Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-29

| the court is frequently engaged IN contro-
versies arising ont of the condemnation Of real
estate for public uses.
! The court is composed OF q chief Justice and
five associate justices.
| The system consists Of an appellate court
| called the General Term, generally held by
| three justices (although two constitute legal
| quorum, Circuit Court for the trial of civil
| causes by jury. an Equity Court. Criminal
Court, a District Court and an Orphans Court,
each held by a single Justice The General
| Term holds three terms in each year. with a
trial calendar ut each term of from 200 to 2io
| causes In all controversies involving sums up
to IS. 900 it's decision is final
There are three terms of the Circuit Court IN
| each year. The trial calendar for the present
| term contains Si7 litigated causes, besides
| forty-nine appeals from decisions OF ]ustices oi
| the peace
A special term of the Equity Court is held
| every month except in August. Its calendar
FOR February contains sixty-four nuSaicu
causes. The Orphans Court Is always open
for business, and all the other courts are
almost always Ill session. there peins put one
| month when no term of court Is held, constl-
J tuting. as we believe. larger annuai service
| than is performed by any court IN this country
| The Court in General Term has authority
| under the existing law to establish an add
| tional term of the Circuit Court from time to
! time as the condition of the business may
render it expedient and a justice holding Cir
| cult Court under similar conditions may be
empowered to use its jury in the trial of crimi-
| nal cases.
| the legal authority additional circuit and
criminal courts could be constantly kept IN
! session and the calendars be reduced and kept
| to manageable dimensions
| No sensible reduction OF the trial calendar in
| the Circuit Court is possible without the es-
adjustment of a second Circuit Court, and this
cannot be done with the present force. except
| at the sacrifice OF some other court 10 de-
vote two justices to the Circuit Court calendar
| as the court Is now constituted, would be to
leave the General Term with only two justices,
or practically to close the equity torn or
the criminal term. The Equity Court
each day Is occupied during a
large part OF its session with the
dispatch of current business and motions. and
thus no sufficient time is left for the disposal of
the htlgated causes on the trial calendar. The
time of the Criminal Court in like manner Is
fully taken up with the trial of current cases.
thus leaving unheard. for absolute want OF
| time, u large number of cases where the par ties
are out on bail or in jail
There is not Il branch of the court that Is not
seriously suffering from this congestion Of
business. and longer delay of measures to re-
lieve them would be most lamentable.
Justice to the sutors and to ourselves re-
| quires that the relief should speedily be af-
forded.
The increased expenditure for additional
salaries can be betrayed without direct charge
to the government out of the large sums each
! year paid into the treasury by the courts in
this jurisdiction arising from fees and forfeit
ures.
These sums derived from the private suitors
are applied, in the first instance to the pay
| ment OF every charge connected with the
clerk Office. including the salaries Of all the
clerks and assistants, together with the entire
expenses of conducting the Office, none Of
which have ever been charge on the treasury
The clear amount annually paid into the
treasury from this court for several years past
amounts to a large sum. In like manner from
the Police Court there has been paid into the
national treasury for the years 1882 1890 and
| last-named year being SIS. 270.77
By far the greatest part of these large
| amounts is directly derived from the citizens
| of the District
We append to this paper a statement in de-
tail OF several of the matters referred to herein
In our judgment the addition of three asso-
ciate justices to the present force Of the court
will enable US to afford the much needed re-
lief required. We would thus be enabled to
duplicate the Circuit and Criminal Courts and
secure a permanent court to sit in appeal in the
General Term, which, uninterrupted by being
Obliged to render alternate service in the
special terms, could soon reduce to moderate
limits the mass of business SO expressing it.
Similar relief would be afforded to each
branch of the service.
(SigneO E. F. BINGHAM, c. j.
A b. HAGSER.
WALTER s. Cox.
CHARLES Z. JAMES.
NJ V. MONTGoMERY
A. G. BRADLEY.
THE WORK OF THE COURT.
Appended to the letter is a statistical statement
regarding the work of the Supreme Court Of
the District as follows:
Number of cases from 1863 to February, 1892:
In Circuit Court, law cases. 80, 52s; in Equity
Court, equity causes. IL, $780, in Criminal Court.
Is. S49: in District Court $685. extradition cases.
1856; habeas corpus cases, 462: appeals from
Police Court in District of Columbia ,S53
bankruptcy cases. 433; administration, Orphans
Court, IL. 261; guardanships, Orphans Court,
T. 4S; mechanics lien cases. 2,123; naturalza-
tons. 3.i25: marriage licenses, about SO, 600;
appeals from commissioner of patents, IS.
Record books-Circuit Court dockets. SO;
Circuit Court min utes. 26; Equity Court dock
ets 80; Equity Court minutes, "a; order books.
II; criminal dockets, Is; criminal minutes, "a;
General Term minutes Z: mechanics lien
dockets. 4 District Court dockets, /: extradi-
ton dockets, l; habeas corpus dockets. /; APP
peals from Police Court dOckets, l: bankruptcy
dockets 2; naturalization dockets. 5; marriage
licenses. volumes. 81; limited partnerships
volumes i appeals from commissioner of pat
ents, volumes, l.
Number of cases on present trial calendars
Circuit Court. s47; Circuit Court magistrate =
| appeals. 1886: Equity Court. for month of
January. 10; General Term, January term, 222
The calendars of the Circuit and Equity Courts
| represent only the Irrigated cases where issues
have been joined to be tried by Jury and a
single justice. Cases on General Term calen-
OAR are appeals from the several special terms,
commissioner of patents, DC.
business in General Term--January term
| 1890, III; April tenn. 1890. POP; October term,
| 1850. zoe; January term. 1891, 230; April term,
! 1897, z3l October term, 1891, Z3S; January
! term, 1892, 222.
| Gases disposed of in General Term-January
! term 1850. "a; April term, 1890. So; October
4 term, 1880, 81; January term, 1891, AZ; April
| term 1891, AZ; October term, 1891, So; Janu-
AIRY term, 1892, So.
| 1S92-The District of Columbia, $50 1872: the
state of North Dakota, 1872 TO; the state of
! Delaware, l6S, 492 the state of Montana,
1872. l5O; the state of Idaho "a 1856; the state of
| Wyoming, 60. 705 the state OF Nevada. AZ, 76l:
the territory of Utah. POI, 905; the territory of
| New Mexico, 153, SO; the territory of Okla
| homa. 81, s3i; the territory of Arizona. So 800
| 1868, the population of the District of Co.
! lumbia was about 1850. There were then five
| judges. being one to each Is Ol6 inhabitants.
| 1892, the population is 1903 with six
! judges being one to each IS, 1898 inhabitants
| Washington city is the fourteenth city in the
| United States.
| In 1860 the assessed value of the propertv in
| the District of Columbia was about S4S 400 900
with five judges. being one Judge to each
! 1850, 600 of assessed property. The last pub
lished assessment of the private PROPERTY
| within the District for purposes of taxation
shows an aggregate of Sl53, j07. 54l. Besides