The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-26
PRESENTM ENTS
of the Grand Jury of the Superior
Court of Chatham County for the
December Term, 1903.

To the Hon. Geo. I. Cam, judge of
the Superior Court Of Chatham coun-
ty, Georgia Sir: The grand jury
have faithfully investigated the va
rious matters and things pertaining to
The county and it's people, which, come
under their jurisdiction, concerning
which we were charged by your pred
eeessor in Office, the Hon. Pope Bar
row. and we beg herewith to submit
the result of our Investigations.
The various committee reports, CIV
ing the detailed results of our inves-
legations, all of which have been con-
sidered, and adopted by this grand
jury, have been filed in the office of the
clerk of the Superior Court, where
they can be read by any citizen of
the county.
We beg to report as follows:
Justices of the Pence.
The Jurisdiction of the justices of
the peace of Chatham county is much
more important and far-reaching than
is usually supposed. In addition to
the jurisdiction prescribed in general
terms in Section $3.50, which provides
that all civil cases arising from con-
tracts or injuries or damages to per-
sonal property amounting to less than
500 90 must be tried in the Justices
court they also have jurisdiction of
contests for the protection of personal
property in cases of forcible entries
and detainers, process of attachment
and of punishment, which are return
able to the Superior Court, where the
amount involved is more than 800 90
and returnable to their own courts
when less than this. They also issue
distress warrants for rent and dis
possessory warrants against tenants
holding over. They may also act as
coroner in the absence of the coroner.
They issue warrants for the appre
hension of any person charged under
oath with the violation of any portion
of the Penal Code, or they may is
sue them on their own knowledge of
such violation. They examine such
persons when brought before them, and
may commit, bind over or discharge
them. Criminal jurisdiction extends
over the entire county, and all those
holding office within the city have civil
jurisdiction over the entire city.
There are in Chatham county two
classes of justices of the peace one
of each class for each of the four
militia districts within the city linn
its. In each of these districts one JUS
tice of the peace fills an elective Of
nee ny vote Oh the people Oh MS QlS-
trict, holding it for four years, the
other justice in each militia district
is a commissioned notary public. act
ing by reason of his office as a JUS
tice of the peace. These ex-officio
justices may be appointed by the
judges of the Superior Court in their
respective circuits upon recommends
tion by the grand juries of the sew
eral counties.
In
eight justices of the peace, four of
whom are elected by the people UNI
der the constitution of the state and
four of them appointed by the judge
of the Superior Court upon recom-
mendation of the grand jury. Hence,
While there are two higher courts in
the county, they are eight lower courts
in the city, and eight in the remain
ing portion of the county-a total of
sixteen. The large number of these
courts and the fact that they are en-
tirely supported by fees causes many
of the evils we present to your Honor's
notice.
1t seems to be a very general GUS
tom of the justices presiding in Sa-
vannah to adopt practices. which en-
courage litigation, for the purpose of
having cases brought before them in
their own court This is undignified
for judicial officer; it is contrary to
the laws of the state, and ii is deep
ly prejudicial to the interest Of the
community.
Justices also often act as collecting
attorneys for the collection of debts
and as prosecuting attorneys for the
collection of penalties. 1t is evident
that no judicial officer should in the
same case also act as a prosecuting
officer, yet there are cases where a
justice of the peace has practically
continued to act as a prosecuting at
torney while the suit was before him
in his judicial capacity.
1t appears to be a common and us
ual practice for justices of the peace
to accept bonds from parties known by
them to be utterly unable to respond
to a suit upon the bond. This practice
is very properly punishable by law
Garnishments are issued in cases
where the judicial officer knows that
the person garnished is not subject to
punishment The sole purpose of
this practice appears to be the infiie-
ton of fees upon the defendant.
1t seems customary for some justices
to encourage litigation and garnish-
ment for small sums, from $1.00 to $500
and thus even when there is no proper
reason for the suit, the defendant is
often mulcted from SO to SIS to defend
himself This practice is very oppres-
SiVe.
1t appeared to be also true that when
garnishments produced no results
that the person at whose request the
punishment was issued was very oft
en- not required to pay the fees. If he
were, this would probably prevent a
great deal of very profitable litigation
1t was shown very clearly that the
present fee system of compensation
encourages litigation and produces q
large amount of oppressive and friv-
olous practice before the courts which
are profitable to the judicial Office
alone The above and similar prac'
tees hsSre become far too general anC
customary in the courts of the JUS
tees of the peace of the city of Sa'
vannah.
The first immediate and definite rem
edy for any abuses which may exis
can and should be applied by any
citizen who may suffer from then
by bringing any cases of this char
acter to the attention of the granC
Jury, as it appears almost impossi
BILE for this body to discover casei
of Injustice or malpractice by refer
ence to the books of the Justices
In the light of the above facts, l
is interesting to note the solemn char
acter of the oath prescribed by tn,
code and taken by each justice, which
is as follows:
"I do swear that 1 will administe
Justice, without respect to persons ant
do equal rights to the poor and Il
the rich, and that l will faithful!
discharge all the duties incumbent oil
me as justice of the peace for thu
county of Chatham agreeably to tn,