The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-08-26
SUBCOMMITTEE HAS STRETCHED 4 BILL Will Present Matter to COl-
 leagues Today CONSOLIDATION OF COURTS Bill Provides for Uniting Criminal, Circuit, City and chancery Courts
 Into clrer.t Court of Jef-
 ferson County.
CONSOLIDATION OF COURTS

The subcommittee of attorneys ap- pointed to draft a bill for the relief of the congested condition of the City and Circuit courts finished it's work yester- day and will report to the main commit tee this morning at 10 o'clock at the off, flee of Chairman G. R. Harsh.
 The bill which will be submitted to the bar for final disposition provides for the consolidation of the Criminal, City. Cir cult and chancery courts of Jefferson county.
 The consolidated court, according to this plan would be divided into criminal and civil divisions, and there would be seven judges The judges would have jur- isdiction in civil, criminal and chancery matters, so that they can relieve each other when the fullness of the dockets de- mands it. Juries would also be inter- changeable. and could be used in either civil or criminal cases. There would be three clerks of the consolidated court. one for the criminal, one for the chan cery and one for the civil divisions.
 The Blackburn Measure.
 The bill that has been decided upon con- sists of the framework of measure drafted some time ago by Representa- tive Felix Blackburn. A number or changes were made in 1t so that 1t now meets the approval of all the members
 rrt.1 .l@ aat4afft f taa consists of c. R. Harsh, Felix Black burn, s. w. John and L. J. Haley, Jr. The report will be submitted this morning to a committee consisting of G. R. Harsh, S. w. John, John London, Sterling A. Wood, E. H. Cabanss, w. H. Denson and Capt. w. c. Ward This committee will in turn report to meeting of the bar to, be held tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock in the Circuit court room.
 Little Objection Expected.
 It is thought there will be very little objection raised by the members of the bar to the bill in it's present form. All acknowledge that something must be done and this plan is thought to be the best solution of the problem If 1t goes before the legislature and is passed 1t will not go into effect until a year from November when the general elections take place.
 Another step taken by the sub-commit- tee is the preparation of measure to provide temporary relief from now un- til the new law would go into effect. Pro- vision will be made for the appointment
 fO assist in the facilitation of the work there.
 Consolidation Idea.
 While the subcommittee has been actually engaged in this work the sub ject of relief for the courts continues to be the source of much comment among the members of the bar. Numerous plans and ideas have been advanced but all seem to concede that the consolidation ney said yesterday that he feared thorough relief in these courts could not be had until the rules of practice were somewhat changed. He said that as af- fairs were now conducted attorneys for the various corporations could get cases continued in other courts simply because they happened to be busy trying case in any one of the courts of the county.
 One feature about the new bill which 1t is thought will make 1t popular is the fact that 1t has been modelled according to manner in which courts are conducted in some of the larger cities, including New York Chicago, Louisville and St. Louis.
 Attorneys will probably take to the plan if for no other reason than that there will be single record room where records of all the cases tried in the coun- ty will be kept.