St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-26
COURTS ARE CLOGGED.
More Judges Needed or the Dis
trict Curtailed.

Among the legislation expected from
the next Legislature is bill reforming
| the Fourth judicial district and appoint
ing an extra judge. This judicial dis
trict at the present time comprises the
counties of Hennepin. 1santi, AnOka
and Wright, and has four judges. The
Second judicial district comprises but
the single county of Ramsey, and
has the same number OF Judges.
The unfairneSs of this can easily
be seen when it is shown that the
business transacted in the district
nearly one-fourth the business trans
acted in the district courts of Ramsey
county, and that even in that county
the judges are barely able to transact
the business. The present badly over
crowded condition of the district courts
in this county is very apparent to all
having business in them; and even
with the appointment of an extra judge,
it will be as much as five judges can do
to attend to the business of Henntpin
county alone. If the district re-
mains as it is now the ap-
pointment of two Judges will
be required, but the outlying
counties would undoubtedly rather be
set Off in district by themselves, in
which case they would have a Judge OF
their own. In order to show how over
crowded the courts are, one needs but
to look at the calendar OF the present
general term, which is expected to last
tainS over AGO cases, which is an aver
age of over five cases day for each one
of the judges to dispose of, and yet many
OF the cases already tried have lasted
from one to five days, so that it is only
matter of time when the courts
will be hOpelessly clogged. AT present
one Judge hears the criminal cases, two
the civil cases tried with a jury and one
the court cases. When, however, all
four judges are engaged in holding
court, which, with the present rush OF
business, they are compelled to do
nearly all the time, considerable annoy
ance is caused to both the court and the
attorneys engaged in trying case by
Interruptions from outside attorneys.
These Interruptions are, however, I'M
avoidable when all four judges are en-
gagged, because very often it is lnl-
portapt to have orders signed or
injunctions granted without delay.
Things of this kind frequently
Oblige the breaking in on a
C0uIb luIiHS Tie Ill ulllcHb Ill SOiHG inl-
pOrtant case and thereby causes c0nsid-
cradle delay, for after the attention of
the court is called to some foreign mat
ter it takes time to get back to the point
in the case, where the thread of the
discussion was broken. This can all be
obviated by making Hennepin county
judicial district by itself and by the APP
pointment OF an extra judge. By such
an arrangement there would be one
judge who could do work in cham
bers and attend to all special term
matters, and the other judges could try
cases without Interruption. The only
objection which is made to cutting Off
the outside counties from this district
comes from several Minneapolis law
yers, who are seeking an appointment
as judge, and if they could have their
way they would have all the northern
part of the state attached to this dis
trict, so that all the judges could be APP
pointed from this CITY,