, 1874-12-04


# there should be anywhere all incredulous
Legislator who is Of opinion TINT the Judges
of the Supreme Court aro ororpaid for their
services; who thinks thoir position, on tho
whole, is IN easy one; and wonders why they
suffer business to got SO far behind, let him
visit the Office Of the Clerk Of that Court ut
Ottawa during its session, inspect the records
Which they aro required to examine, noto the
volumes of printed abstracts which they are
compelled to wade through, to say nothing
of tile renms Of printed aud written briofa
aud arguments, and VIC are confident that tho
aforesaid Legislator will leave the crampcd
mud inconveniont Office Of The Clerk of the
Court wiser, if not sadder, and probably
d madder, man thnn when lie entered If he
asks the Judges whether it is necessary TINT
those records should be so Immensely volu1n.
inous, they will with ono accord tell him no.
If ho inqrires whether the abstracts should
bo Of such infinite length, they will answer
him no. Should ho inquire whether it
was necessary TINT they should diligently
read through all this vast amount Of matter,
they will answer yes. They will tell him
that it is quito impossible to guess from tho
appearance Of the outside of the record what
it contains, and TINT they arc frequently COM
PEELED to read hundreds Of dreary pages to
find, at the end, TINT there is not single
legal question presented by the record.
The legislator will then probably 10 pre-
pared to ask whether a remedy for this evil
cannot be found, and. Jealous in good works,
lie will undoubtedly be anxious to apply a
corrective If one can be discovered. We have
before us, as illustrating the extont Of this
abuse, a record of g causo now pending in tho
Supreme Court amounting to over GOO pages
Of manuscript. This entire record, bill Of ex-
ceptions and al1, ought not to havo been over
175 pagos,-iudeed, it might luye been less
than tllat.
In another caso now pending in that Court
the record contains 277 pages. The printed
abstraot is 22 pngcs. This record should
not have been over 10 pages and the abstract
not over i. These two cases nnay be taken
as fair illustrations Of the extent to which
this abuse is carried. Tho power to correct
it rests with tho Legislature ind the Court.
In tho easo Inst referred to, tho exceptions
wero all bascd upon the Instructions. Tho
bill Of exceptions should have embraced 10
moro Of tho evidence than WINS necessary to
present those exceptions, and tho entiro bill
Of exceptions, properly drawn, instructions
and NIL, could haye been written On 10 pages
Of legal cap. Instead Of that, however, tho
transcript Of the shorthand reporters notes
Of the evidence was presented and allowed as
bill Of exceptions, aud WAS embodied in tho
record rs snoh. It is 30 near the truth as to
Justify The assertion TINT not single bill of
exceptions, properly so-caletl, was filed in
any case pending in the Supreme Court dur
ing its last session at Ottawa. The Judges
havo made M effort to correct tAis
abuse by rule, but tho rule seems
to be entirely inoperatiye. The bill Of excep-
tions should III 10 case present moro Of the
evidence than is absolutely necessary to rem
der the ruling Of tho Court to which an OK
coption IL ta1zen intelligiblc. And the prac-
tice of sending up to tho Supreme Court all
tho evidence, without reference to the fact as
to whether any questions of law aro raised
upon it or not, is MI abuse so serious in its
character that it will swamp tie Court it
not soon corrected. Where the evidence il
conflicting rs to a certain fact, it is quito
enough to say, If anything whatever need bo
said in tho bill Of exceptions concerning It,
that the plaintiff introduced evidence tending
to show a certain state of facts, and that the
defendant introduced evidence tending to
show the opposite state Of facts Whore
tile evidence III tie Court below Ia COLL
tliotiug, tho Supreme Court will not at
tempt to reconcile 1T, nor will they
disturb Judgment where tho evidence
In the cause is conflicting These are
questions peculiarly within tho province
Of the Jury, and the purpoGe Of an OBJ
poal Ia not to transfer tho trial of questions
Of taot from jury Of twolvo men, who SEQ
and loar all thu wltnesses aud hr:17o ayqry ou-
postuA!ty Of determining from sho!r apponr-