Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1914 — MURDER TRIALS IN HOLLAND [ARTICLE]

MURDER TRIALS IN HOLLAND

In Many' Respects Dutch System of Jurisprudence Has an Advantage Over Ours. A learned and capable jurist has asserted that the French method of legal procedure, which, contrary to our own, presumes an indicted person guilty until he is proven innocent, comes nearer dispensing actual justice than our own Bystem. But in Holland the courts have, in some respects, a better system than that of the French. The accused in every case has the benefit of the doubt, and circumstantial evidence an the only foundation for a plea of conviction is in disfavor. The Dutch do not have juries, and there is no battle of wits among counsel. All questions, whether by the prosecution or the attorney for tha accused, are put to the witness through the judge after he has weighed the justice of the interrogation. This feature of their system has some pronounced advantages over our own. It eliminates the practice of confusing the witness or the accused by misleading questions. _ It renders impossible the abominable practice In our courts known as the “browbeating” of witnesses, which unfortunately is permitted to an extent that causes the intelligent observer’s blood to boil at times because of its unfairness and cruelty. It makes the solemn business of dispensing justice a common trade instead of a heavenly vocation.