The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-07-15
THE LAWYER
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
TEXAS BAR ASSOCIA-
TION AT DALLAS.
ADDRESS BY COL. PEELER-THE
JUDICIARY BILL-REMARKS
BY EX-GOv. ROBERTS.
snecial Telegram to the Statesman

lug, Hon A. j. Peeler, of AUSTIN presiding
Present, Dr. Chas. Morse, secretary, and about
Action upon applications for bar membership
was the first order of business, after which Mr..
Peelar delivered the annual address, which was
received with enthusiastic appreciation:
The following are extracts from the very able ad-
dress OF Col. Peeler.
Gentlemen Of the Texas Bar Association With
the hope of offering something of practical value
prepared and caused to be generally circulated
among che jddge5 lawyers and officers of the
qonrts throughout tie state, certain questions re-
.rping to Our Judicial system, and of vital concern
= to the administration of justice. | shall now lay
before you the result of these inquiries, venturlng
to add, in some instances, my own researches ard
conclusions The first question was:
''Are You satisfied with the Judiciary article OF
the constitution II not and you favor material
changes, can such changes. in your opinion, be as
well accomplished by proposed amendments
through the legislature as by aconsututlohal con-
To the frstpart of this question the response
has been universally in the negative, and In this
connection review of the history of this article,
and the unsuccessful attempt to amend it, may be
of interest In the convention of 1875, by which it
was adopted the vote stood A yeas to 81 nays and
among the latter we're such lawyers as Judge Ball
inger of Gayeston John L. Henry; Major B. II.
Davis, of Bryan, now of Ell Paso; Ex-Governor
r s Stocldale of lndianola, and the late lamented
Judge c. 5. West, of Austin In his first message
to the legislature after the adoption of the consti
tuition, Governor Coke, referring to the necessity
of amending certain parts of that instrument,
uses this language:
"Prominent among these is that part of the CON
..itution known as the judiciary article. OF the
many questions and measures discussed before the
people, and upon which the public mind was exor-
osed before the late constitutional conyentlon not
one was 50 liUtle understood.
Ia the adoption of the constitution the vote
stood for 1866 g against 56, ,652. In this large
minority may be counted many of the ablest and
best citizens in and out, of the profession who
voted in the negative solely because OF their un-
l. fha
Gov. Hubbard, in his message to the Sixteenth
legislature, after pointing out some OF the more
serious difficulties found in the practical working
of the system, urged the adoption OF such consul
tutionai amendments as would secure a more eff
Gent and speedy administration of Justice
In his inaugural address before the legislature,
Gov. Roberts referred to the necessity of amend
ing the constitution as to remodel, or at least
improve, the judicial department, viii he states
was generally conceded to be inadequate to the
wants of the country.
On March ID, 1881, the Seventeenth. Legislature
adopted by the necessary two thirdsa joint resolu-
ton proposing amendments to sections !, B. 3, D,
and is Of the judiciary article, which will be found
on page 12S Of the published laws of the regular
session. These amendments were voted on Sep
tember 6, 1881 at the same time the election was
held for the location of the state university. The
vote stood, for, 70 i9; against 36,6i7. The total
vote for governor at The election November 8, 1881,
WAS 264,sOi, aud yet at an election involving i'm
porant changes, of yital concern to every citizen,
in the organic law, only about oneffth of the vo-
ters weut TO the polls.
