The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-01
NOVELTY In new JERSEY
Supreme Court Makes a New
Rule, the First in Many
Years.

AT the beginning of the present term OF
the Supreme Court, at Trenton, a new rule
was promulgated which changes radically
the procedure. Considerable confusion was
created thereby, and many of the members
of the bar were totally at loss to know just
what the situation was. The new rule was
adopted at the November term of the court,
and it was then determined that it should &c
in force at the present term.
The new rule is as follows:
Upon the third call, no matter shall be
presented unless two days notice thereof in
writing shall ave been given to the opposite
party.
A COPY or memorandum of. such notice
may be fled by either party with the clerk
of the court, and ~thereupon the clerk shall
enter on q list. in the order in which such
notices are filed, the title OF the cause and
the names of the attorneys, and shall prepare
one copy of said list for the use of the Court
and another copy for the inspection OF the
bar in the courtroom.
All matters 50 entered shall be heard IN
the order which they appear on the list, and
before any other matters in the call. After
ward, other matters in the call shall be
heard in the order Of seniority of the NOV
ing counsel.
branch court, may. by consent of the OPP
posing counsel, or on the branch court, be
heard in the second branch court.
At the beginning of each term of court
there are three calls; the call for unlitigated
cases, the half-hour call. and the cali for lit
igated cases. The first usually consumes
the first day of each term. Then the half
hour call is made, in which cases are called
where counsel for both sides agree to confine
their argument to fifteen minutes each. This
ordinarily, requires only a short time. Then
the third call is made, aud it is in respect to
this call alone that the alteration in the
rules applies.
On the third call it has been the custom to
call in order the name of each member of the
bar. When it is considered that this includes
many hundred names, the task can be appre-
ciated. Many members would not respond
because they were not present, having no
busine before the court. A large number,
though they might be present, would have
no motion to make, SO that as far as the call
ing of their names was concerned it was a
waste of time. Those who had motions to
make always consisted of a very small pro-
portion of the total, SO that several days
were consumed in a mere matter of detail
that might be disposed Of in as many hours.
The calling of the names of all the members
of the bar at the opening of each term of
court came to be very burdensome, and it
was in consequence determined to change it.
Under the new order of things, on the third
call the clerk will take the court list and call
names in order. Only cases will be called in
which twodays' notice of the intended motion
has been given by the counselor intending
to make such motion to the opposite party.
Where such notice has been given and filed,
the clerk of the court will enter the case on
the court list, and call in the order in which
the entries are made. After this list has been
disposed of other matters will be considered
in the order of the seniority of the moving
counsel.
The new rule makes no change in the half
hour call. This fact does not seem to nave
been generally understood, and it is owing to
this misunderstanding that most of the con-
fusion caused by the new rule has been oc-
casioned. The half-hour call will be made
just the same as heretofore.
This change in the rules is a marked in
~novation. The old order of things has been
in practice ever since the establishment Of
the New Jersey courts. Formerly the call
ing of all the members Of the bar was not
such an undertaking as it has come to be of
recent years. The increase In the member
snip of the bar has of late been very great.
The practice which formerly prevailed was
taken from the practice in the English
courts, where it has prevailed for centuries.
and, unless there has been some change in
the English practice in the past four or five
years, it still continues there.
At the opening Of each term Of court OF
the circuits it is the practice to call all the
members of the bar. just as it had been in
the Supreme Court, until the new rule went
into effect. There has been no change in
this practice on the circuits, though it is not
unusual for the judge sitting in the circuit
to sustain the call at any time during its
progress and proceeding with the matters
directly before the court. This is frequently
dona