The record-union., 1891-06-18
THE NEW COURT OF APPEALS.

cooler, except nearly stationary temperature
at Red Bluff.
THE NEW COURT OF APPEALS.
The establishment of the new Federal
Court Of Appeals in San Francisco will
fill want. 1t will, it is believed, greatly
facilitate the disposal Of appealed cases,
and relieve the overburdened calendar of
the Supreme Court. Justice Field, in
opening the new court-there is to be one
that the number Of cases on the Supreme
Court docket at the close of its recent
term was no less than ], ,79S, yet the court
at that term was able to dispose of but
610, little more than one-third. During
the first half of this century the cases
appealed did not number more than 14O
per term, but with the increase of corpor-
stions, the establishment Of many manu-
factures and the immense broadening of
the commerce of the Nation and the trade
of the people of the States, the litigation
taken up to the appellate tribunal had far
exceeded the capacity of the court to
handle. The patent cases alone are quite
sufficient to engage more than one-half of
the full attention of the court. Justice
Field added:
The agencies of steam and electricity IN the
movement OF machinery and transmission of
Intelligence, creating railways and steam
boats. telegraphs and telephones have revolu-
tionized business between different portions of
the country from what it was in the early part
or the century, and has led to innumerlble
transactions between citizens of different
states, and controversies arising therefrom
have found their way into the Federal Courts
and hence to the Supreme Court Of the United
States. 1t was stated at the centennial cele-
bration Of the organization of the Federal
judiciary, which took place in New York in
February, 1890, that more than one-half of
the present business of the Supreme Court
arises from such controversies.
The new court is composed of the Su-
preme Justice who sits in circuit, the
two Circuit Judges and one of the Dis
trict Judges in case either of the Circuit
Judges cannot sit. The powers of the
Circuit and the District Courts remain as
ton, and in prize causes, and in cases of
conviction of capital or infamous crimes,
and cases involving the construction or
application of the Constitution of the
United States, appeals will lie from their
judgment directly to the Supreme Court,
but in other cases the appeal will go from
their decisions to the new Circuit Court
of Appeals, and the judgments and de-
crees of the Circuit Court will be final in
all cases where the jurisdiction is depend
ent upon the opposite parties being aliens
and citizens of the United States, or citi-
zens of different States, and in all cases
arising under patent laws, under the rev.
enue laws, under the criminal laws, and
in admiralty cases, with the right, how
ever, Of the court to certify any partic-
ular question of law to the Supreme
Court for its decision.
Thus very large body of the business
that has heretofore gone direct to the Su-
preme Court will now be stopped by the
Court of Appeals, and be there finally
disposed of, except in rare cases, where
the court desires the judgment of the Su-
preme Court. But even with this reliei
it will take, according to the statement
made at the opening of the new court in
San Francisco, two or three years for the
Supreme Court to clear up its calendar
and take fresh start. When it is able
to do so, litigants who go up to the chiet
appellate tribunal will enjoy the satisfac-
tion of knowing that their cases will be
heard and decided within the reasonable
term of lifetime.
We may reasonably anticipate, as re-
suit, not only expedition, but still greater
clearness in opinions handed down. The
Justices Will not feel that they are under
pressure, for the court will not be over.
worked, and will be able to devote to its
opinions more time and greater care in
framing them, than has been possible ir
recent years. Not that the court has not
been able and thorough, but no tribunal
can do as well when hurried as when il
has ample time for deliberation and ex.
preston. It is impossible for it to fee
that it is free, so long as it knows that the
delays due to its inability to dispose O
cases as rapidly as they are appealed
amounts to denial of justice.