The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-02-23
THE WOODEN JUDGES.
Their Little Scheme for
an Increase of Salary.
ORIGIN OF THE SYSTEM.
A List Of the Useless Legal Adjuncts
and Their Old and New
Salaries.
Specietl to he Sunday Morning Netus.

Special to The Sunday Morning Nesys
TRENTON, Feb. 81, 1890. When the bill
increasing the pay of the Vice Chancellor
was before the Assembly on final pas
sage no one fought it more bitterly than
Abraham w. Nash. the granger member
from the Third Camden district. Mr..
Nash denounced it most bitterly as a
s,heme to increase the burdens Of the al
rsady over taxed agriculturists. Yet the
session had hardly commenced when Mr..
Nash popped in bill increasing the sal
ades of those useless legal functionaries,
tie lay judges, or as they are more popu-
lsrly called, the wooden judges" These
Unnecessary barnacles of our courts now
est the various counties about $40. 900
yearly, and il Mr. Nash gets his little bill
though il will increase that cost almost
$1,000
he bill is now in the Committee on
judiciary, and from present appearance
it liable to remain there. Nevertheless
thee is a strong lobby here working
evey conceivable means to secure its
passage.
Ut utility Oi TIC UclCn VI
thesCommon Pleas with these Flower
pot judges, as they have been called, has
lon been under discussion. The lay
juices have noticed the gathering storm
with threatens to sweep them away, and
has organized themselves into an asso-
cfaon, the main object of which is a
raid on the treasury. This association
doenot propose to be deferred from its
sehne by any popular cutlery, and SO
xAooc 70 off fFr4f Fx.1sf
With is meeting with so much opposi-
tior The substitute Will be in the shape
of amendment to the old law, which
fixel the salary at 5000 a year in cases
whe no fees are paid or per diem allow
anemade
WHOM THE BILL AFFECTS.
is bill provides fora graduated salary.
| Thepopulatior of the county regulates
| the iy. 1t applies of course to counties
| follds:-fn counties where the State
| censs shows from forty mine to fifty-nine
tnousnd people the salary shall be s., $50;
fTomafty- nine to sixty-nine thousand it
is TO : s., $50; from sixty nine to seventy
nine thousand it will be 81 $50; from
severy-nine to eighty-nine Thousand,
81, $50 To get at the value of the change
an examination of the salaries Of the lay
| jud gefnust be made. They are nearly
mate finished is from the various coun-
ty cosctors Atlantic county, Enoch
Cordesgets $500: Joseph Soul, $500: Rich
ard JByrnes, $500. Bergen, Garrett G.
Ackern, $500; Aaron G. Garrison, $780,
/ Burlir;on, Stacy Fl. Scott, $780, Bsnjah
p WB, 5000; Joshua Forsyth, 5000
Candle Thomas Mcdowell, $500; John
Guant9gO0 Cape May, Jessie Il. Diver
ty, S300soners Candy, $500; S. II. Ben
nett, 30 Cumberland, Charles G.
Hampte $500; Elias B. Hendel, $500 Es-
sex. CaButtner. $500; Michael J. Led
with, 500 Isl, $50 additional is also paid
each Fax judge. Gloucester, Will
lam Bectt, 5000; Edmund Jones, $500:
EdwardL. Stratton. $500. Hudson,
Elijah Paxton, s.. 500; Albert Hoffman;
$500. interior. Peter MARTENS, $780,
Henry ICullen. 500, Mercer, Josiah
w. Writ, $500; William 5. Yard, $500;
Middlese Matthew O'Gorman, 500:
ManninEreeman, 500. Monmouth,
Charles Bennett, $500 Pitney Curtis,
$500. Mds, De Witt c. Quimby, $500
Charles arden, $500. Ocean, William
Low, $40 Richard II. Conover, $500;
Enoch .aes. s4O0. Passaic, James
Ipglis, $40; John j. Warren. $1,000.
Salem, Wiam A. Wood, $500; William
Plummeri00; Robert N. Hitchner, $500
Somerset ,harles NJ. Jamison, $500; A.
S. Ten Ey, $500. Sussex, Robert A.
Shepperd, 500; Samuel r. Smith, $500.
Union, Loi S. Hyer. 500; Z. Z Wiley,
$500 Wan, w. III. DAVIS, $500; Uzal
Garfield, $.
BY this lie scheme the ornamental
judges of iris will receive 81 $50 for
decoratinge bench instead of $500 now
paid them. The Camden, Mercer, Mid
dlesex and Ellington decorators will
be paid just, 900 more than they now
get.
LITTLE HISTORY.
The quest has been raised whether
there is unconstitutional warrant for
the lay ludg. The constitution, in the
article on eos, declares that the Court
of Common'leas shall consist of five
judges. and g not specify whether any
of those judgshall be laymen.
I The origin the lay judges goes back
t to the days obod Queen Anne. In 1909
! Her MajestNstr the provinces
] that the Cover and the Council should
hear and deeiel appeals. The Council
was always cposed of laymen. They
| heard all casequiring the administra-
7 ton of justld Even when the State
D government Wformed in 1176 this Eng
iish form wasntinued There was
change in 1874. len the Chancellor took
l the place OF tHovernor and the JUS
T tees of the Sumo Court were made
: Judges of the ct Of Errors Six other
5 Judges were mi the Council. An at
8 tempt was thenade to dump the lay
{ element of the urt of Errors and the
E Comnlou Pleas.rhe slay judge was
' then denounced nuisance. but the
). constitutional tFention, after hearing
Y how necessary its to have lay men to
/ temper the rigorthe Judges decided to
= leave the clause that it could be
changed throughe Discrimination of
the Governor. TComnon Pleas Court
was always a CITY court, and was
d established as ears 1704
I The new amendnt to the .Constitu-
tioa to take the aintment ont OF the
n Governors hands give il to the Joint
1t session originated h Governor Albeit.
S The contest of lay Jeships has been the
i source of more trce to the Governors
o than any other evn the State. Gov
8 ernor Albeit will D the reappointing
: Of nearly the entaist, and in many
) counties contests E already begun
Il The Governor has iupis power to name
men trained in they, and if this was
a done it would remot least oae-haif of
. the objection that 'aised against the
Is unIearned branch he Judiciary. In
q l7Ol it was argued there We're not
& enough lawyers to 10 the number OF
q judges that waF' neqry to supply all
ii The little courts Tlar9ufnerif could
Il not be made now in nate 50 we'll sup
lt piled with lawyers a. \ Jersey.