The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-21
ssThe Laws Delay"

To the Editor OF the Indianapolis Journal:
The docket of our Supreme Court is already
overburdened; and there is demand that it be,
in some way, relieved. How shall 1t be donel
The commission after tours years of labor, en-
abed the court to reduce the docket; but within
less than two years the court is over one year
behind, and falling behind at rapid pace. To
the bar the commission was not satisfactory.
While the opinions prepared by the commission
ers should be regarded. owing to their having
passed the criticism of both the commission and
the court. as more accurate than those of the
court alone; yet it is well known that they are
not, and never were. Lawyers who were in
terssted in case were seldom satisfied when
they found 1t in the hands of commissioner.
Besides, many regarded the commission as
body unauthorized by the fundamental law of
the State. 1t is difficult however, to see where
in the law authorizing its organization was un
constitutional True, the Constitution requires
the Supreme Court TO give its opinion IN writing
when deciding a case; but if it chooses to adopt
. written opinion prepared by another, and
make it it's own, there certainly can be no objec-
ton to 1t for the reason that the opinion given Is
not the opinion of the court. Upon the whole,
it is quite evident that a commission would not
be acceptable to the bar, nor to the people.
Another proposed remedy is to limit the num-
Der of appeals. by requiring greater amount to
be involved than is now required. 1t is very
clear that this would be unsatisfactory to the
bar and litigants in the present condition of our
Circuit Courts and the haste with which impor-
tant questions are often disposed or
Another scheme is to create an intermediate
appellate court and from that limit the appeals
to the Supreme Court This, too, has not met
with favorable reception The appeal to the
Supreme Court is regarded as involving double
work, extra pay and unnecessary costs
Relief Is not only needed the Supreme
Court but also in the lower courts. Any scheme
short of affording relief to all our courts is nee
essarily imperfect The delay OF the law is not
only the proverbial delay, but an enforced delay
that is ruinous to litgants and detrimental to
commercial business, entailing thousands OF dol
lars loss yearly. Fraudulent transactions are
perpetrated in view of the long delay that must
be necessarily entailed before investigation
can be had and the probability of, for this reason,
securing a compromise at small percentage of
the original debt The business of the State
constantly requires the creation Of new circults
and these never decrease in numbers. AS now
constituted these courts are required to try cases
involving one cent to an unlimited amount
from a petty misdemeanor to a murder; and the
smallest amount that be filed against an
estate They must supervise the settling of all
decedent estates, partitions, settlement of as
slgnees estates and the building of SO per cent.
of the 1tcnes dug in the county. For one man
to be versed in the entire body of the law Of the
State so that he can carefully and with skill
and dispatch try all cases in all these branches
of the law Is an impossibility: and here is one of
the causes Of the accumulation OF business in
the lower courts. With this conglomeraton of
cases, SO to speak, and the pressure of business,
errors cannot be avoided. The plan of the
courts is unscientifc in the highest degree. The
arran cement Is as barbarous as those OF the
courts of early England; and If known would
excite the disgust and call down the excavations
of all jurists and true lovers of the science of
the law.
All states and countries that have the common
law have found it expedient to divide the admin
istration OF the law into three divisions-the
criminal the probate and the civil In many
this is the way in which it is administered.
With her three kinds of courts, Marion county
is nearer being an example of the administration
of the law in this way than any other county in
this State To be complete example all that
is necessary is to make her Circuit Court one of
exclusive probate jurisdiction. The plan l
propose, and one that I think will not only af
ford relief to the lower courts but to the Su-
preme Court, is to divide the administration of
the law into its three great branches, criminal
probate and civil
First-Of the probate: Let each county have
probate court of its own, with resident
judge, having exclusive jurisdiction, in the first
instance, of all probate business the settlement
of assignee's estates. ditch proceedings, and q
few minor matters, such the changing of
| names and partition proceedings. Let their
judge be paid a salary graded according to its
population, with the privilege OF practlclng In
other courts In a county of population of 20,
600 salary of $1,000 or 81. 200 year will secure
| a competent judge This court should be open
continuously for the transaction of business
The beginning of every month should be the be-
| ginning of new term for the trial of causes.
From this court appeals upon questions of law
| alone should be allowed to the Circuit Court of
| the county, and for the trial of facts de novo
when the amount involved exceeds $500. Under
proper restrictions. these cases appealed to the
| Circuit Court could be appealed to the Supreme
! Court. The same rules could be applied in the