The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-08-31
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.


tutionsl amendments which are In t'0
days to be submitted to a vote Of the = op 0
for thei- adoption or rejection, it Is no. un-
timely to discuss them somewhat. Ina
HERALD hiss already L, if'Nsoe little to shy
concerning these amendments, but In view
of their Importance wo take 1t that we can
again submit some remarks aud reflections
uoon them without becoming wearisome.
Ia this article We shsl only discuss the
amendment to The Judiciary System OF the
state. This amendment provides tina: Iher c
shall DO suqreNG court of six ssaoc'd
justices All . .uprems judge, seven
m mbers in slt, four ii whom shall
constitute quorum Of the whole. 70 give
an exact idea of how this cour! ID 10 work
we quote from the amendment as fellows
"a quorum being present, they MAJ organize
two divisions, each to consist of three judke',
tue chi justice to Cooperate with each
section. Two judges of division shall
constitute quorum. Gao of the member |
ia either division dissenting may refer sny
q psIiou in n case, of tho whole cause, TO all
tse members OF the court, when decision
shall be made by majority of quorum Of
the whole that may DO present. No justice
shall be- permanently assigned to any divss
ion, but tho ju tees may alternate under
such rules Gs the court may prescroe.'
These seven judges are to be elected by tho
people, hold office for six years and receive
ealsry of not less than So, 600 per annum
each. The court Itself selects one Of its own
member to bs chief justice and he shall go
serve for two years, The reason for making
the court 80 large is TO do away with the
present court of appeals and obyiate the
necessity for the commissioners of appeals
now acting Us an adjunct court to the
supreme court to assist j. in it's multi
tudinous duties aud great labors
As the judiciary system Of the state now
stands there are in reality nine judges on the
benches of the courts of higher resort and
there are thrpc, or what is tsntsmoun! TO three
OF sheae courts, there being threo supreme
Judges and three commissioners of sppetls.
This IL not only III expressive, but il is a
! cumbersome and complicated syttem--a
system, indeed, that is in great mossure u
hnlrance to ITSELF that cannot do all tho
work necessarily incumbent upon court OF
final resort The judiciary system OF every
state ought to be rs simplihed as possible,
consistent with a speedy aud just admniStra-
ton and execution Of the laws, so that the
entire people may understand it in all
its relations and bearings. 1t is fact vel!
know that as the courts are now organized,
a tact that lawyers and htigants know to
| heir sorrow, not to say disgust, and that is
costing The people deal Of money, they
c'naos adjudicate the cases sent up from the
several districts of the state on appeal near so
rapidly as they are docketcd, and they have
been falling more and more behind every
year until now there are cases awaiting their
turn that have been for two and three years
on hand. This is ruinous to the parties III
CANT Money and other property is kept
tied up, Justice, which should over be prompt
Ia RETARDED, and the laws, LAYS and yexa-
tons have como to be proverbial in Texar,
and the respect oftb people for the law and
its bohcsts very greatly weakened. In the
days of Wheeler Eud Lpscomb and Jen-
n'nya and Hemphill, before the war, small
court answered al purposes, for population
was sparae then rs compared with what 1t is
now; tho litigation Of tna country Wac bu.
limited because its trade and commerce was
bu. small, its various resources in little more
than n inctoa,e condition, Now, with our
more than nilion snd half Of inhsbitsnts
with our r,ilroud Isnilyin, tho state and III.
multitude Of towns and youug cities they hay
built no, all doing an immense deal q
business aud swelling the commelct
Of the stale to gigantic proportions and inS
crossing tho causes Of litigation Thousands o
fold, every inter- st Of the state demands iha
its judiciary syttem, especially that part o
pertaining TO a cours OF last adjudication
DO thorough, ample end effective. The ju
risiction Of the suprenl ,our., the imend
meot sets forth as follows: "The suprem
, colrt shall have appellate jurisdiction onl
except rs herein specified, which shall DO CO.
extensive with the limits Of the stste. l,
/, appellate jurisdiction shall extend to all CIV
'
cases Of which the district or county cour
has original or appellate jurisdiction, and
s such other CAGES as msy DO prescribed b
I law, but in appeals from inter'ocu;ory judg
T mons, With such exceptions and under cue
? regulations as the Legislature may prescrib
e The supreme court abd the justices there
o shall have power to Issue the writ of habo'
o corpus, as may be prescribed by law, an
d under such regulations as may be pretcrib'
d by law the said court and the justices there
o NAV issue the wri,s of mandsmus, procedend'
!. cerliorari, and such other wrils as moy
n necessary to enforce iIs jurisdiction. IT
0 esislature may confer original jurisdicli'
! on the supreme court TO issue wris of 81
. wsrranto and mand anus 10 classes Of cos
= specified by it, except as against the COVE
= nor of the state, The supreme court Lh