Litchfield enquirer., 1867-10-17
r,,,r rs..narior Court.

 fhnuehf some statistics regarding the :amounf and kind of business transacted in oil saperior Court, during the year p6sk might prove of interest. From the Conrt records and dockets we gather the folIoving fscts:
 B,d ons cfril jwy case has been tried dur ias zls yeu--the plaintiff recovered s'oo damages
 aeyenfoen tried cases have been disposed of bv fhe Court, in seven of which the de- fandants had judgments, while, in the re- maining t4n, the plaintiffs obtained ludg- ments amoun5ing to $.,023.6e, exclusive of costz. During the same time, judgments have been rendered in six cases, tried by nuditors, azn6nnting in the aggregate to <689. .O1, <lnkive of costs. These, with hichway E1ae. nd decree of injunction, consitut6 I6s nhole of the actually litiga- ted casos 4hi<h went into judgment in our euperioF Court during the four tern'ss of the past yen. /,;-
 In the seventeen cases Tn whle' 'Ao pla;ntifIs have been successful, taey have recoversd in the aggregate $,2sizo'' oe. sides interest and costs; or, al average oi s1sD each. Three of these> cases went to the Supreme Court cf Errors, and the whole amount recoverd is evidently too snzlI to pay iawye,s fees, while the taxa ble1 coat rscovered, will not any thing like pay the plaintif's expenses for witnesses and preparafion. The seven successful parties defendant recover equally made ouate bills of taxable costs, and have their lswyers to pay besides. The body of suc- oessfnl litigants, therefore, come out of court considerably poorer than they went in. while the unsuccessful parties suffer anywhere from S200 to $500 each, besides tlss judgments rendered against them.
 Such is the showing for clients; for law yers it is not much more favorable.
 From trial fees in the Superior Court and before auditors. they could hardly have received more than from $4, 900 to 5000 or from s1O5 to sl3O to each of our 38 lawyers, during the year. Term and retaining fees, preparation and settlement fees, divorce, collection, and other -litigated cases. with criminal bu- sineas, make up the rest. How large a pro- portion of our lawyers fees arise from re- taining and term fees, will be seen on an examination of the dockets. During the year, there have been nine hundred and five civil continuances, and as in each case, on m average, three attornies are retained, each charging term fee of $7, the expense Of each continuance to the litigants is about $21, making SIS, 900, in all, or at least four times the amount received for actual trial fees. During the year, 349 new cases have been brought, and the retaining fees have probably amounted to $5,OOO.
 There never was mnrA-ab absurd syssom than this of term fees. The public com plain bitterly that justice is delayed, yet they pay their lawyers extra fees for de- laying it. In any other business, an en- ployee gains by finishing his work speedi- Iy; in law he loses by so doing. The truth is. lawyers are underpaid for the work they actually do perform, and it is made up to them by this absurd premium on delay. There was, we believe, a proposition before our legislature, last summer, to abolish this evil, and assimilate our practice, in this respect, to that of New York State, but it suffered the fate of most of the "good in- tentions" of that body.
 During the war, comparatively few cases were brought; since then, however, the number has considerably increased, but there has been no corresponding activity in disposing of them; so that the cases on ourcivil docket, have gone up, within twelve month, from 2s2 to 354. The small list of civil cases tried during the past year is, we think, unusual, but not so unusual as it should be. These delays, however, are not the fault of single attornies, since business cannot be pressed forward without the uni ted action of the Bar Nor is the Bar on- " responsible, since one party, at least, in every case. is usually anxious for postpone ment while judges seem not over desirous of increasing their work, and are constant ly compelled by other engagements to shorten our terms.
 Whatever may be the cause of th.se ,,n. toward delays, the result is unfortunateeou all parties. Judicious men more and more avoid the delay. expense, and uncertainty of litigation, and our cases assume more and more the phase of venomous personal difficulties about trifes. We must contriye to administer justice more speedily, if not more cheaply, or the law is likely to become Q lean business for lawyers, and leaner still for clients.
 D6- It is with pleasure that we feel au- thorized to contradict the popular version of the matter of Cashier Conklin's escape from justice, so far as it implicated the First Congregational Church of New Mil lord as body. or any Iaroe numhnr of its