Judges are universally desirous of securing the good opinion of
the bar as respects their knowledge of law and powers of
discrimination and analysis. The bar is their little world. It
is a critical world, for in every case that is tried there will
be one lawyer who is dissatisfied with the result, and likely to
think the judge wrong rather than himself, if every proposition
of law which he has asserted has not been conceded.

It is much more common for American judges to be too tolerant of
a waste of time by counsel than to be too impatient at
it.[Footnote: See a striking instance of this tendency given in
Cleveland, Painesville & Eastern R. R. Co. _v._ Pritschau,
69 Ohio State Reports, 438; 69 Eastern Reporter, 663.] They
dislike even to seem harsh. Most of them also hold office only
for a term of years and do not forget that undue severity may
jeopardize their re-election. This is one reason for the fact
that at all points the bar are subject to fewer restrictions upon
their conduct in the trial of causes in American courts than in
those of most other countries. Another, and a more fundamental
one, is that the judges and lawyers stand more nearly on the same
level both in public regard and official position. The lawyer
holds a more permanent office in the court than the judge. He is
quite likely to be his superior in learning and ability. He
belongs to a class that is influential in the community, and
whose members usually share quite actively in the direction of
party politics. The judge in most instances holds but a brief
authority. He does not wish to parade it in such a manner as
might seem offensive. He is in danger of seeming to parade it if
he goes beyond what is necessary in regulating the conduct of the
lawyers who may appear before him. The judge who keeps a rigid