The sun., 1903-12-23
JUSTICES ON LAWS DELAY.
PERMIT FEWER APPEALS AND
SIMPLIFY THE CODE.

Many Other Suggestions Made by Truax.
Dugro and Scott to the Commission
I; Jury Trials OverdOne. They Say
English Judges Don't Work Harder.
! Supreme Court Justices Truax. Dugro and
Scott have forwarded to the Commission
on the Laws Delay long communication
! in which they make a number Of sugges-
tions for the relief Of the clogged court
| calendars. The Justices first point out
that the number Of cases ON the calendars
/ is not really increasing as rapidly as is
sometimes represented.
The question of relief is discussed under
three heads: Diminishing the amount Of
; work; improving the method of procedure,
and increasing the judicial force.
Under the first head nine suggestions
are made, the most important being a
reduction in the number of appealabe
matters; an increase in costs so as to make
them more nearly compensate the success
full litigant for his expense; the allowance
of no costs or less costs in the Supreme
Court when the action could have been
brought in the Municipal Court; the grant
of power to the Supreme Court to remit
causes to any local court and allowing
actions to be RENTED that could have been
brought in a local court; the establishment
Of conciliation courts to take specified
minor cases; the grant to the Appellate
| Division of increased powers Of amend
; ment and the right to receive further evil
dence upon questions of fact
The Justices suggest eighteen ways in
which the method of procedure may be
improved. Some of them are:
Simplifying procedure through n revision
of the Code. making the Code provisions more
Allowing but three or four peremptory
challenges in civil actions. except by leave of
Court.
Abolishing demurrers A motion before
murrer. The delay incident to trial of an
issue of law will thus be saved.
Requiring admissions Of fact or documents
under penalty of payment of costs for the
expense of proving the matter not admitted
Referring divorce defaults as formerly
Up to the time of the Flack divorce case they
were referred, and no substantial or general
Enlarging the right to amend pleadings
and removing technical objections to amend
ments. and allowing Justice to suggest or
make amendments at II trial.
Allowing costs. in the discretion Of the Court,
against a party for. not having admitted that
which In the opinion OF the court. he ought
Providing that whore norn parties agree
memorandnm men % IS shall have iurIsdction % m fsr to try
such action he shall have such Jurisdiction
Providing that submission to arbitration.
the submission, shall be irrevocable. except
by leave OF the court or Justice.
Providing for more specialization in Judi
greater accuracy and rapidity,
to be made up of a certain number Of the
Justices Of the supreme Court the presidents
resPsGtyeyh Of the New York state Bar A.
OF New York. and the Bar Association OF
Brooklyn, whose duty it shall be to suggest
annually to tn" Legislature such amend
ments to the Code OF Civil Procedure as they
shall deem proper.
The judicial force, the communication
says, should be increased in these ways:
/. The appointment OF four or five COM
missioners to act for two years in hearing
cases with Jury.
p An increase of two Justices, but il no
power to remit is obtain I'd ,as cases will be
attracted from inferior courts when they can
Court, the increase should be three.
OF the causes which have led up to the
condition complained Of the Justices say:
II seems to us that the jury trial is being
to-day carried beyond the limits originally
intended, Many Of the causes which led
appeared, and many of the reasons which
prompted so rigid an adherence to the sys-
tenn are no longer operative. We do not
desire to be understood as expressing oppo-
thcse trials should be had IN reason and under
fit circumstances
The communication says that it is time
that the substantive law of this State should
be codified as it has been in Germany,
japan and other countries. The Justices
then proceed to point out some fallacies
in the argument that the English Judges
do more work than our own and present
facts and statistics in support of their con-
toptinp