Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1884-11-01
Louis and St. Joseph districts at tn

: April term, 1855, b time the comm
SION commenced it work, the numbt
of cases upon the supreme court dock
" disposed of was 1904. This shows a
accumulation, in the short period
six and one-half years, of S13 case
e e Notwithstanding the fact that the coul
!; had during that time disposed of a
average of 425 cases annually. 1t ais
: shows that although at the time of til
consolidation the supreme court wa
only about two years behind with il
work, yet, at its April term, 1888, i
was all of four years behind. Tn
above data has been kindly furnishe,
me by the clerk of the supreme court
and is therefore entirely reliable. l
will be readily seen from this state
ment of facts, that when, with the a 8
sistance of the commission, thu
supreme court shall have caught W
with the work before it, it must very
quickly fall behind again, and to {
greater extent than before, since tn,
number of cases coming before it fol
hearing must increase from year to year
with the constant increase and growth
of our state in wealth and population.
Again, no state having a proper regard
for the rights of its citizens should hes.
itate to adopt every adequate means to
secure to them aprompt administration
of Justice. Any considerable delay in
this direction is to al extent a denial of
one OF the most sacred rights guaran-
teed to every citizen by our constitu-
ton, and often results in either deter
ring those who have small means from
asserting their legal rights, or, if as
serted, in being subsequently forced
into a ruinous compromise by the fnan-
cially stronger party.
Next-as to the merits OF the propos-
ed measure:
The system is a perfect flexible one,
as shown by sec g., and by legislative
enactment an be readily adapted to
the increasing demands of litigation in
the state. The legislature can, as oc-
casions may require, either diminish or
increase both the territorial and pecu-
mary jurisdiction of the court of ap-
peals, and thus apportion the work
among them and the supreme court In
such a manner as to entirely prevent
an excessive accumulation of cases in
any one court. Hence, delays in the
of justice in our courts
of final resort will, under this system,
become impossible. Should the
supreme court, with the assistance of
two appeal courts, prove inadequate,
the amendment authorizes the %legisla-
ture to establish a third court of ap-
peals OF like jurisdiction with the other
and divide the state into three
appellate districts.
Each court of appeals is a court of
final resort as to all cases coming be-
fore it, upon the well recognized theory
That no htigant can Justly demand that
his case be reviewed by more than one
court, provided it Is SO organized as to
be prepared to carefully and deliber-
ately consider in the light of authori-
lies, the legal questions involved.
The expense consequent upon the
creation of another court of appeals.
will be no greater than is now incurred
N supporting the commission, since
he amendment provides that the three
Judges OF the new court shall each re-
civ an annual salary of $500 dollars,
While the commissioners of the supreme
'ourt are now receiving an annual
alary of $500 dollars each. Thus it
will be seen that when viewed from an
economical standpoint the people have
to lose, should this amend
nent be adopted, while from the more
important standpoint of the prompt
nd efficient administration of JUSTICE,
hey have very much to gain over our
resent infiexible and totally made t
uate system.
This amendment was fully discussed =,
y the state bar association at its last l
NO annual meetings, and resolutions j.;
giving it their unanimous and
unqualified Endorsement, and recon- { {
lending its adoption to the people.
l hope, therefore, that the measure t
'ill not only receive your approval, !
ut that you will give it the benefit of !
our valuable influence and active sup {
ort during the present canvass. n
Very respectfully, =