The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-11
NEW METHODS AND OLD.
The Gatherings 0ccasioned by the Supreme
Courts Sessions Thirty Years Ago.

The proposition to establish an appellate
court now before the Legislature, has occasioned
a great deal of talk among the members OF the
legal profession, and many "reminiscences of the
old methods of doing things are INDUCED in.
Thirty years or more ago the Supreme Court of
this State held two terms a year, one late in
May, the other late in November. A week later
in each term the United States Court began and
held it's sessions for a week or two. At one or
the other of these federal court terms, usually
that in the fall, Judge Mclean, of tho national
Supreme Court, attended and conducted the pro-
ceedings. The simultaneous sitting of the two
great courts of the State, one of them under one
OF the most eminent judges of the country,
brought to the capital u large rep
resentation of the State bar, consist
ing mainly of the leading counsel of all
sections, as Richard w. Thompson and John P.
Asher, of Terre Haute; Tilghman A. Howard
and Joseph A. Wright, of Rockville; Rufus
Lockwood, Zeb. Baird, Judge r. c. Gregory. G.
S. Ortiz, of Lafayette; Daniel D. Pratt and Hor-
ace T. Biddle, of Logansport; Joseph L. Jerna-
gan, John B. Howe and John B. Niles, of La
Porte; John S. Newman, Caleb B. Smith, Sam
uel w. Parker, Charles Fl. Test, James Rarider,
of Whitewater; George f.. Dunn and James
Brown, of Lawrenceburg; James G. Marshall,
Michael G. Bright, CORTLAND Gushing, of Madi-
son; Randall Crawford, Judge Smith, William
L. Otto, of New Albany; John Ingle and Conrad
Baker, of Evansville, George G.. Dunn, James
Hughes and David Mcdonald, of Bloomington.
and the gathering made as much of a stir in the
little city as the meeting of the Legislature.
There was a little advantage to the bar
in thus killing two birds with one
stone" or attending two courts in ore journey,
and one expense account. and, of course, a re-
sultant advantage of the constituency or ellen
tele' of the profession. But the largest ben
eft was the close association of the leading
members of the profession from ali parts of the
State. 1t operated, in some measure, as a sort
of balance-wheel to hold the law steady in it's
motion. The ablest, oldest and best-read law
yers from the lake to the Falls of the Ohio could
discuss law points. not only in court, but in con-
versation, and settle III some sort a line of con.
struction or opinion that would command gen.
eral assent. Possibly out of this grew the fact
that fewer rulings of the Supreme Court were
questioned by other courts or overruled by itself
than now. Possibly, too, this sort of professional
congruity, thus developed, had something TODD in
providing for a better class of minor judges than
is usually seen on the bench now. There was a
sort of an intuitional unconscious law university
in those semi-annuai gatherings, that diffused
wholesome influences. Now it is proposed that
the Supreme Court OF the State shall divide into
two sections, one section holding two terms at
EOIb wayne, anu wv mere, IHe Quiet S0cblOu
holding two terms at New Albany, and two at
Evansville. The federal courts are now held at
these points. If sessions of the Supreme Court,
in circuit duty, like that formerly discharged by
the Supreme Judges of the United States, were
held at the same times and the same places, there
would be a renewal of the old order of things, to
a considerable extent, and. in addition, the cir
cult sessions of the Supreme Court could clear
away a good deal of the rubbish that now
filters the regular docket. To the pro-
fession, d leading lawyer of the Southern
part of the State, MIR. Charles DENLY, thinks
this change would be especially desirable, as it
would permit the making of oral arguments. as is
done in all the courts of Europe. and in our
own federal Supreme Court frequently. And it
would 60 far toward saving the time and labor
of the general sessions for the cases that really
require appellate attention. This is now wasted
away in a flood of trivial cases that contain moth
ing Of more Importance that a squire's ruling in
a suit on a fve-dollar account, and the waste is
aggravated by the expense OF having all the rub
bish printed and preserved as carefully as if it
was fit for anything but fre-kindling or carpet
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