Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1913 — Sway of the Police Magistrate. [ARTICLE]

Sway of the Police Magistrate.

In New York upward of 200,000 persons were arraigned before the police magistrates during the year 1910,and another hundred thousand were probably brought into their courts by summons. Over this huge army of people, many of whom are entirely Innocent of any offense* the magistrates an almost undisputed sway, for their decisions are in nine cases out of ten absolutely final. In other words, they pass Judgment upon the personal liberty and rights of more than ,25,000 citizens every, month of the year, and, save in a few instances, their decisions are accepted without appeal or review of any kind. No other tribunal In the land administers Justice on so vast a scale or exerts anything even approaching so unbridled a power. It Is at once a court of first and last resort, presided over by a cadi, supreme arbiter of the facts and largely a law unto himself. —From the Century.