The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-01
Supreme Court Reports;
Rank of Latest Volume

| To the Editor of the indianapolis Journal:
There Is a CLEAN this week of fresh
sheep in the thousands of law offices in
Indiana as their proprietors make room
| In their Libraries for another fresh volume
| OF Indiana Supreme Court reports To the
average citizen the words '16O Indiana or
| ~ Appellate" are so much legal Yiddish
| yet each of these volumes represents a
hundred picturesque phases of intense prac-
| teal life. To some litigants the word ''af-
| firmed' means death on the gaIIows. to
others years of weary Imprisonment. to
| others the dissolution of the sacred tie of
| marriage, TO still others the loss or saliva
/ ton OF a lifetime of effort in the race for
preferment or riches. All phases of lifes
Kaleidoscope are represented in these cold
| unsympathetic pages. Appeals are the
| ghosts of lawsuits. They are purely in
| tellectual contests as to whether the courts
peloW ala right or wrong. The realities
/ comic or tragic, are to be found in the
| hundred courtrooms OF the State where
hvlng witnesses and Htigants have it out
/ before more or less just and able Judges
| and Juries, and where the great art of adj
/ vocacy with its ups and downs-the most
fascinating of human pursuits-is practiced
o,r t fd most gifted as We'll as ungifted of
| tai muscle or takes the nonsense out of
a man so thoroughly and rapidly as the
|
In 100 there were twenty volumes of
Indiana reports, representing the litigation
since 1916, OF forty-fOur years OF the States
NE. Now we have 200 volumes Gncluding
a couple on the stocks and ready for pub
| licatlon), or $50 for the second forty-four
years of the States history. In other
words the proportion between the first half
/ or the states history Is less than one-half
| volume per year, and for the last half
over four per year. From 1916 to 1853 IN
| der the old Constitution, we had fifteen
| judges; from 1853 TO to-day. over sixty or a
| fresh one for every year and seven to spare.
| Under the old system Judge Blackboard
| served thirty-six- years, under the new
only one judge has served over fifteen
| years, and of the entire remainder only four
| for twelve years In 1860 the reports
reached their lowest point From the
| opinions are away below mediocrity and
hardly to be respectfully spoken of To-
| day, taking, say, from $50 to 160 Indiana,
| there are no better reports In the United
| States. The Indiana Supreme Court not
withstanding the constant influx of new
men, mostly fresh from the ranks and
elected by the people, has never been with
out one or two very able men. Omitting the
| living, among the deceased the State is
| proud 10 name since 1860 Worden, Mitchell.
Houck and Woods. The Supreme Court
eliminated and was at its best in 1881, when
all of its five judges We're each towers of
| strength, viz: WOrden, Houck, Niblack
| Elliott and Woods. 1t makes but little diff
ference what the politics of its members
| are. For the last twenty years there has
been no superiority in Republicans over
| Democrats, or vice versa.
The day of great judges is past, probably
never TO return. for the simple reason that
there are so many of them and the general
average is so high. Federal and State
there are to-day in the United States over
a thousand judges, of whom $50 are having
| their decisions printed in books Marshall
Kent, Gibson and Story had in their day,
| comparatively speaking, no competitors.
Business in their time was so light that
| they had ample time to elaborate their
| opinions. While the questions to be de-
| cided to-day, owing To our rapid growth
are quite as difficult as any that ever came
before these great judges, still, owing TO
the enormous pressure of business, there
is not time for the old-fashioned elabora-
| ton and study.
| 1t is amazing how local the reputation
| of our judges has of late years become
There Is not lawyer in Indiana to-day
who could give the names of the Supreme
| Judges OF Ohio or Illinois, nor are Indiana
| judges better known outside of State lines
| And yet all three States have, a rule.
able men upon their benches.
In this 16Oth Indiana there are three or
| four cases that will find their way outside
of State lines and into the American
rep esent simply the end of litigations
IL there were any other court to go to a
percentage of them would be reversed.
Indiana lawyers are great kickers. They
have great confidence I'm their own infallf-
bility and file a very large number of petit
tions for rehearing The Northwestern Re
q
forty such petitions, with only four
granted. This is rather a larger proportion
granted than usual. The court takes am
pie time TO consider and seldom goes
back on its decisions. One case i'm the
writer's experience was so extraordinary
that IL will bear printing. About twenty
years ago Judge Houck. in a thoroughly
considered and elaborate opinion, after two
years study, affirmed a judgment vacating
an annexation to the city of Logansport
His opinion was printed in the law maya
zines and considered very satisfactory
Senator Turpie filed petition for rehear-
ing. Judge Houck took two years more 10
consider and then reversed himself in every
essential particular The two opinions are
lrreconcilabie upon any possible hypothesis.
and Houck was one of the most stubborn
as well as clear headed of judges. This
shows the uncertainty OF the law, and also
that long there Is life there is hope
And the above list OF over forty petitions
10 rehear proves that the Indiana bar acts
literally upon that maxim.
And yet this Tooth Indiana has no reason
10 fear comparison with the last volume OF
reports from Massachusetts, or New York.
or the Supreme Court OF the United States.
ID. Il. BALDWIN.
Logansport. Ind, March 81