The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-28
THE POWER
To Establish Courts Restricted by
 the New Constitution.

Mobile Register.
 The groundlessness of the objections urged by former Governor Johnston to the excellent constitution prepared oy the recent convention is shown by an in- vestigation into the truth of his bold as- sertion that:
 This constitution makes special grants of power to the legislature to create more than one hundred new judges and sixty eight additional solicitors. It Is true that it authorizes the legislature to abolish counties, but if alg the circuit and chan cery courts were abolished the authority is ample to make a net increase in our judicial officers of at Yeast l5O.
 Every one, including the former Gov ernor knows that the legislature can do any and everything it pleases, unless and except where restrained by the State and federal constitutions.
 The Constitution of 1875, under which we are now living, esta blishes in perpetuity circuit courts and chancery courts throughout the State. and & then permits further and coordinate courts, however numerous, as it may choose.
 Here is the provision:
 Article l, Section l.. The Judicial Senate acting as court of impeachment, a supreme court. circuit courts, chanccry courts, courts of probate, such inferior courts of law and equity to consist or not not more than five members, as the general assembly may from time to time estaDnsh, and such persons as may be by law ln- vested with powers of a Judicial nature
 It was found that the legislature had abused this power and set up numerous courts in small counties at an unneces- sary expenses to the people, and more, over, that in many places where speclai courts had been justifiably established there was no way to withdraw or abolish the constitutionally created, but there- after useless circuit and chancery courts. So to check this hitherto unoridleo power kIa yielo section old constitution the convention appended the following proviso: 'But no court or general jurisdiction at law or in equity or both shall be established in ana TOT any country having a population of less than twenty thousand according to the next preceding federal census. and proper ty assessed for taxation at less vaiua, tion than three millions five hundred thousand dollars.-(Section 139.)
 Experience in Montgomery, Dallas, lief ferson and other large counties In whicn a court or courts of combined law ana ana shown that these courts were preferred by suitors, to the neglect of the circuit and chancery courts, which latter, now ever had to continue to sit even IT in idleness, because the language of the con- stitution established them in every coun- ty.
 Therefore, to reduce this duplication of courts, the convention authorized the tax ing out from circuits and chancery dis trictS of such large counties as might have these special local courts (Section l4O; and, further, looking to the reduction of all unnecessary courts, authorized the legislature to consolidate the courts so that one judge might exercise all the functions essential to the administration of justice (Section 14S) and provided for the abolition. of all superseded courts (Section 1n.)
 if will thus be seen that the judiciary clause does not only not provide for more courts than does the old constitution, but that it looks to the limitation of legisla- tive power in setting them up, and to the undermining of the whole system and the looping off of all dead and dying branches in inc interest of economy