Morning journal and courier., 1884-02-23
A Bar Meeting.

Opposition to an Act Before the LeStsla-
 There was bar meeting in the Superior
 court room yesterday afternoon at which I. | E. DoolittIe presided.
 | Ex-Judge W. B. Stoddard said the meeting
 was called to take action upon bill before the Judiciary committee of the Legislature for a change in the Courts of Common Pleas. He
 moved the appointment of 8 committee of three to oppose the passage of the bill by the Legislature.
 | 0. s. Hamilton said the bill would destroy
 the usefulness of the New Haysn Court of
 Common Pleas. It is assigned by the Judici- ary committee for a hearing on the 2sth. Johnson T. PIatt wanted the motion re-
 dnced to writing.
 A.. H. Robertson said the primary object of 1 the bill was to reorganize the criminal courts
 and to do other things about justice courts. Justice Munson, of Seymour, thought it | would not destroy the Common Pleas courts | to give them criminal jurisdiction. He gave l 8 historical account of changes which have | taken place since 1856. So far as justice l courts were concerned, the court was 8 con- ! temptibls little court of no consequence to | anybody. He would favor giving all the
 criminal jurisdiction to the Common Pleas | courts.
 Mir. Hamilton said there was no difficulty now in getting case tried in the Superior court On the other hand the Courts of Common Pleas had large amount of busi- ! ness and this bill would overload them with business
 MT. Arvine said 1t would be hurtful | thing to pile all these justice cases into the Common Pleas court. To crowd into it all | the criminal business would be additionally wrong.
 s- pointed out that some cases had been waiting ! twenty years for trial. There ought to be g
 reason for having docket with over four
 hundred cases on before you could reach the cases for this term.
 C. R. Whedon liked some features. That for reducing the number of justices was one. bad feature was to reduce the civil juris- diction of justice courts from $1OO to $50 because it was not consistent. Timothy J. Fox was opposed to the bill. To mix up civil court with criminal juris- diction. was confusing and wrong. Still courts The Court of Common Pleas was now the ''County Court" of Judge Munson's day.
 Mr. InsersolI read the motion as follows:
 That a committee of three be appointed by the chair to oppose before the Committee of the Judiciary of the Legislature the pas sage of the bill entitled, ttAn act relating to the organization and jurisdiction of courts" Johnson T. Platt said it was the duty of
 the State to provide as good justice for people having small causes as for rich people with larger causes. He thought there was no present call for action just now. The
 State bar were now opposed to
 the bill. He thought it was
 mistake to raise the jurisdiction
 of the Court of Common Pleas from $500 to
 $1, 900. The weight of this bar should not
 be thrown against every feature of this bill.
 Next year bill might be made which would
 be of service.
 W. B. Stoddard spoke against the bill,
 which, he said, this bar ought not to allow
 to be passed by default.
 After further discussion the motion pre-
 vailed and the chair appointed w. B. Stod-
 dard, John W. filling and 0. & Hamilton
 the committee.
 Old Deacon Dobson boasted that he was always 'tprepared for the worst" and so he
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