National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1877-05-18
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
4 STITEHENT or THE sHtMEFUL
CONDITION or THE LOUER COURTS.

4 STITEHENT or THE SHAMEFUL
CONDITION or THE LOWER COURTs.
Being nm Outrage Upon the Community and
| Disgrace to the Legal Profession-A Brief
Review Of the Facts, and Few Suggestions
In the Premises Looking to More Justice
and Less Justices.
The manner in which justice Is dealt out
to the citizens Of this District, in their
minor differences involving civil suits at law,
is 10 them u subject of the greatest interest.
The importance of "A suit involving one hun
drc,l dollars Is often rs vital to the poor man
Is one Of twenty times that amount is to the
the rich, and IL Is bat reasonable to expect
equal discretion and good Judgment in the or
ganization of the lower tribunals, to which
they must apply for justice, as the higher
courts.
In the appointment of Judges to preside over
the higher courts, beginning even with that
Of police justice only snch men Of experience
and integrity arr appointed rs arc duly quail
fed To inteligently and impartially decide
upon the issues coming before them. They
must be- practical lawyers, and not mcrc stu.
dents or diploma bearers. They must alSo he
possessed of judglnen, sufficiently discriminate
ing and enlightened to decide between the con-
fict Of facts, aud so disciplined in the law ~
W sfNllf tllN anu lttH Nndt may
arisc And. while such appears to he the spirit
cf the appointing power in the organization Of
the higher cnurts, vet the lower or justices
courts seem sadly hacking in the very first rle-
mentS Of justice. being neither endowed with
with wisdom nor goO'lncss.
! According To the statute law Of this District
rll civil suits Wherein the amounts involved
ln no. exceed one hundred dollars come within
the Jurisdiction Of the justices court, presided
over by single magistrate or Justice of the
peace. The number of such Justices Is limited
by law to fifty. The appointing power Is
vested in the District commissioners and no
test of competency being required under the
law none is cNactcl. The applicant for the
position of justice must, of course, show some
evidence Of having read law, or, perhaps Of
having practirrd Il. But the applicants never
apply upon the basis Of merit alone. rather re-
lying upon their influential friends, who, true
to the custom OF the majority Of Congress
men and Politicians in Washington. will
sign anything. however culogistic and
cNtO!ling, which cOmmCnds the appli-
cant for any position, from boot-black
to Il special post office agency Mt Dcadwo0d.
Upon this theory, then, the justices Of the peace
Of this District har. generally been appointed.
The District Commissioners, not being person.
ally acquainted with the peculiar fitness Of
each justice. were necessarily compelled to rely
solely upon their recommendations and indorSc-
lmcnts. ~ Washington finds itself to-day with
class Of the most unmitigntcd nuisanccs In
the shape IL justices Of tn" peace tina. ever
afflicted community. There are some few
good ONES, no doubt, honest and Intelligent, and
upon these II il not intended to reflect. But
when CONNIE. Ing upon justices ns y class the
good ~ well as the bad must all share alike
the oiium that rests upon their fraternity.
OF the fifty justices it may h. safe to sly
that not a hall dozen are practical lawyers. nor
could any dna'n III them To-day enter and con
duct suit in my Of the higher courts Of the
District. Many Of them are hut recent grad
yates from the law sch0nls Of this city. liHv-
ing failed in all things else IN life they sud
denly conceived the idea nf becoming Judges,
and Ia that end studied law for one or two
years, and according To rule that is seldom
known To have failed passed their final exam.
nation together with the whole class, ard Oh
tanned their diplomas.
While most men when they graduaee AZ law
know just enough L" feel that they know moth.
ing of the practice Of law, and modcstly slide
away into some conner, scarcely vCnturing tho
title of attorney" these erliditc disciples Ol
blackstone, within a few weeks of thrii grad
uation, come forward AZ "JudgCS' to adjudiratC
questions nj law and fact. Indeed, there arr
some instances in thr District in which jus
ticrs oil the peace after having been appointed
have joined law classes, and then upon Their
final examinations could not tell the differ
cncr between plea Ia bar and plea in abatc
mrnt.
In deciding upon questions that involve hui
fifty or hundred dollars. the same principle
%; law may h. involved rs that involving mil
lions aud certainly the parties to the case haVt
every right 10 expect impartial justice. In
stead Of this, however, the decision Of III,
Justices court IL often cOlorCd with iavoriti>m
no. to say fraud. In some instances Justice
are regularly idcntilird with lawyers, an,
when party applies to them concerning any
proposed suit, the Justice significantly winks
aud recommends his friend the lawyer ~ I
, worthy person TO conduct the ease. Seldom
does the lawyer thus recommended ever los.
his suit.
The office OF Justice Of the peace is not
snluricd one hut dependent solely on fees. |
|; is no inirvpurnt thing. therefore, for caS
involving ten or twenty dollars to swell int
immense costs. The costs are fixed by tn
District courts, hut these justices seem to excr
5 else sort of discretionary power, ranging al
+ the way mp FROM four to thirty dollars for
single writ.
Although there are fifty justices, but few q
them do tbs legitimate business the Others he
ing satisfied to wait until they can get 'ou
gDpd ease" out of which they make up in fee
| for lost time. There IL one distinguished itin
I Grant justice, who ~ jccts the theory of q roll
ing stOnr, Sc, aud drives arund the street
daily, making StOppagCs at certain street cor
a nors, where from his buggy he dispcnscS jus
! tiCe 10 any who feel inclined to purchase II n
/, they would merchandise from other pe,idlcr
/. This Is only the outline Of the picture o
justices courts in this city. To go into tn
details of their outrageous procedure woul,
require more space than can hc well given {
one article. The subject, however will b
further investigated and the worst Of til
: gSug will occasionally be held up to the ligh
= OiTan outraged community.
:. The bir association have repeatedly had tn
+ matter under consideration, and upon one oC
casiDn, over year ago, unanimously signed
petition to the District Commissioners asking
; reduction of the Numbcr of justices OF tn
= pcaCr, hut for some reason no recommendation
I, on the subject was made To Congress. Til
Commissioners themselves, however rCcOgniL
:, the Iact that there are too many justices, an
fiat thr morals Of their courts are too low. i
e conversation few days ago ono OF their hon
o oTablC body expressed the opinion that it wOul
J. b. much better To have II less number Of jus
. trt,s at u regular salary and make the fees r.
- turnnblC to the court. In this way he though
- n better class Of men would seek the positions
y and the standard Of the justices court wUul
d be thereby raised.
c This is just what all the members of the hal
If think. Ten or Il dozen justices could do a
:, tho business Of the city, and
u they were siuricd ut, say $500
J. per unnum. Il fit class OF men could afford
e take the Office rs 1t is now the title "Justic
of the Peace" instead Of importing some dil
nity AT nhi,p il .rpa.,tiyp ui the Invest nlnC