The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-08


 Morgan. ss ..... e2 30 Shelby. .. ..... Sf 14 Talladega.. .... Clay. ........ lf 49 Walker. s....... lb6 bl Blount.. .s1ss ..... s6 29 Cleburne. 3I 30 Jefferson Criminal Ct. ss5 .. | Circuit Court. 365 693 City Court. .......2.061 | "A few of the counties affected by l the Lusk bill have not been heard from. From these figures it will be ob- served that the counties specially de- manding relief are Jefferson. Madison, Marshall, Walker, Shelbys Jackson and Etowah. Under the Lusk act, Jeffer- son County would have two circuit judges. giving their entire time to their courts In Jefferson. Under the old law one Circuit Judge gave his entire time | to Jefferson, except 12 weeks. Under | the old law, with the assignment of the
 supernumerary or special judge, they could hold the regular terms of the
 court of Walker and Winston, while the | Circuit Judge continues to hold court ] in Jefferson County.
 "Etowah has a city court. and, as above
 indicated, supernamerary judge and | special judge would enable the Circuit
 Judges to hold sufficient number of special terms in the other counties to | grant the relief.
 Jefferson. The Problem. ''The real problem Is undoubtedly in | the County of Jefferson. The question is if the Legislature were called to- gether at once could it give relief to | the County of Jefferson in a general act. If not, 1t could only be done by | a local act, which would require adver- l tisement, as provided by the Constitu- | tion. I have no right to regard the | Fourteenth Circuit embracing the counties of Walker and Winston as be- | ing unconstitutional, though they will probably be held invalid. For present | purposes, therefore, the counties of | Walker and Winston may be excluded | from consideration, 80 far as the Lusk | act is concerned, as they are provided | for by the special act creating the ! Fourteenth Circuit.
 "one reason being urged for a spe- cial session of the Legislature is to rid the jails of prisoners. thereby saw | ing the State much money now expend- | ed for feed bills. In this connection. submit the following amounts ex- pended by the State in feed bills for | the fiscal year. ending September 30 l 1904 in the following counties: Blount, $32s. 40; Calhoun. $1.4o4 3o; | Cherokee, $264 30; Cullman. $19s.90; l DeKalb, $327.6o Etowah, $1,53o 20: l Jackson, $495 60: Jefferson. $21.5se 30: Lawrence, SIP 80: Limestone. $6ss.3o Madison, $1 1.4SS. SO: Marshall, S253.So:
 Morgan. SIPS 30; Shelby, s1,So4; St. Clair, $1,17s.30: Talladega, $1,5SS. 10: | Walker. s2,127.so. Total. $S5,514. 40. "In this connection call attention | to the fact that Etowah had not g. criminal case on the docket. Calhoun has only one. Talladega has none. In | these three counties, the feed bills amount to $4. 455. SO, with only One | criminal case at. this time on the | docket, therefore. so far as jail fees are | concerned, the Circuit Courts in these counties could afford no relief. Jef- ferson County feed bills amounted to | S21, ,59s. 30, and the relief afforded by the Lusk bill is one judge with Juris- dfction in both civil and criminal cases. This leaves feed bills in the various counties enumerated above
 amounting to $s.459 60. all told. The Cost of Salaries. | "It might be we'll in this connection to estimate the cost in salaries paid to the Judges and Solicitors under the Lusk act. Leaving out of considera- | tion the salaries of the Judge and So- iicitor of the Fifteenth Circuit, as the counties of that Circuit are not cousid- cred in the above statement. and in- ! cluding the Judge and Solicitor of the ] Fourteenth Circuit as the County of Walker is included. there are four judges and three solicitors which means a saving to the State of $17,500 per annum, or about half of the jail . fees for all the counties enumerate ed '. The only additional expense that might arise would be the pay of special judges appointed under the law to re- Iieve Circuit Judges while they are holding special terms. This, however. will probably not arise as the Super
 numerary Judge can give his time to these courts.
 Tt appears to me, therefore, that the following facts exist:
 "First-The Legislature could not
 validate or legalize any of the acts of the courts under the Lusk bill.
 "Second-That there is no County de-
 prfved of a common law or equity
 court.
 'Third-That with the time at the
 disposal of the regular Circuit Judges
 for calling special terms and with the
 services of the Supernumerary Judge
 and a special judge, if necessary, to
 hold regular terms of court while the
 Circuit Judges are holding special
 terms, there are adequate court facili
 ties for every County in the State, ex-
 cept the County of Jefferson and pos
 sIbly the County of Walker, in the
 event the Fourteenth Circuit is de-
 clared invalid.
 That our judicial system is not what
 1t ought to be and that 1t can be vastly
 improved and that it is one of the se-
 rious problems to be considered there is no question. The question Is. Is this
 the time for the solution of the prob lem?
 To EauaIize the Work.
 "It appears to me that the proper solution of this question would be not an increase in the number of judges and solicitors with the possible ex- ception of Jefferson County. and 1t may he. one or two circuits in North Ala bama, but with the equitable and fair distribution of the work of the Circuit Courts. It will be observed that in some of the circuits of the State the Judges are working less than half and in some not much more than half of the year. It Is apparent. then. that the Judges that are overworked should be relieved. equalizing the work of the Circuit Judges This policy was ad- hered to by many of the members Of inc present LegislaturA but no agree-
 ment could be reached and the passage
 oS inc Iusk bill, which all will remem-
 ber was hotly contested. was done as Q
 last resort.
 isro call the Legislature together
 now for the purpose of remodelling and
 providing an adequate judicial system
 for the State would undoubtedly be at tended by certain political conditions
 that now exist and no one