in the law, and there should be a uniform criminal code for all States* There is no danger of going too far in the process of making the terror to wrongdoers; the trouble Is that America has gone too far in the other direction. “We should stop coddling criminals, and think mote of society,” declares Mr Ellis, "and ineffective administration not only tends to protect but to create criminals.”