Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-28
OUR COURTS.
OUR COURTS.
Information Wanted by
Congressman Markham.
THE DIsTR1CTCOURT QUESTION
Immense Increase Of Litigation In
the Superior Courts of Los
Angeles County.
THE DIsTRICTCOURT QUESTION

II IL evident from the following letter
that an effort is being made in Washing
ton to secure United States District
Court for Los Angeles
HOUSE, or REPRESENTATIVES, u. s.
WAsHrsarox, d. G. March 10.
Chas. Daam0or, County Cterk, Los
1ngeles. Cai.
DEAR SIR:-W win you furnish me the
number Of eases commenced in the two
enurta with which you are connected,
lie number Of cases tried, the number
of appeals taken, about the member OF
days, including parts Of days, your
courts are in session, the number OF at
torneys admitted to practice before your
court, and any other information that
nay tend TO show the amount Of legal
bnsinesa performed In Los Angeles
whiting the last year. deem II i'm
portant, rs | desire to show to Congress
the magnitude Of legal work done in the
State courts, In order TO advance our
standing and claim for the establish
ment Of our United States District
Court. Very truly yours,
II. II. MARKHAM.
The reply to be sent on by County
Clerk C. III. Dunsmoor will show some
anch concentration of facts rs the fol
lowing; The number OF cases entered
in the Superior Court from January LIST,
1880. 90 December 3lst, 1884, was 37l0.
This is an average of JAP cases a year.
The new cases entered in the year 1885
were 1895, or an increase of 80 per cent.
The Superior Court has Jurisdiction in
all civil cases OF $500 or upwards, all
smaller sums being settled In the Justice
Courts. There are fully 1000 year of
such cases.
AT the next sitting of the State Legis-
lature Los Angeles County will apply for
two more Judges to meet the demands of
the steady increase in litigation. There
were in 1885, 1900 cases disposed of and
there are now fully 300 cases ON the
docket OF the courts.
The population OF the county in 1850
was about $1,000. IL is now about 49,.
900. The courts are in session every
day excepting legal holidays and worked
as hard as can be. There are two terms
of the Supreme Court of the State held
here commonly in April aud October.
rAe number of cases coming before this
tribunal would sum up about 300
year, and that number is rapidly in
Los Angeles is only one OF
the 10 or ~ counties which would figure
in this question.
1t is probable that before
long one of the transcontinental rail
roads will put on line Of transatlantic
steamers, landing at Santa Monica, thus
creating the necessity of maratime
Court here.
The distance now necessarily Travelled
to reach Federal Court, 800 miles, over
expensive lines Of travel, equal to three
times the distance in Eastern States, is
great hardship. Witnesses and attor-
neys have TO be transported and their
expenses paid in n strange city. There
were seventy attorneys admitted
TO the bar here from the beginning of
1880 to to the end of 1884. In 1885
there were thirty eight such admissions.
These are the salient points in the case
which ought to demonstrate the need OF
the relief prayed for. They should be
very weiehty reasons indeed which
should bo allowed to stand in the way
Of the action demanded of Congress.