1935-12-04 — Page 11

Glimpses Of The Russian

ענת

Revolution

(Continued from Page 7)

people and the country that sur- rounded it. He also possessed a ford car. When a month later on return from Urga I called again at Mr. Petroff's house, the new notion of property had already reached this place. The Consular had Agent was gone-his house ben pillaged and I had to put up in the dirty felt yurt of a Bourlat. You can well imagine how great was my surprise when for lunch I had a mixed lamb grile which was cooked and served pierced on one pf the wonderful spears of Mr. Petroff's collection. It appeared that every house bad one or two of his spears which were used, to cook

the" national' ahashik. leave it entirely to your imagina- tion as to what happened to the books.

A FORD NATIONALIZED

the to their belts but also on table between the ash-trays, ink- stands and papers, there were ly- hand- a number of ing about grenades. The soldiers who

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1935.

TWO KILLED AS A LECTURE ON BLACKSTONE

MAIL PLANE IS FORCED TO LAND

BAD WEATHER CAUSES

CRASH ON FLIGHT TO SIAN

brought me in explained my case First Search Of Route

to the assembly.

PLAYED HIS TRUMP CARD

The explanation ran in such" a way that it made out of me" an enemy to the state and I saw that my chances were really very poor, so before any pronouncement could have been made by the assembly I played my trump card. I said I

Proves Fruitless

an

at

а

The following is the first Serial; gistrates. These classes of society; adminster un an, | of the lecture dellyered by Mr. H. ʼn responded handsomely. The book fr rather two systems, Common MacNamara at the Hong Kong went through edition after edi- Law and Equity. Old rules had branch of the English Association tion. There were eight of them bean handed down from generatio: yesterday:-

in the author's lifetime and to generation unchanged in theory ninth was in preparation his but, in practice, they had been death. Nearly as many

copies quietly but effectively altered by were sold in America as in Eng astute practitioners so that they land. After Backstone's death served, more or less effectively, the book"continued its unique po- the needs of the great commercial pularity amongst "law-books until country that England had already it was re-edited and e-written out become. Then, as now, the curts. of existence. If you want to read were free from corruption but they Backstone you must read him in were quite inadequate to the needs one of the early editions in which of the country. For example there alone the peculiar characteristics of his book are preserved.

This is a branch of the English Association and it is perhaps hard- ly necessary for me to remind you of the excsilence of everything that can truly be said to be Eng- 11sh. Our ships, are the best in the world. For centuries our Fleet has ruled the waves, with conspic-, uous success, nor are our Army, or Air Force, second to any foreign rival. We have the best climate in

were no county courts or stipen- diary magistrates. It is not too The mall plane which left Lan- the world the most fertile soll and chow on November 27 for Glan was an unrivalled gegraphical posl-

much to say that the whole sys- HIS SUCCESS AT THE BAR

tem was hopelessly out of date forced to make emergency tion. Being so far favoured, we

After this Blackstone became and in need of that drastic reform practising member of the Bar in 10 which it was eventually sub- | landing near Lingtal for unknown have always learnt, without reasons. Owing to the disadvan-prise, that our laws are the best London and achieved, as might bejected in the middle of the 19th

It would be unfair. tageous nature of the ground the in existence. was no Russian, but a foreigner plane was seriously damaged. The to say that this opinion was in. expected, considerable success. He century. One good feature It did

became a member of Parliament possess. The Common Law was vented by Blackstone but it is cer-

and later he was made a judge in uniform system where it was ap- tain that he did more than any

the Court of Common Pleas. Heplied, namely in England and Ire- the two passengers other one person to popularise it.jald not shine aither as a member | land, (but not in Scotland), where-

Before his time Englishmen had of Parliament or as a judge. In praised the laws of their country the former capacity he supported Germany there were multitudes of as abroad in France, Italy and but they had done so in a spas- the ministers in the quarrel which courts applying all kinds of lees!

and irregular fashion.. modic

centred round Wilkes and the Mid- customs. Of course the modera Blackstone was the first person to

dlesex election. What he said as Codes of those countries founded describe our legal system in lan-

a member was so much at variance on the great Code Napoleon had

thought of

who came from an old fashioned

'crew of two, Flying Captain Brohm wonderfu Europe to study the

And Board Operator Mayer, were ways of revolution in the true in-killed while ternational spirit. I then produced

were injured. my passport which was handed from one to the other, every mem-

Sur-

A commission was at once dis bor putting his nose into it, some patched to the scene of the ac holding it upside down when itcident to Inquire into the reasons reached the President I saw his of the mishap, which possibly has expression changing very consider- been due to anfavourable westher guage that could be understood by with what he had taught in his not then been even tion of all was reserved for the ably. He examined me from bear conditions, states a bulletin issued educated people who were not also book as to expose him to contempt. Uniformity in law is a point of the

