The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-20
OUR COURTS.

one Of the most troublesome and delicate
labors OF tho cons itutlonal convention will be
the remodeliug OF the judi t!ary system Of the
State. This department. as at present con
stituted, is utterly insufficient for the admin
Istration of either civil or criminal Justice and
will have to be done away with and an entire
ly now establishment erected In It's place. The
defects are inherent 10 the system and attach
to every court and every jurisdiction compre-
hended In IT, from the Supreme Court itself
down to the Justices OF the peace, and there Is
but one remedy for them, and that Is the rad
lcal alteration Of the whole structure with q
view to adapting It to tho requirements OF the
present time. The thing has become old and
antiquated cumbrous and useless fossil
totally unsuted 10 the practical uses for which
1t was originally designed. Its processes are
slow, tedious, costly and utterly unreliable
and In these and other respects IL s out of all
keeping with the quick aud almost arbitrary
methods which prevail In the practical bust
ness and working world, or which II remains
the incapable arblter,
How to remedy this and to supply the place
Of the existing eumbrous and costly affair
with more economical system. fully adapted
to the needs Of the day, Is great and com
plicated question, to the solution Of which
the most extensive learning aud practical ex-
perience, rs well as the most excellent iudg
ment, will have to be brought to bear. IL is D
work that cannot be intrusted TO either char
| latans or experlmentallsts. for such men
would be very sure to make matters worse
and leave the State with q judiciary 50 ineffl
Gent and complicated that 1t would be use
less indeed.
| In this process of overhauing and recon
struction the very first. and perhaps the
most urgent. reform that will have to be
] made will be In the Justice of the peace sys-
TEN. In this city, where the most fragrant
and shameless abuses have orept into the
system 1t will, fortunately. be q compare
lively easy matter to afford an adequate
remedy. That these courts shall be entirely
abolished we take rs a forgone conclusion. so
utterly dlsreputable have they become In the
eyes of all classes Of litgants. It would
be impossible to convey In one short
article just idea of the miserable
travesty the administration OF justice has
become In these courts In New Orleans,
and we are told that matters are even worse
In tho country parishes. where the negro JUS
tice has developed fantastic Imbecility never
dreamt OF by the white Dogberry. In New
| Orleans the trouble arises from thrift rather
/ than folly, and the abuses which have grown
up are attributable to the system Of fees
The remedy for this suggests itself. It is TO
abolish this system and make all fees return
able to the city Or the State, allowing Justices
fixed salary with, perhaps, reasonable fees
In criminal cases, when the inducement to
| perpetrate gross and arbitrary out
RACES for the purpose Of securing
| the court costs would not exist
| All Of this could be accomplished In New Or
leans by revival of the old city courts, or
the establishment of two or moro tribunals
with jurisdiction limited 10 one or two hun
drcd dollars, all cases appealable TO some one
Of the district courts when the amount in
volved exceeds twenty-five dollars, exclusive
of costs. The judges of these courts should
be lawyers Of two years practice, ut least.
In the country parishes similar parish tri.
bunals might be constituted. though there
will scarcely be necessity for anything Of
the kind If the system Of parish or resident
| judiciary is retained, and this appears to bt
the desire Of majority Of the people
We are firmly of the opinion, however
that judicial powers should be entrusted te
none but persons learned In the law. This Il
the crying evil Of the present parish court
system. to which Is entrusted the admnistra
ton OF our peculiar succession laws by fal
the most complicated and difficult to master
OF any on our statute books. These laws
more than any others, affect the rights d
minors and widows and other incapabes
who are regarded by the law as the wards o
the courts and entitled to the most mercifu
consideration and watchfu care. It Is no
right or proper to entrust the rights OF suci
people to ignorant and incapable men, or t,
any but learned masters Of the law. We LAY
IL down as an automatic truth that none but
lawyer, and good one, can thoroughly mas
ter the succession laws Of the State, even il
the mere matter of determining the prece
dence of heirs at law. How then can mer,
tyro, no matter how honest and sensible HI
may be In ordinary matters, pass authori
tatively on the Thousand intricacies of tn,
laws disposing of testate and int state sue
cessions2
i Another grave matter Is the jurisdiction II
room for improvement and economy, both il
the methods Of trial and punishment OF sucl
offenders. Under the present system tn,
trial OF chi, ken thief costs the parishes a
much money and Is subject to as much de
lay as that Of a murderer. This should no
be so. Minor offenders should be summaril,
tried and Immediately punished, and the los
Of dollar to a citizen should not necessaril,
involve an expense to the community OF feed
ing and taking care OF the thief for year o
so. There should be some sort Of relation
between the loss, the gravity Of the offens
and the cost of Furnishing it. An
other important and just consideration
is that the parishes which bear the ex
penses OF criminal prosecution SHOULD
derive some benefit from the enforced labo
Of the condemned criminal. These matters
will have to be settled, as to their details, by
the Legislature vet where the jurisdiction