Apart from apathy, the immediate cause of defeat
has been attributed the provision that the su-
preme court should sit at the capital and at two
other places, or at the capital only, If the iegis
lature should so provide. Making 1t possible TO
relieve the court Of its itineratng feature and 10,
cate at the seat Of government naturally arrayed
against the amendments such local and other in
huences az could be eXerted to perpetuate the sys-
tenn of branching established by the constitution
1t may be observed, before dismissing the snDlect,
that the main features of these amendments con-
sisted ia taking from the court of appeals Jurlsdlc
ton in civil cases, and the organization OF q
supreme court composed of chief justice and I
seven judges, to be formed into two divisions, the
chief Justice to co-ope crate with either section
And here may Ne permitted to say that in
what have done In the way of endeavorlng 10
ascertain the sense If the bench and bar upon the
same subject, my purpose has been not to antici-
pate, supplant, or in any manner thWart the WORK
Of the committee, but rather to aid in the accom-
plishnent of what must be to us all common OBJ
i.ct-the securing Of judicial system which, II
not perfect acceptable to every one, Will IN tne
main commend itself to the bench, bar and people
AZ to the manner of changing the constitu-
ton, q small majority think this can be
ACCOMPLISHED as well through the legisla-
ture as by convention. Many strong reasons,
however. are urged why convention should be
called and il Is evident that those favorlng this
mode are influenced in no small degree by Wnat
IegiaiStnre, and sfi greater failure Of duty on
the part of the people, in taking no interest In
speccl elections 70 change the organic law law G.
have already directed your attention ito the fact
chat at such an election few years ago, not more
than one fifth OF the voters went to the polls some
think abler men would goto convention, ana Ina1
better and more thorough work might be expected
from sach hands than from the average leglsiat-
ture My own opinion is that If this association
will discharge, as doubt not it will do, the tull
peasure of its duty in this matter, the Twentieth
legislature, which meets in 1887, Will propose
amendments which will be adopted Even then
and with the utmost expedition, we cannot, under
the requirements of the constitution, derive al J
benefit from them until about January, 1888.
The new board of directors was then unanl
mously chosen, composed of Messrs. Beali, o1
Fort Worth; Col. Henry, of Dallas Mr.. Alex
ander, of Waco Judge Bassett, of Brenham; ano
Judge Hume Of Galveston. Mr.. a. l.. jackson
IT, of Austin, declined the nomination as mem
Der of the board
The various committees presented their reports
The most important, as well as the
most Interesting, of these was that o.
the committee amendment to the Judiciary arti'
Gle of the constitution, of which Gov. Roberts is
the chairman. In presenting his report which was
done extemp poraneously at considerable length, he
pIause Sections one and two of the report, were
Section THE judicial power of this state shall
be vested in supreme court; In court OF aPpeals
in district courts and in such inferior courts an
magistrates, as may be created by TINS constitu-
ton, or by the legislature under its authority. g
Section 2-The supreme court snal Consist VI
seven justices, who shall be elected by the quallheu
voters of the state at general election ana
who shall hold their offices for the term OF elgn
years rom the date of ther respective elecuons.
After several proposed amendments, the deteai
of some and withdrawal of Others and aprotracted
discussion, the third section was adopted, as FOL
lows: g..
Section 3-The chief justice and associate jus
tees of the existing supreme court, or such Ol
them as there may be who shall be in office at the
time when this amendment shall take effect, shall
be justices of the supreme court hereby established
and shall hold their said offices uutl the expiration
of their respective terms under their former elec,
tons or apboiutments Upon the adoption of this
amendment the governor shall appoint the requi
ate number of additional justices to constitute
with those above designated court OF seven
members. The justices so appointed snail hoic
their Office until the next general election.
Efforts 20 reduce the salaries of the justices Of
ire supreme court from 5000, the amount pro
posed bv the committee to 81, 800 were unavailing
and Rections 4, and were finally adopted a:
follows: -. ..,
shall select fren their, own number presidlnl
ofiieer who shall be called the chief Justice ane
who shall hold for such term and perform
saeh dutiee as presented by the court
provided the chief justice who may % 1t
IN office at the time when this amendment snail
take effect shall be the chief justice OF tht
snprerne conrt hereby established, until the expra
ton of his term of Office under his former elec
ton, or appointment. .. o.,,.
Section Zach justice of the supreme .conr
shall be qualified voter shall have arrived az tn'
age of thirty ysars and shall have been pracucns
lawyer in thi state, or judge OF a ols''lcl coni