The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-27
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Relief of overcrowded DOckets.
Editor of the Age-Herald:

 Circuit and City courts has been for the last week a general topic of discussion among the citizens in general and the bar in particular. Many lawyers have sug- gested many plans. The committee ap- 1 pointed at the bar meeting last week
 will present 10 the bar meeting today a
 proposed bill to consolidate all the four l courts we now have and fuse them into 1 a constitutional Circuit court for Jeffer-
 son county. with seven judges all of 1 eouaI rank. out to be elected to seven
 separate divisions which shall cover the
 three departments of common law, chan- eerv and criminal business, each of these three departments to have it's own clerK' ] to be elected by the people for the same
 terms as the judges. The features of this l bill to which It's advocates point with pride are unity and elasticity. as it VIII be a single court of seven judges, all or whom will be interchangeable among the seven divisions. It cannot be denied that this plan has some particular features l which are attractive, but in the entirety it appears complicated and cumbersome and it is shadowed by the constitutional article of our new constitution which limits the number of judges to hve TOT any court of law and equity which the legislature may establish inferior to the Supreme court. It is doubtful II the mere fact that the proposed court snail be called the Circuit court ana snall have all the jurisdiction of the consti- tutional Circuit courts of the state. VIII avoid the effect of this constitutional lim- itation of five judges.
 In adopting any plan the consideration of pre-emInent importance is the prompt and efficient dispatch of the business which the pubic brings into court put under this general head there are three practical questions to be considered. | Which plan is likely to meet least opposition in passing through the le9ls- lat1re. for it is a foregone conclusion that any plan which radically disturbs the nresent clerical systems of four courts Circuit, Chancery, City and Criminal will meet with natural and strenuous op- position.
 2 Which plan Is most economical; g1v- ing full consideration to the most lInpor- tant function of any court system-which is to keep up with the business Of the public.
 g. Which plan is most adaptable to the arrangement of the rooms in the court house.
 It seems that the following plan will be most in accord with these practical con- alterations
 Let the Criminal court remain as 1t Is. The maxim let well enough alone" ap- plies here. The Criminal court Is keeping up with it's docket, and very effectively administering the criminal law in this county.
 Remove all equity jurisdiction from the Circuit and City courts to the Chancery court and make Jefferson county chan cery division, and provide for one addi- tional judge of the Chancery court to be appointed at once by the governor to serve until the general election next No- vember; and provide further that all nom jury cases on the law dockets of the C1r- cult and City courts be at once trans ferred to the Chancery. court; and pro vide further that when any suit shall be hereafter filed in the Circuit or City courts without demand by the plainun or defendant for a jury, such case snail be forthwith transferred to the Chancery court Non-1ury common law cases are quasi equity cases. anyway, as appeals therein are usually from the judgment of inc court on the entire evidence, which the Supreme court reviews without any nresumption in favor of the court below. and renders such judgment as the court below should have rendered. In fact. the non-jury law case is hybrid which pears closest resemblance to its mother. equity, and will be much more at home Tn the Chancery than in the common law court.
 Let the Circuit and City courts stand as they now are to try exclusively Jury cases until the expiration of the terms of the present judges next year; but pro- vide that the juries in the two courts shall be interchangeable, so that judge who may be disengaged in the City court, for instance, but may not at the time have a disengaged jury in his own court, may call for a jury which may be free in the Circuit court. and vice versa This would avoid the great loss or time we now suffer on account of struck Jury being demanded when one jury Is out with a case; and then provide that at the expiration of the terms of the present judges of the Circuit and City courts, the City cour- of Birmingham shall cease to exist. and all its records be transferred to the Circuit court, and at the next general election three judges shall be elected for the Circuit court, who shall hold three divisions which shall try all the civil jury cases in the county. Pro- vide that of the three Circuit judges. one shall serve two years. one four years and the other six years. the terms to be drawn for In this way one Circuit judge will be elected to the court at every gen. eral election, and there can never be complete change in the personnel of the court.
 This plan will be economical, as the three Circuit judges and two chancellors will have to be paid their salaries of at least $500 each, out of the state treas ury, and If this is supplemented by slOOO each out of our county treasury, as should be done, the five judges will cost our county only $5000, and they will each get $500 more salary than now. At present we pay our two City court judges $6500, and supplement the states salary to our Circuit judge and chancellor with $500 to each, making s7500 out of our county treasury The plan here suggested will actually save the county on our pres- ent expense s500. give us an additional judge for civil business. and give each judge $500 more than he now gets It is doubtful if the legislature will consent for the seven judges of the proposed single court to be paid out of the state treas ury. N4
 This plan will be adaptable to the ar | rangement of the courthouse, as the three jury divisions for civil business could use | the three rooms now used by the City court and the Criminal court. The Crim- | inal court should be moved to the present Circuit court rooms. That is its appro- | priate postion-next to the sheriff's off, fca and tha iai1 Tho tu,o Cba,oor,, o,,,,~A