Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1854-12-30
WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP.

WASHINGTON NEWS AND GOSSIP,
Inc bln'-Having at length obtained per-
feet copy Of the District judiciary reform bill,
as 1t passed the House, We publish, it to-day,
on our first page. It is to be hoped that it
will be duly preserved by our subscribers, as
1t Is quite probable that the corporate authori.
ties Of Washington and Georgetown will very
soon cause polls to be opened to test the sense
of the people Of the District upon it once more.
In Bad Way.-The New York Herald is
Of opinion, that the opposition to the present
Administration are in a fair way to 90 to
Tophet; inasmuch as they have permitted one
third of the session to pass without concen-
trating their forces on some common platform,
to make battle against their common foe.
The English of this is, that the (scotch) alien
who conducts the Herald begins to realize
that he cannot lead majority of tho House of
Representatives of the United States by the
nose to any point he may choose to take them,
in the hope Of using them to get revenge be
cause his application for the post of American
Minister to France was very properly regard
ed as an insult. He begs and prays for o
union of all the elements of opposition in
Congress, to break down the Pierce Adminin-
istration. The truth is, he is foolish enough
to have argued himself into the belief that all
men are as entirely without moral principle
as himself, who is one day for measure or
Inch oIx Sho of
thinking on the morrow. And he is menda.
cious enough to believe that gentlemen in the
Congress of the United States, who differ from
each other as widely as the poles in their
views on public affairs, stand ready to be
either all abolitionists or violent anti-aboli-
tionists, all protectionists or free-traders, all
annexationists or MISUNDERSTANDING, all
Know Nothings or all Wings, as may be ne.
cessary to secure majority vote against each
passing measure in the success Of which tho
Administration are credited with taking an
interest. This unnaturalized soldier of for
tune, in urging such policy on those he re-
CARDS as enemies of the Administration, is evil
IDENTIFY measuring their corn in his own bush.
el-judging of their moral honesty by the
standard erected in his own breast
Tho District Judiciary Reform Bill.-In
the days Of Shakespeare, s'the laws delay was
deemed a good reason for committing suicide.
The state of the law in the District of Colum-
bia is now pretty much what it was in the
days of Shakespeare. It is true that suicides
are less frequent in this country than in Eng
land; and Englishmen ascribe that to the fact
that every man here expects to be President.
But to most Of US, who are virtually cut off
from this hope, as we'll as from many other
things that would belong to US if were citizens,
that profound observae.t::e.in uoes not apply.
!. in the report of 1880, ION law reform in
this District,) to which we alluded in our last
number, the committee use this language
$50 unfrequent are the terms Of court, such
its jurisdiction, practice, and course OF pro-
ceeding, that it takes two years and a half to
collect an indisputable debt" .~.
This statement is as true now rs it was then.
It is not necessary for US to 60 back to the
first ages Of the common law, and to point out
the primitive notion out of which has sprung
that poisonous and overshadowing excrescence,
our Importance Isrm-which has no other
effect than to protract litigation and increase
expense. Imparlances were abolished in Eng
land in that golden era of Law Reform, the
year 1884; and since then the word is abso-
lutely unknown to the law of that country. In
Maryland, too, the Imp arlance Term has been
abolished sinoe tho v1ssivA OF this District
(See act of Assembly of 1929, chap. 1867 Most
Of the States have dispensed with the Appsar-
anes Term also, substituting rule duys, re-
curing ut short intervals, instead.
The provisions of the bill just passed by
the House Of Representatives are ample and
effectual upon this point Section enacts as
follows:
s'All process for the institution and conduct
ing of suits in said Court (of Common Pleas
shall be made returnable in the clerks Office
thereof on a rule day. The first Monday in
each month shall be rule day, except in those
months upon the first Mondays whereof the
terms of said court shall commence, as herein
provided; in which case the last Mondays of
the months respectively preceding those in
which the court shall commence its terms as
Aforesaid, shall be rule days"
It also provides that ''if the defendant fail
to appear and plead at the next rules, judg.
ment by default shall be entered against him
by the clerk in the Office" and it does not per.
NIT this Office Judgment to be set aside by any
pleading which does not 60 to the merits, un-
less such pleading be filed at the first rule day
after the rule to plead.
2. The bill makes the terms of courts more
frequent. The Court of Common Pleas is to
hold three terms year, and the Criminal
Court four terms year
3. In the report of 1880 (already quoted
more than once) we read as follows:
Ono judge during vacation has power to
order publication against absent defendants;
10 ratify nisi or final sales made by trustees
10 conf rm an auditors report; or order dis
!ribution of assets in the hands of a trustee.
The consequence is that whenever a party
chooses to contest case, he is furnished with
opportunities at every stage of it to delay a
inal decree. Cases sometimes occur
n MI ioh To- &c 4 81