New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-04-23
John +. Wilder Is Of their line. but the others OF
us 10 whom rave alluded including mysell. are
not. ALEXANDER WILDER.
Newark. April 20, 1894
MORE ABOUT THE COMMON PLEAS.

MORE ABOUT THE COMMON PLEAS.
JUDGE DALY's ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THAT
COURT CRITICALLY EXAMINED
To The Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: IL seems bold TO dissent from Chief Justice
DAILY informally backed by the whole Court OK
Common Pleas. the questions OF judicial reorgani-
zation; but his interesting views leave some things
to be said which may be helpful to intelligent con-
illusions.
AS to substituting intermediate Courts Of Appeal
for the General Terms, let me suggest one reason
not given by Judge DAILY in reinforcement OF his
conclusions. The General Term is now composed OF
regular judges who do other work as well; who hear
motions. try cases. keep In touch with the COM
munity and the bar at large. This keeps good
common sense broad edge on the judges minds. ana
saves a General Term from one great risk which
besets courts of mere appeal-that OF growing fine
spun ard technical. There have been one or two
seasons In my time when We have had SPIDER.
web over refining Court OF Appeals. ana they were
seasons OF sore trial Let have judges thar come
down among the common people; then we shall NOT
have courts that go out TO cut down trees VIVA
razors our General Terms work increasingly well.
The ma in difficulty with them is that sometimes
counsel feel that the decision represents the rear
study OF judge and the rather perfunctory yea
and amen Of two more but that woad not be
irended by turning them into an intermediate Ap-
peal Court.
on the next question, OF the proposed consolida-
ton Of General Terms Judge DAILY rightly states
the main ground urged-that Of conflicting decisions
but think does no; quite meet 1t. Suppose there
are conflicts" he says they finally disposed
Of by the Court Of Appeals ald there Ia no
Marin done" But are they? Not by any means.
Cases under 500 not: and they are as likely as
any others be leading cases involving the largest
public and private interests. And Is there no harm
done? True ne law does get settled eventually
sometimes very eventuay-but meantime the con-
nctng decisions leave no law in the land-or rather
ieave one law I'm judicial department ana am
other in the next dcpartment-and pending final de-
cision appeals have be taken all along botn
lines Is not that some harm dore" 70 litisantsf
But even with consolidation, says Judge Daily you
would still have dissenting opinions True again;
but dissenting opinions one thing and conflict
ing decisions quite another The vital diterehce 49,
that In the one you know what the law Is whlie the
Court Of Appeals is getting round to IT, ana IN the
other you do not
Az to consolidation OF the Ncw-York city COURTS
Judge DAILY sees that II means the destructive dis
tllation chemistry calls 1t. Of the Superior Court
and Court OF Common Pleas and. identified as ne IL
beyond any other nan with the latter court no
naturally stands up for it. / offer no opinion OF my
own on this Stare super antiques Was Is GOOD
rule. the historical value Of the names OF the two
courts il something: and contra. simplihcaton and
uniformity are something too-a very consldeTsoie
something Perhaps as Judge ArnouX says else
where Tammany IL under all this, furnishing the
methods in appointing its own clerk Well. what OF
il? Tammany IS not the Constitutional convention
not this tme-and to cite Tammanys motives II
in the ultimate analysis simple appeal TO pre)u-
dice Tammany may be all that Is wicked and may.
very wickedly desire given thing. and 1t may be a
very good thing nevertheless. Taking up Judge
DaIv's argument then. on its merits-motives and
partisan politics apart-it seems to me there are
two sides to some of his statements His reasons
for maintaining the Court are substantially these:
Fnt,arp Dla1
cour, when the Supreme Court bad court
,empore Cardozo. That does not convince me, Tor
several req sons one is that the honest common
Pleas Judges would have been Just as honsS' naa
they been Supreme Court iudges-and would nave
had sool deal more control over Cardozo i 10,
plane than the good Supreme Court justices like In
ana tH b chosen ' before the
Tweed Ring went into the business OF meddihns
shrcw,l set as they might have been-compared
with Tammany Of to-day even as mere prac,c srl
looked the courts in laying their foundations; ana
though and had they lasted long enough the heads
Of Judge DAILY and his associates woulI nave roiiea
that among the upright Julges whom the Ring
could dethrone were the Judges OF the Court OF
Common Pleas does not really prove much
What safeguard AGAINST ANYTHING does me sep11,,
Judges viii be- as good Tammany men as the others
in ne would go That is all there is OF Z. How
much harder is 1t to elect poor Common Pleas
4
Jrdge Dalys next argument is tina; the business
OF the Common Pleas has continually increased and
j. larger to-day than ever Wei, II ought 70 pe.
Ncw- York larger than eyer before. and has more
business. The court of Common Pleas IS an excel
lent court. commanding thoroughly the confidence
OF the public and it gets itS fair share under me
more than that for It has under the lnsoINent AS
sgnment act. sole charge OF the enormous insolv-
pncv business Of all New-York city, AS well as sew
eral minor matters. But to show the real value or
the argument let apply simple test. Suppose
Il were shown that the Supreme Court had gained
relatively more in volume OF business than the
Common Pleas. would Judge DAILY accept tnat as a
reason for consolidate
Finally. consolidation is opposed because the Jur,,
Islirtion and powers OF the Superior Court ana
common Pleas have been steadily extended. This
true and the fact would be Sermane II these ad-
ditional powers had been conferred because these.
courts were sort Of buwark against som$
| think that chief reason was that the Supreme
court was overvorkei and another was that IL was
considered In many quarters that these two courts
esDecally one OF thpm-were. to state II mildly, by
mo- means overworked Their dispatch in business
has greatly improved Of late years: hut can recall
periods In the history Of both courts. when with
court opening At II a. m ana adJourning usually pc
fore y. half an hour spent on motions and corr
rec ions OF calendar. and the usual half hours
recess progress toerably majestic: and II 4
not surprising that business put upon these
more work Is that the additional labor has been
carefully ard competenty done by the same judicial
force
II tho Judges Of the Common Pleas stand
unit in opposing apparent promotion 10 a higher
court and larger salaries. their position must COM
nand alike public attention and public respect. In
that the last word is not yet said on this difficult
subject FRANK RUDD.
40 % Liberty-st.. New-York. April o. 1884,
NEWSBOYS IN CARS
To the Editor of The Tribune