Prior to that era, the governor and
judges were authorized to adopt laws from the "old" States, which led to
a system rather objectionable, and certainly anomalous, so far as it
made the judges both _makers_ and _expounders_ of the laws; for it was
said, I know not how truly, that they picked out a clause here and
there, to fit exigencies, or cases in hand, and did not take whole
statutes. It was said that when the judges, in the exercise of their
judicial functions, got to a "tight place," they adjourned the court,
and devoted their legal acumen to picking out clauses from the statutes
of the old States, to be adopted, in order to meet the circumstances;
but these stories were, probably, to be received a little after the
manner of the slanderous reports of the Van Twiller administration, of
Knickerbocker memory. It is certain that their honors, Judges Woodward,
Griffin, and Witherall, the latter of whom was generally voted down,
have acquired no small popular notoriety as judicial and legislative
functionaries, and they must figure largely in the early annals of
Michigan, especially should this territory ever prove so fortunate as to
have a Cervantes or an Irving for its historian.
Pages:
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640