principles of the common law are the same
in every state, and equally enlighten and invigorate every part of our
country. Our municipal codes can be made to advance with equal steps
with that of the nation, in discipline, in wisdom, and in lustre, if the
state governments (as they ought in all honest policy) will only render
equal patronage and security to the administration of justice. The true
interests and the permanent freedom of this country require that the
jurisprudence of the individual states should be cultivated, cherished,
and exalted, and the dignity and reputation of the state authorities
sustained, with becoming pride. In their subordinate relation to the
United States, they should endeavor to discharge the duty which they
owe to the latter, without forgetting the respect which they owe to
themselves. In the appropriate language of Sir William Blackstone,
and which he applies to the people of his own country, they should be
"loyal, yet free; obedient, yet independent."

* * * * *

=_Edward Livingston,[22] 1764-1836._=

From the "Report on the Penal Code for Louisiana."

=_77._= THE PROPER OFFICE OF THE JUDGE.

Judges are generally men who have grown old in the practice at the bar.
With the knowledge which this experience gives, they acquire a habit,
very difficult to be shaken off, of taking a side in every question that
they hear debated, and when the mind is once enlisted, their passions,
prejudices, and professional ingenuity are always arrayed on the same
side, and furnish arms for the contest. Neutrality cannot, under
these circumstances, be expected; but the law should limit as much as
possible, the evil that this almost inevitable state of things must
produce. In the theory of our law, judges are the counsel for the
accused, in practice they are, with a few honorable exceptions, his most
virulent prosecutors. The true principles of criminal jurisprudence
require that they should be neither. Perfect impartiality is
incompatible with these duties. A good judge should have no wish that
the guilty should escape, or that the innocent should suffer; no false
pity, no undue severity, should bias the unshaken rectitude of
his judgment; calm in deliberation, firm in resolve, patient in
investigating the truth, tenacious of it when discovered, he should join
urbanity of manners, to dignity of demeanor, and an integrity above
suspicion, to learning and talent; such a judg