Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-05-08
PROMPT ADMINISTRATION OF
IuSTICE.

The new Constitution of California,
which was voted on yesterday, is in
many respects an eccentric document,
hut for all that some its novel features
are not without considerable merit.
Prominent among these is provision
which calls for prompt administration OF
iustice by the Courts, and takes the fea-
sible method to bring it about OF making
the pay of the judge depend on the per-
Torrance Of that duty. Itprovides that
no Judge can draw his monthly salary
until he has taken an oath that no cause
remains in his Court undecided which
has been submitted for decision during
a period of ninety days.
This we admit is rather severe on the
Judge, but not half so burdensOme as
the unreasonable and oppressive delay
of cases in our courts, is TO the clients.
And inasmuch as the judge has some
discretion and control over this
matter, and the client none, 1t is, per-
haps, more reasonable that the resPon-
sibility should rest upon the former
rather than the latter.
The dilatory practice Of the majority
of our courts is simply excruciating. 1t
is out of all harmony with the times in
which we live 1t is not demanded by
any considerations OF justice. There is
but little abreviation of the verbiage
and palayer in the practice OF an hun
dred years ago. Each case is taken
up with that lazy, languid
kind of deliberatioR that would
seem to imply that it was the only one
that the court had to try, and all parties
concerned had an hundred years in
which TO turn it over and handy 1t
about. Attorneys for the most part are
allowed TO mature their cases at the trial
table, and to talk to the court on every
trifling question as though the Court
was presumed to know nothing original
". and it was very doubtful if the most
persistent efforts could penetrate the
crust or even make an impression.
Now, if the Judges are not response
BILE for this dilatory character OF practice,
and sinful waste of time, who is@ Ger
tainly it is within the discre-
ton of the Judge to limit the time that
shall be consumed in the trial OF a case
simply to what is absolutely essential to
a fair and iull development OF the mat
tiers in issue, to make the limit OF time
bear some relative proportion TO the i'm
portance Of the case; to prohibit irrele-
want and supertluOus testimony; to cut
off debate on questions of testimony and
points Of practice with which he is al
ready familiar and his mind is perfectly
clear; to limit the harrangues to the
Jury and thereby compel attorneys to
condense their arguments and speak
only to the merits of the case.
All these things, and many more are
within the control of the Judge who
presides, and who by the exercise OF a
sound discretion can expedite the busi-
ness fifty per cent beyond the present
rate of speed. We do not say that this
assertion applies to all our Judges, but
it will fit the majority, While as a rule
they are Industrious, hard working
men, some of them seem never to re-
gard the time that is fritted away by
their consent in the proceedings OF
their courts, as of any value to them
selves or any one else. The Legisla-
ture of West Virginia will find occasion
some day, as they have in California,
to "whoOp them up.