Upholding the Justiciary
In the same number of this journal is an article from “Lex,” a well-known writer in English journals, which we reproduce:
“Sir: May I call attention to the two articles in the Liverpool Post of August 13 and 14, in which the utter incompetence of the judge at the Maybrick trial is strongly asserted? The writer is distinctly hostile to the prisoner, and writes without any intention of raising the question whether the trial was not null and void; but as the English system consists of trial by judge and jury, the total incompetence of either element should clearly vitiate it. Moreover, Mr. Ruggles-Brise, on the occasion of a visit to America in 1897, stated that the reason of the steadfast refusal of the Home Secretary to release the prisoner was his desire to uphold the wholesome authority of the English justiciary. That authority can not be regarded as wholesome if the judge was insane. Lord Russell, who was present throughout the trial, was of different opinion from that of the judge. He was undoubtedly sane. If Sir J. F. Stephen was insane, the public will, I think, be of opinion that the sane judge should have had the most influence with the executive.”