The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-08-19
For me standard.s :
THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE.

In the agitation and distinction of politi.
cal controversy fer will give attention to less
exciting themes There oughf, however, at
all times. to be enough of interest in what
ever touches the administration of justice,
TO secure the pernsal of few remarks on
the change lately effected in the civil proce-
dure of our courts The silent and quiet
1 revolutions which pass unnoted at the time.
are as potent over the desfinies of States as
those which bexiider rs with uproar. Tie
certain speedy, economical dispensatioa If
justice is the felt necessity of all men; the
man of property is not differently interested
In II, frnm the man of nothing, he is only
more deeply interested in the same direction.
Ii Is the granal universal platform. above all
platforms of party, ON which all nationaii-
ties, creeds, and compilations, mot only may.
but forever must stand sqnarely together.
Politicians may bubble up and disappear,
| society be swept by storms of political strife,
and all else be shattered. but SO long as JUS
| tiee shall he dealt out surely. speedily and
caeaply, the foundations of renewed prosperity
| remain.
The Constitution of 1868 made great
changes, in the old system for the administra-
ZION oijustice in North Carolina 1t aboi-
ished the County Courts; it abolished the
Courts of equity as distinct tribunals; it
abolished all distinctions of procedure lie
tween actions at law, and suits in equity,
and all distinctions between the forms Of &C
tions at law
1t you'd be out of time to discuss even in
the slightest manner the policy of these
changes. We accept them as facts. That our
l old SrStep, ua varr dofnofiro fa;iod
| conspicuously and lamentably to secure
| system, certainty, CELEBRITY and economy,
all candid and informed men must admit.
| Some change was absolutely needed. In
England lfr"m which country we imported
| our old system years ago. very great changes
have been made within few years, after de-
liberate consideration by the ablest men
the same has been done in nearly all the
States of this Union, and the changes have
! in all cases been substantially similar To those
made 10y the new constitution. This COM
mon consent of other countries must be a
iorcible consideration, in the absence of any
| experience of our own, in favor of the new
system, at least in its substantial and essen
| tial features
Thirty years ago or thereabouts, the Wi
ter of this published in the " c. Standard
series of essays, having for their object the
reform Of the law in the three essential points
here indicated. The essays were kindly
welcomed 10y the profession as coming from
young man. hut they could not penetrate
the hard crust of Legislative apathy, and re-
manned unfruitful
The Constitutional provisions compelled
the appointment of commissioners Ia pre-
pare rules by which the practice and proce-
dure of the newly created cnurts cnuld be
conducted. Such rules are indispensable to
all courts. We extract from the second re-
port of the commissioners tn the General
Assembly few words which NAV be appro-
priate here:
-All understand the value to people of
a code of laws emhodyIng anil regulating
according tn justice and reason. the rights
and duties of men in all the varying rela-
tons of life and business; but none but
those whose profession makes them necessa-
My familiar with the modes of applying
those principles to actual transactions, can
appreciate that the machinery for such ap-
plication is as essential to justice as is the
recognition of its principles"
We do not propose to pass any judgment
on the manner in which the Commissioners
have performed their task, or TO reflect in
any way on the merits of their production
They frankly lament that in consequence Of
the urgent pressure for immediate legisla-
ton, they were compelled to present their
labors with degree of haste, Incompatible
| with the accuracy which the same dill
gence spread over longer time, would have
attained Under these circumstances they
bespcak generous criticism, and we think
there is every disposition on the part of the
public. and OF the legal profession to con-
| cede it
We propose to present to our readers a
slight notice OF the most prominent features
| of tie new system, and occasionally to sus-
| gest such reasons as may have possibly in
| duced the Commissioners to insert Them
There is one observation which must be made
before reaching the subject proper. The
| proeixions Of the Constitution. scithia their
limits mere imperdtice and infienible. These
implied far more than may be apparent in
the words, or than could be easily made in
telligible To the unprofcssional reader. Even
the professional reader who has not hereto
fore thought of it seriously, may see upon
doing SO. that the changes which were i'm
| piled and which were inevitably consequent
upon those directly and Immediately made,
were greater than had at first occurred to
| him.
The following, at least, were clear infer
ences which, had it even have been desira-
BILE to do SO on considerations of expedien-
| CIV, the Commissioners could not have avoid
ed, and which cannot be avoided in any
code which respects the supreme law
1. Written pieadings.
| 2. The determination of certain classes
Of intermediate and collateral controversies,
between the terms of the courts. by the
Judge, or by the clerk in the first instance,
with an appeal to the Judge
3. That the Judge should be the Probate
Judge.
The Constitution further implied and evil
IDENTIFY intended. that the New York system
of practice, which has now been extended
with more or less modification over large
number of the States both north and South,
and which bids fair to become national.
should be taken as the basis for the practice
of North Carolina
To furnish proper division for the OBJ
scrvatlons we propose, it must he stated that
every suit is materially divided into four or
five parts or stages:
]. Bringing the defendant into Court
2. The allegations of the parties in re-
spect tn the matter of controversy, techni-
cally called the pIeadings
8. The trial and judgment
4. The appeal, if any.
5. The execution of the judgment, + 7
the payment of the money, or the restitution
of the property, or the performance of some
other act adjudged to I've done.
The Code is necessarily divided into these