CHAPTER VIII

THE JUDICIARY

LAW AND COURTS

(See also pp. 75-86)

1. Rights-Two of the main reasons for having a government are in order that people may know their rights, and in order that these rights may be protected.

People have a right, for instance, to own and use property to move about freely from place to place— to make agreements with one another.

Without a government there may be great differences of opinion as to what are the things to which people have rights, and it may be very difficult for people to protect themselves against others who are unscrupulous. In countries newly settled there has sometimes been just that state of things, and every one there has had to be ready to defend life and property by force.

Government, then, makes laws which enumerate. and define rights; at the same time the government provides the means of protecting such rights.

2. Obligations-On the other hand, no one has any business to interfere with people in the enjoyment of their rights. One who deprives another wrong

fully of his property, for example, is a thief or a robber. The duty to respect the rights of others is what we mean by an obligation.

3. Criminal Laws-There is one class of laws which forbid certain acts to be done, and prescribe a penalty for the commission of such acts. The violation of one of these prohibitions is a crime. The laws in question are called criminal laws.

The Illinois criminal code contains a long list of acts which are forbidden as crimes—burglary, murder, perjury, and many others.* One large part of the business of the police and of law courts is taken up with the prevention, detection, and punishment of criminals. 4. Civil Suits-People who are not criminals may differ as to what are their rights. There may be difference of opinion as to the facts in dispute, and difference of opinion as to what the law means. The laws define the rights at issue, and in such cases, if the parties cannot agree, it is the business of the courts to decide what are the facts and how the law applies. Such business of the courts is called civil, instead of criminal. For instance, two men may have a contract. In carrying it out they may not be able to agree. Then, at the request of one of them, it is for the courts of law to decide what are the respective rights of the parties under the law which regulates contracts. So far as law is concerned, then, people have only those rights which the laws enumerate and define, and are under obligation to do or not to do those things which the laws specify.

The supreme law of the land-the law with which

*Rev. Stat., c. 38.

no other law must conflict-is the Constitution and laws of the United States.

Next in importance, in this State, is the Constitution of Illinois. Neither the Legislature nor any other authority in the State may enact a law which conflicts with the State Constitution.

5. Illinois Revised Statutes-The great mass of laws which determine private rights in Illinois—i. e., the rights of individuals—are the laws of the State, found either in the Constitution or in the statutes passed by the Legislature. They are nearly all gathered together in a large volume called the "Revised Statutes." As at every session the Legislature makes more laws, the Revised Statutes will seldom have quite all the laws of the State.

6. English Law-Very many of the rules of law followed by our courts are English. Before the Revolutionary War the laws of England were in force throughout the colonies. The lawyers and the courts were accustomed to English legal methods and rules. These have been continued. The General Assembly has enacted that the laws of England which were in force when the first English settlement was made in America (1607), with some express exceptions, and so far as these laws are applicable here (i.e., so far as they are not peculiarly applicable to England), shall continue to be in force in this State until repealed by act of the Legislature.*

Such laws are of two kinds. Part of them are acts of the English Parliament. Part are what is known as the Common Law.

*Rev. Stat., c. 28.

7. Common Law-The Common Law is simply the long-established customs of the English courts. Many of these customs, whose origin goes back so far as to be lost in antiquity, still prevail in the Illinois courts.

Of course, if an act of the Legislature conflicts with any portion of the Common Law, the act stands and has the effect of repealing the custom which it contra

venes.

8. Criminal Cases-If a person is arrested on the charge of committing a crime, it is a principle of American law that penalty cannot be inflicted until the guilt of the accused is proved by a trial before a court of law. This court consists of a judge, who presides and decides questions of law, and a jury, which (in Illinois) decides questions both of law and fact. In most States the jury decides merely questions of fact.

The judge is an officer of the State who holds office for a definite term of years.

The jury consists of citizens who are selected to act for a given trial, or during a particular session of the court.

9. Civil Cases-If there is a dispute between people as to their rights, and they are unable to agree, the dispute may be settled by a trial in a court of law. The court usually consists, as in criminal cases, of judge and jury.

10. Appeals-It is also the custom to allow either party to a suit, if he is dissatisfied with the decision, to appeal to a higher court (pp. 119, 120, 122).

11. Grades of Courts-The judiciary department, then, must contain a series of courts, so that appeals

may go from one to the next higher, with one highest of all for the whole State.

The lowest courts are local, and will be described under the head of "Local Government " (pp. 130, 132). The State courts are of three grades-Circuit, Appellate, and Supreme.

CIRCUIT COURTS

12. Circuits The State is divided by act of the Legislature into (at present) thirteen circuits, outside. of Cook County. Each consists of contiguous counties, and they are approximately equal in population. The judges of the circuit courts are elected by the people of the respective circuits* (Art. VI., § 15).

13. Circuit Judges—Election-Three judges are chosen in each circuit, for a term of six years. The election is held the first Monday of June (Art. VI., § 12). The first under this law was in 1879. The purpose in holding the election in the summer is to keep the selection of judges, as far as possible, free from party politics.+

14. Qualifications-The qualifications for election to a circuit judgeship are age, citizenship, and residence. The candidate must be a citizen of the United States, at least twenty-five years of age, a resident of the State five years next preceding the election, and a resident of the circuit at the time of the election Art. VI., § 17).

15. Salary-The salary of circuit judges is $3,500, except in Cook County (p. 119), in which the salary is

*Rev. Stat., c. 37, § 72.

Rev. Stat., c. 37, § 75.