But the most curious nationalisa

to root and then, with a friendly smile, asked me in the purest Spanish whether I understood his mother tangu After having ex- changed a few trivial phrases be- tween ourselves in Spanish he told me that for a long time he had no opportunity of speaking his own language and then with

Ford. As there was nobody in the place who knew how to drive it the population decided to make a dikerent use of it. The wheels had been atted to wheel-barrows-the sata had been removed to some yurts where, on the felt floor they were more comfortable for use than cushions the tyes made rubber soles for the Mongolian boots. The broad gesture declared to the as- mudguards, in a little maize fieldsembly in very poor and broken Just outside the outpost, were at Russian-My friends, this is not our enemy, this is my friend," tached to a scarecrow so as to form his arme and tall-a fierce

looking figure which I have no doubt served well its purpose. The radiator was erected in an open

spacs on a pole and used as a

target.

1

Some of the members did

3

not

each

on Nov. 29 through Trans-Ocean Kuo Min.

THE SEARCH

According to Mr. Tso, a Chinese official of the Eurasia Aviation Corporation, a Junkers plane ar rived at the Lunghwa Aerodrome at 2 p.m., carrying two passengers This plane, which had been held up at Slan by a showstorm on Thursday. left the city on Novem ber 28 for Shanghal

not few.

lawyers but in so doing he allowed As a judge he was weak and the his intense admiration for the system he was describing to colour full court often ordered new trials his description. I shall later have the causes he had tried. His something to say about both these claim to fame rests on the author aspects of his celebrated book the ship of a single book and having "Commentaries on

bold you something about the an the Laws of

say thor, I will now England” but I

something 10:1230 first give you an account of who Blackstone about his book for in spite of it

weak points, which are was.

this book has exerted a very great SON OF A TRADESMAN influence in the world, not merely Sir William Backstone, as ben England but in America and in afterwards became, was the son of other countries as well a prosperous London tradesman. He was educated at Charterhouse and Oxford

year 1746: He appears to course. called to the Bar in the had at all times sufficient money of his own to make him independ

first importance and its existence in England did much to extenuate: the grave defects to which I bays

alluded.

of our

"I

HER BEAUTY DECIDES THE FATE OF WORLDS!

liva ogula

in shining

and shelling

CECIL B. DEMILLES

"THE

CRUSADES

LORETTÄ TOUNG BENEY WILCOXON COMING TO

The STAR

IN SEARCH OF LAW

He was however, as I have hirted, So much for the state of English a descriptive writer of Bo mean law. Now & word or two about the ability. He, like the author of " book "Commentaries on the Laws | Search of Eng.and" and other of England." First the title travel books, does two things. He uninspiring and in modern times describes accurately enough wha Blackstone would, no doubt, have is, and at the same time he tends profited by the example of one a charm to what is. by telling us

most deservedly popular in an annecdotal form, the history IN THE 18TH CENTURY authors and exiled his brok

of the thing. This is his peculiar charm, which is by no means lost Before, however, I say anything Search of Law." Secondly the ar- more about the book I must first rangement is defective. The four when we know, or suspect, that his "history" is spoof. He has a say a few words about the state books are:-"Rights of Perso ́s.'

of Things.". of English law when the book was Rights,

"Private happy knack of finding an inter- written, not as it exists in Back-Wrengs and "Public Wrongs" Any esting bistory for our legal insti- stone's pages, but as it existed in law student of to-day could polat tutions and if authentic history November 26, following the same ent of his profession and at first

fast. The distinguishing feature out the defects of this classifica-falls he usually attributes the ori- course to" Lanchow and Slan. he made no effort to achieve suc-

of the period was that English law tlon, but thia" line of criticismgin of any particular institutive Owing to low clouds and poor cess in London. On the contrary visibility, the search proved to be he settled down in Oxford

had been left to look after itself one I do not propose to pursuer King Alfred, who besides being unsuccessful.

a "part time" baker must have he became steward of the Manors for centuries. The efforts of Par-One might as well blame Nelson

been, according to Blackstone, a

When the first mail 'plane left understand hum-in fact very few Lanchow for Sian on November 25 and was reported missing, a second of them" could understand other for they were Bourtats, Chinnoted German Eurasia pilot, was 'plane, piloted by Count Casteli, a es, Kirghese, Tartar, Mongolians, ordered, to search for the first one. an Armenian, a Russian, and the The second plan left Chengtu on President, a Mexican. Firstly he Cossacks and Mongols, riding ordered the soldiers to give me the their small ponies at a full galloy, amati gaicahes which were would aim their guns and fre promptly given up, and then the -always with remarkable pre-whole crowd of us cemented our cision. The only thing they had friendship in a teahouse. Here he difficulty in nationalising was the told me he was a Mexican and a engine. No use could be found for

it so the children of the village played around it and amused them- selves as all children do where, irrespective of civilisations," events and times.

