Scientific Method in the Application of Law

Abstract

It has been twenty years now since Dean Pound pointed out how inadequately the legal machinery performed the work of the law, and how the general attitude of the public toward law reflected that failure by a decrease in respect for law and for law enforcing agencies. The past decade has witnessed a concerted effort on the part of the legal profession to improve the efficiency of the administration of justice through revisions of codes of procedure and rules of practice. Judicial Councils have been formed, self-governing bars have been advocated, the rule-making power for courts has been sought and obtained in some jurisdictions, and the bar generally has awakened to the need for procedural reform, with a result that already marked improvement is to be noted and movements are afoot to still further perfect the functioning of the administrative equipment which our system affords.