Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1878-07-20
THE JUDICIARY AMEND
MENTS. -

OpClOuSaS OuTieT
If amendment XII is adopted, tie
judiciary system of tho state VIII
he precipita,ed into. inextricabIe
confusion. The judiciary OF the
Stale is an independent and CO.
equal branch OF the government,
aud like the legislative and exe'u
tive departments, should he Or
daincd and established Ivy the con-
s,itu,ion. specially is tn 8 true
Of all courts above the grade OF
i,sticc of the peace. District
courts and appellate courts should
rest upon q stable and independent
basis. The reason OF this Is 90
vious. Judges should he free from
control by the leg .sla'ivc branch
which in our recent his'ory, has
not hesitated to abolish courts IN
order to be rid OF Judges POLITICAL
~ obnoxious to the majority OF that
body. If courts % to depend for
existence upon the caprice of the
legislator, we need not expect. to
zee the law Grmly and courageous
" executed. TO subject any i'm.
portant department OF the judiciary
to legislative control is to demon-
s,rate want OF com ,reliension OF
the philosophy Of our American
system Of government. By amend
inent XII the Legislature will have
authority to establish not less than
thirty nor more than forty-hve Jn-
diciai districts. Fifteen of these
will therefore depcnd upon the
legislative will, subject only to the
condition that no change shall he
made daring the incumbeacy o:
any jndge> We are quite aware
that. RELOCATING so large margin
of power over the su! ject-matter
to the Legislature as Il conven'>
ent way Of bringing the whole
matter within the cIrcumscr!bed
limits Of an amendment, but this
only illustrates the folly of attempt
ing to create a judiciary system by
this plan. We also know that Ill
this particular the proposal has the
authority of some OF our o d con-
situations. But we affirm it to b.
wrong in prluciple aid i'll practice.
Judicial tribunals OF rank above
maejstrates' court, and their juris-
diction should be created by the
organic law, aud should be abs,-
lutely independent OF the Les'sIa-
ture.
What has been said above APP
plies with still more force TO the
circuit courts provided 70: by
amendment XII. The Legislature
may or may not, as it sees tit,
establish these courts, and 1t may
abolish .hem at will ; because. the
prohibition against any change
during the incumbency of the
Judge applies only to district
courts. These courts are given
appellate jurisdiction over suits
involving amounts bet Heen $l0t
and 500, and tie Legislature may
increase their jurisdiction tt
amounts OF $1,000 ny two-thlrd
vote. What a strange anomaly il
noticeable here? The jurisdiction
of these courts is to be fixed by
constitutional provision, beior
they come into existence, AM
without any guarantee whateve
that the Legislature will ever es
tablish them, for the matter is lei
entirely to legislative caprice 9
pleasure. Indeed, it would be
positive misfortune to the bar an
to litigants if the proposed systet
should go into effect. The advan
tages proposed to be gained by tn
circuit court system by the advo
Gates of that plan have been entire
" eliminated and overlooked i
this very ill-digested scheme
No prac;icing lawyer or party lit
giant will wish to be put to III
trouble and expense of attendin
away from home two different az
pellant tribunals having distin'
jurisdiction as to the amount ii
yolved one Of these courts bein
limited to the insignificant sum {
$500. Lawyers and litigants no
have appellate courts at their door
with the same jurisdiction th'
amendment XII proposes TO give
the circuit courts, and while Il
bar and the bench will be subjecte
to greater expense and inconver
fence without any compensate
benefit, the labo:s Of the Supren
Court will not be at all lightene
X X X
Let us have constitutional col