;

profess.onal revolutionist. In

Mexico he had participated in six

revolutions then he went to Chile,

The

ard

was,

due in

have

where

of his College, Pembroke. He was lament to reform it had been ex-for being unacquainted with sub, to the not an idle man and he did a tremely rare and, in the eigh-marine warfare or Wellington for person of extraordinary genius and

the

trip from Chengtu Shanghal. according to

of reading teenth century, law reform was having fated to provide his troopdustry. To descend from Corporation, should be completed but legal education In schedule of the Eurasia Aviation considerable amount

nelther desired nor understood with machine guns. The clam England

general to the particular"I wi'l that the aristocracy

then Blackstone has to fame is not as give you one or two quotations its lowest by

England. in one day. The plane which was was at that time.. at

The old an original thinker, an ana'y st o from the book tself, and first, the ebb Roughly speaking the Inns governed

evry-Columbia, the Argetitine. In fact.hed up at Sian-and-arrived-Shang-of Court had ceased to teach and Courts and other legal institutions the law, norirven as an enlighten- | story of the whale.

he was to be found anywhere hai on November 28 was the one

INTERNATIONAL SPIRIT Invernational is a word which is V-ry much used in modern times- and also very much misused. I think that if the world is looking for the best and most adequate ap plication of this adjective it should turn its attention to the sign.ficance which it has acquired in our "Ro- tary Club International." In those days in Russ.a to which I reter this word was on everybody's lips, but in vain did I try to find out what It actually conceived for no ane seemed to know. But one day at 1st I had an example of a con- cre interpretation of it. I had then just crossed the border of the autonomous Soviet Republic of Chita when, about half an hour later, our train was stopped at a very small and insignificant station by some armed soldiers. We were given to understand that this stat on belonged to a village a mile or so away which bad proclaimed itself an autonomous internation- al republic. The soldiers claimed that they had to look into our luggage in search of arms and am" munitions, and also in search of <bjects of luxury, which were pro- hibited in this self-styled republic. The result was that whatever the soldiers liked they took. Nobody dared to object for fear of losing his re-but there was also an ex- ception to the rule. A little boy

there was a revolution. As soon as

which had been sent out to search

he had heard that Russia was go for the missing plane which was ing red he simply had to be there.reported to be damaged.

11 "THE MEXICAN SYSTEM"

From Vladivostok down to Chita

he travelled slowly, gathering little knowledge in the language and ac- quainting himself with the coun- try, until he found the Ideal spot where he could apply, as he said, the "Mexican Bystem." After- wards I was fully accompanied to the station, where the train had been held up pending my arrival --an unforgettable send-off. A succession of shots were fired into the air (I suppose an acquired Mexican custom and to the tune

of

the "Red International" we finally stiamed away. No matter how grotesque the example of this republic may be, it still bears the key to a very interesting problem. create a common interest, and you

will have irrespective of creed; race and level of education, a true (co- operation in the international sense.

There are diany more things I could tell you about the evolution

of new thought in Russia but time is up and I must finish-but if every fable must have a mural. I suggest that we should but'd a wall between Jest and Earnestness in order that the poor,

uneducated ones should not take Jest in earn-

est and Ernestness in jest.

Trebitsch Lincoln

Again

CASE OVER ARTICLE IN EVENING PAPER AGAIN

ADJOURNED

A further adjournment for two weeks was ordered by the Second Special District Court of Shanghai in the action for alleged libel in- stituted by Abbot Chao Kung. formerly known as Trebitsch Lin- coln. against Mrs. O. Lembitch end Mr. A. L. Weiss, publisher and editor respectively of the "Shang- hat Evening Zarla," During the period of the edjournment, it is hoped that the two parties muy come to a compromise.

(

the Universities did not teach Which had been founded undered critic of our legal system. He | English law at all but only the the Plantagenet monarchs had to was. emphatically, none of these.

Civil or Roman Law, and Canon Law, that is the Law of the Church. The time was ripe for a revival of the study of English Law. A Mr. Virer, known to law- vers 23 the author of "Viner's Bridgement," conceived, the Idea of founding a chair of English law at Oxford.. The chair was endow- ed by his will and Blackstone bg- came the first of a long series of Vinerian Professors. The cha'r is at present occupied by that extre- mely erudite gentleman Dr. Holds- worth the author of our standard history of English Law.

