The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-04-09
0UR COURTS.

Where, in the exercise of remedial justice,
the jurisdiction Of courts is indiscriminately
exercised in law and equity, where legal and
eouitable rights and remedies are commingled
and are of equal dignity in the manner
Of their assertion and redress, there is pecu-
liar gravity and importance attaching to the
exercise of these combined powers by the
bench. Scarcely a petition is presented to
our courts, in the exercise Of this combined
jurisdiction, that does not close with an APP
peal to their equitable powers We have had
frequent cause to observe, however, that
judges, not unfrequently, by their rulings
make their equity powers snare to entan9le
or thwart the vindication Of legal rights, and
as often strangle the equities Of cause by
stringent and rigid application Of the tech
nicalities of law It is doubtless, severe
tax on tho discriminatiye judgment
and judicial acumen Of the bench
to meet these demands with legal
exactness, and at the same time to weigh
with strict impartiality the conflicting appeals
which come within the milder and more be-
nignant sway of equity. Indeed the strife
OF litigants to obtain hearing has SO crowded
the ordinary .dockets Of our courts, since the
war, that there is little ground for wonder
that the bench, under the pressure, have rem
dered many i'll considered, and, perhaps, in
equitable decisions.
1t appears to us that the powers Of the
Legislature might be we'll employed, if exer-
cised with prudence and judgment, in the
Reorganization Of our courts, at least within
this parish. True, it would seem that seven
Criminal" Court, might suffice, particularly
when we consider that one Of those, being
"Superior," absorbs, or might be supposed to
absorb, an extra amount of litigation. But
when we are informed that there are grave
doubts as to the superiority Of that court,
and further, tina. itigan.s are, SO to speak,
only dragged within its portals BY exclusive
power Of jurisdiction, the wonder f!iminishes
Still further when, out Of the seven, there is
exclusively allotted one to minor criminal
cases, one to probate cases, one to appeals
from justices of the peace, and one almost
exclusively occupied in political and corpo-
ration causes, we find there are left but three
courts which practically bear the burden Of
the whole ordinary litigation Of a population
Of acout 100000 souls, whose ccDmercia!
relations with the country parishes and other
communities give them much greater repre-
sentative importance in the matter Of litjga-
ton than agricultural communities Of the
same numerical strength. The twelve other
judicial districts of the State comprise pop
ulation of about $50, 900, which would give
on an average say 1850 population to each
district, while the same calculation in this
parish, on the above showing, gives $4,000 to
each of the three district courts referred to,
making no allowance for the increased de-
mands Of metropolitan litigants.
Let US hope when the bright day shall
dawn upon our State that shall give US
Legislature free from jobbery and rings, the
real wants Of our people in this regard will
find attention.