Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-07-03
GOOD WORK ACCOMPLISHED,
Splendid Record of the New Court o,
Appeals.

When on the 18th of last month the Court
of Appeals adjourned for the summer yaca-
ton its docket showed that the work ac-
complished by the court had far exceeded
the expectations of even those who so long
fought for the establishment in the District
OF such an appellate tribunal The court
met for the first time on May 1, 1889. The
three members of the court, Chief Justice
Richd II. Alvey of Maryland and Associate
Justices Martin F. Morris of this city and
Seth Shepard of Texas, were then practical
~ strangers to each other. Yet no loss Of
time occurred in formulating and adopting
the necessary rules to govern the business
or the court, and before the first term of the
court, that of May, 1893, had closed opin-
Ions In several important cases had been
rendered. The court adjourned over for the
summer recess, and when the court reas-
sembled on the 4th of last September the
first years work of the court practically
be gun.
on that date there were on the courts
oocket undisposed of POI cases Since thar
time there have been filed in the court liz
cases, running the number of filed cases nm
10 olo VI tnat number no less than 265
cases have been disposed of thirteen az
them being still under adyisement That is
OF the Sls cases appearing on the courts
docket since the ith of last Septemher o6a
have disappeared therefrom, and in only
thirteen OF those 265 cases are opinions vet
to be filed From these figures n will he
seen that but nfty-three cases remain on
the courts docket undsposed of ar the
present time.
Another important and interesting noint
TO be noticed in this connection is thar ar
the nfty-three cases now remaining undis-
posed OF but five are what are known as
ola cases-that Is, cases coming up from the
old General Term docket, and which up to
the present time, il has been impracticable
Tor one reason or ano Their to hear OF the
remaining forty-eight undisposed of cases
one was filed in November last three in
February, five in March, nine in April. sew
enteen in May and thirteen since the FIRST
of last month.
the first Monday in September next the
present number of undisposed of cases will
have been somewhat Increased by the filing
of cases in which appeals have been noted
Nevertheless, IL is thought by members Of
the bar that by the LIST of January next the
docket Of the court will have been entirely
clea red up. Even at the present time so
promptly have cases been heard and dis
posed of IL is possible for a case TO be heard
within thirty days after IL is filed in the
court. The magnitude of the work ac-
complished by the court can, perhaps, best
be understood when 1t is recalled that in
every case formally disposed OF the opinion
OF the court has to be written out and filed
with the clerk of the court. The court sits
from 10 am. to pm. on each week day of
the month, Saturdays excepted, from the
first Monday in the month to about the
2oth, when recess, for the purpose of con-
sultatton, is taken until the first Monday Of
the succeeding month. Under the act es-
tablishing the court a recess is provided for
md