Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-01-25
JUDICIAL REFORM.

Somemonths ago, we suggested some
reforms in the administration of jus
tice, by means of which, as we then
thought and still think, the burdens
of the people may be materially light
ened. Those suggestions were that
the powers of magistrates be enlarged |
SO as to give them original and final
jurisdiction over those petty offenses
which now crowd the criminal docket
and fill the Penitentiary at great cost
to the taxpayers. And as auxiliary 10
this, the adoption of Workhouse
system under which small offenders
can be made to atone for their mis-
deeds by doing something useful to
the community against which they
have attended. We further suggested
that jury trials in civil cases be dis
pensed with, except when jury may
be demanded by one, or both parties
to the suit, and that in all such cases
the party or parties demanding the
jury, shall pay the cost, and in support
of this last suggestion, we asked the
question, and now repeat it-why may
not Circuit Judge be as competent
as Chancellor, to decide civil cases
without the Intervention of juries p
1t may be answered that one is a court
of equity and the other court of
law. We know nothing of the attenu-
ated distinctions between law and
equity-in the eye of common sense,
there should be no difference and the
distinctions built up seem rather the
device of lawyers to multiply courts
and complicate the approaches to jus
tice than the matured convictions Of
wise craftsmanship. We contend, in
further defense of this reform, that
Judge conversant with law and skilled
in the art of eliminating truth from
contradictory testimony, is better quail
flied to decide causes, on their legal
merits, than twelve men picked up at
random to be made lawyers for spe-
cial occasion.
But to present more tangible argu-
ment, let US suppose that an average
of three hundred cases are docketed
60, oooI 8o,,,, cf 4bo ao,,rt nm orar
age much too low, we fear-this gives
nine hundred cases for the year, and
twelve jurors and four witnesses for
each case, require nearly fifteen thous-
and citizens of town and county, to be
withdrawn yearly, from home and bus
mess to settle the private transactions
of individuals either too incompetent
TO manage their own affairs or too ex-
acting to settle them on an equitable
basis. And this labor is to be per-
formed, and this expense incurred, by
the people, at the bidding of men who
have no moral right to impose either
upon the communities in which they
live. But, whether our figures be too
low or not they, at least, form a correct
basis for calculation of the cost of
Jurors and witnesses, for each term of
the Circuit Court, under the present
mode of adjudicating civil suits.
We do not claim to be reformer,
and especially of the young America
school, which so fully verifes the
pithy remark of philosOpher-"that
the hand which cannot build hovel,
may demolish a castle" nor can We
see the wisdom Of smashing things
that are old in order to supply their
places with things that are new and
untried. Our philosophy teaches us
TO hold fast to that which is good,
whether it bears date before, or since
the food, and the same philosophy
teaches us to test measures by time and
experience, rather than trust new fan
gled doctrines which owe their origin
to reckless ambition or aspiring self
conceit. Governments which make
no provision for their change, must
ultimately, become effete; but TO
change them to meet the imaginary
wants of reckless discomfort, or of
those who are wise above what is
written would soon leave us without
landmarks to guide our search for
those fundamental ideas which must |
underlie every good government what |
ever be its nominal form. Principles |
are Interchangeable, from their very ma
ture. and whenever We abandon them |
for new doctrines we are at once, adrlft |
upon a sea of dangerous experiment. |
In any suggestions We have made, |
we baye not lost sight of the leading |
ideas Of free government, nor have We |
forgotten those restrictions upon nat
ural liberty wisely intended to restrain
the people from thoughtlessly iniur-
iag themselves. But these precau-
tons have failed to ward off the thrusts
Of carping criticism, or TO smooth out
the puckered sheer of those wise only, |
in their own conceit. But as the /
storm, before which we bent for safety,
seems to have spent its fury without
injury 10 any save to those into whose
eyes it may have blown dust, we are,
once more, erect and renew our sug
gestions to the people if they approve,
it is all right, if they reject them, they
have at least, served the purpose of
furnishing targets for reckless marks
men who, in their folly, might have
endangered something better worth
preserving.
PINCHBACK, Grants mulatto Gov
crnor. of Louisiana. says his master is
not understood. and that no far from
dcsirinsto be an Emperor-not having
the ability to work ont such revolu-
tion-he is only striving to be a second |
~ ] -. II. ! !