HIS WEAKNESS

The establishment" of, this chair gave Blackstone a great oppor. tunity. His lectures. covered the It is whole field of English law. of his pupils was. Bentham after- Interesting to remember that one

wards known as the great Philo- sopher and Law Reformer. Even as a student Bentham claimed to have detected in Blackstone's lec- tures those errors which he after- wards denounced. Later. I wil! Both the plaintif and the defen- make allusion to the undoubted dants, who were absent during the weaknesses in Blackstone's teach- previous session, were present in ing. For the present I want to the court with their lawyers. dwell on the fact that in teaching French, told the court that he had alty he was a pioneer and entitled Abbot Chao Kung, speaking in English law at an English Univer-

been insulted by the "Evening to all the credit which should be Zaria" which" named him as a given to a person in that position. smuggler of firearms in a report Bla next venture was still more on August 3 of this year, which original. The substance of his was to the effect that he was now lectures was published in 1765 to in Abyssinia and supplying that 1789 in four volumes. under the country with arms and supervising title "Commentaries on the Laws the defences.

or England" and an astonished

a great deal in Russia during the Mrs. Lembitch, the first defen- publie discovered that at last it turbulent periods he could well dant stated that she, as the pub- could obtain a book, which describ vouch for the facts enumerated by Usher, was not responsible for the ed the laws of the country in plain the speaker.

ROCKEFELLER-GIFT

TO JAPAN

of about 11 years of age, travelling Rotarian Reinshagen in * few alone, had in a basket among his well chosen works thanked the clothes a pair of small rubber speaker for an interesting address galoshes. One of the soldiers and said that as he had travelled grabbed these. The boy protested and explained that he had bought them at Chita for his little sister and begged for them back, but to no avail, When I saw the brute pushing away the boy with the stock of his gun, I interfered and offered to buy them back. When this was refused a very heated ar- gument ensued and I finally said that I was sure the head of the Boviet of this smali republic would not tolerate such an outrage.

Tokyo, Nov. 20. Good! said the soldiers, we will

Ground will be broken here next take you

to our head. And so, Monday on the site where Japan's taken by the arms, I Was arst public health institute will pushed out of the train and soon rise, between

soldiers, armed like an

Attending the ceremony will be arrested man. we walked to the village.

There I Mr. F. Goto, Minister of Interior, found myself facing the so-called and Mr. Edvin L. Neville. American

Charge d'Affaires. "Executive Commission." Twelve men were seated at a long table, the President at the head, all arm-| *.1,000,000, and the two branches

two

•

The structure, which will cost

ed to the teeth. Not enough that of the institute were made possible

editorial work. The second defen- English Till that time law books dant, Mr. Weiss, said that, except had been written in a professional the first and last paragraphs, the largon which was simply unintel-" article published in his paper was ligible to people who were not pro only a reprint of one-which-ap-jfessional lawyers. One of the peared in a Latvian dally, named worst offenders was Lord Coke who "Be Godnia," published in Riga tad produced Commentaries upon The defendant said that he was the earlier author Littleton, and now trying to secure an original "Coke upon Littleton" had become copy of that Latvian paper from its a byeword for obscurity. agent at Harbin

HIS COMMENTARIES

ᅦ

The effect of Blackstone's Com- Mr. K. F. Chiang, counsel for the defence, produced a book entitled mentaries was extraordinary. Us "Modern Spies Tell Their Storlesuaily law books are written more in which a narrative alleged to with the object of enhancing the have been told by the plaintiff, en Professional reputation of the au- titled "The Dangerous Rush which ther than of direct pecuniary re- won the Confidence of the British ward. The "Commentaries" had Foreign Once," was included."

been written, avowedly, for the general public as the author states In the introduction. He thought that a knowledge of law would be

men, the clergy Jurymen and ma-

they had guns hanging on their by a 1,3,000,000 gift by the Rocke-Government for the promotion of useful to Peers, to country gentle. shoulders, and revolvers attached | Teller Foundation to the Japanese public welfare.—"Rengo,"

The

Book Binding,

Machine Ruling,

(To be Continued)

Job Printing Department

of the

HONG KONG DAILY PRESS

is equipped with all the latest and most up-to-date appliances for the production of first-class work.

All descriptions of Illustrated Catalogues, Circulars, Visiting and Invitation Cards with latest Royal Script Type

COMMERCIAL PRINTING

turned out accurately, and with the greatest despatch, under the direct supervision of experienced Europeans

Gold Lettering, and Marbling,

All executed on the premises at the shortest notice,

Law Work,

Ledgers and Account-books;

A speciality, and at prices which compare favourably with shy printing estab, in

Far East Estimates furnished.