The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-12-08
The Supreme Court.
HOW IT REDIsTRtcrED THRsrxTE n
sens nToIfRNMENr =


HOW 1T RED1sTRfcTED THE STATE me-
FORE ADJOURNMENT. q, q ~.
Pittsburg, Nov. ,2e.-The Supreme
Court adjourned yesterday after max.
Ing an order changing the Supreme
Court districts of the State. The
action was In pursuance of authority
conferred by the act Of May s, 1875,
which empowers the court to change
and transfer any of the counties of the
commonwealth from any of the dis
tricts of said court. Tie order trans-
fers the following counties from the
Middle to the Eastern district; Bed.
ford, Blair, Cumberland, Centre, Col
umbia, Clinton, Clearfeld, Cameron,
Elk, Fulton, Huntington, Juniata,
Lancaster, Lycoming, Lebanon,
NJ iffiin, Montour, Mexican, Northum
berland, Perry, Potter, Snyder, Tioga,
Sullivan, Union, Warren and York.
COUNTIES TRANSFERRED.
The following counties are trans
ferred from the Western to the East
| crn district: Armstrong, Butler,
Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Erie,
Fayette, Forest, Indiana, Lawrence,
| Mercer, and Somerset. BY reason of
the said transfer the Western, Middle,
and Eastern districts of the Supreme
| Court shall hereafter stand and be
! composed of the following counties,
viz:
The Western district-Allegheny,
Beaver, Greene, Jefferson, Nenango,
| Westmoreland and Washington,
The Middle district--iAdans, Dau-
phin, and Franklin. ds'7 -
The Eastern district Armstrong,
Bucks, Butler, Bedford, Blair, Brad
| ford, Berks, Cambria, Clarion. Craw-
ford, Carbon, Chester, Cumberland,
Centre, Columbia, Clinton, Clearfield,
| Cameron, Delaware, Erie, Elk, Fay
ette, Forest, Fulton, Huntington,
Indiana, Juniata, Lawrence, yLehigh,
Lebanon, Luzelne, Lackawanna, Ly-
coming, Lancaster, Mexican, Mercer,
Miff1in, Monroe, Montgomery, Mon
tour, Northumberland, Northampton,
Philadelphia, Perry, Potter, Pike,
Schuylkill, Somerset, Susauehanna,
snyder, Sullivan, Tioga, Union,
Wayne, Wyoming, Warren, and
York. f'.''' ',....
| TERMS OF THE COURT.
The terms of the court in the dis
tricts are fixed as follows: That of the
| Western district commences on the
first Monday of October and continues
| four weeks. ,i}.~~..
That of the Middle district COM
mences OH the twenty-tirst Monday
following the first Monday OF jan
uary and continues one week.
And the Eastern district term COM
mences on the third Monday of Nov
enlber and continues until the COM
mencement of the term im the Middle
district. ls.c... g,
The rest of the order, which is quite
! lengthy, fixes the return day for the
various counties. The sentiment
among the members of the bar of AL
legheny county respecting the order
is that of emphatic uisapproval. The
| western district, which had nineteen
counties, has been stripped of all but
| seven, and the fees OF the Prothono-
tary, General Sweitze, will be proper
tionatcly reduced.
WHAT ATTORNEYS SAY.
The attorneys consider the order un-
warranted by any existing state of
affair, and altogether unnecessary.
They say it was done to please the
Philadelphia influence and virtually
makes but one supreme court district
| in the State. 1t is u fact that outside
of Allegheny county the members OF
the bar in a number of counties in
the western district were "a unit in ia
vor of the change. Justices Gordon,
Trunkey and Sterrett refused to assent
to the order, so it was made by the
othes four justices in opposition to
! their Judgment. They opposed it for
the reason that it would be inconven-
lent and expensive for many suitors
and lawyers to attend the sessions OF
the court in Philadelphia. Many
Pittsburg lawyers are indignant over
the matter and talk of applying to the
legislature for remedy such as the
redisiricting OF the State by act OF
assembly.