The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-03

Huntsville, twice each year. are under | one judge, the particular period in which | that judge may be required by law to | keep open courts in any one of these | places. is necessarily 9 matter of con | oern to litigants and la,> ITS in all the | other places in the two d1e cts, when,
 as is now plainly the case, ita 'mpossi- | ble for one judge to hold all the courts.
 Realizing this condition of things, the
 bars in the Middle districts composed of 1 the twenty-three counties whose business is transacted at Montgomery, earnestly l joined with their brethren in other parts of the state, in support of a bill which 1 had the approval of the State Bar as; | sociation, and numerous other bars | throughout the state, providing for all additional judge for the Middle and | Northern districts are still dependent | upon the services of one regular judge,
 and such help as may be given by other | judges, who may be designated, and be
 able, to come to the aid of the presiding
 judge of these two districts.
 ''1sne evil of the over-burdened dockets 1 in fhe two districts is a grievance, com
 mon to all. in both districts. The lawyers | and \1itigants of the Middle districA
 | comrnon with the lawyers and litigan
 | the Northern district, have experier
 | the delay and inconvenience of havv l the regular judge of the district absdv ' for several months in the year, and wh| l the judge is in the Middle district, tA | larger portion of his time here is frda quently given to the business of thd | Northern district. We assure our brethren | of the Southern division of the Northern | district that we are anxious and willing, so long as no provision be made for a reg | ular additional judge, to bear the bur :, dens of the present situation, fairly and | equitably Our conviction is, that it would require about eighteen months work of | judges each year to hold the several terms required yearly at the' five places | in the two districts, and give the South | ern division of the Northern district six calendar months of court each year; and we know that it would be impossible for | one judge to do all this work, without getting largely more help from designated l judges than has been found possible in the | past, or, is at all likely in the futi'
 If, with the present insufficient judi l cial force, provision be made. for giving absolutely, one place six calendar months of court, one-half of the time of the reg ular judge, 1t would necessarily result l that some, if not all, of the other four !, places in the two districts would receive I lllIle, II any dlle1llOIs WntI1. dS HAS DetIl l the case in the past and is most likely | to happen in the future. the regular l judge cannot secure outside help for the needs of all the places in both districts. !; A fixed provision to the length of time court shall be held in any one of these | places, would put it out of the power of | the regular judge, and such designated l judges as can be had, to equitably ap- | portion and regulate their services ac- .f n l places. in proportion to the litigation de- | manding attention there
 We know that the Hon. Thomas G. | Jones, the present judge of the two dis l tricts. has not spared himself. and has | labored unceasingly, intelligently, ably | and impartially to meet, as far as lies in 1! the power of one man, the needs of the l several places in the two districts, and ] fortunately has never been absent from | sickness As long as our senators and
 representatives cannot procure the pass | age of bill for a regular additional | judge, our conviction is that 1t is far bet | ter not to attempt to remedy our trouble | by insisting upon an absolute fixed period, | at any place,i during which court shall | be kept open there. Each place has the 1 same right to insist upon a fixed time | for keeping court open there correspond | ing to its needs, and any absolute period | one place, ignores the others and would, ! in our opinion, be unwise and unjust, wherefore,
 Are Opposed to Bill.
 Resolved, That we are opposed to the passage of house bill No. 15S02, which fixes a six months open session of court for the southern division of the northern district of Alabama.
 Resolved further, that our senators | and representatives are hereby respect fully requested to oppose said bill.
 Resolved further, that the representa- tives in congress from the counties which compose this district are hereby respect fully requested, if said bill be put upon | it's passage, to have inserted therein. a similar provision as to the time for keep ing courts open in the middle district Resolved further, that our senators and representatives in congress are ear- nestly requested to make another effort to procure the passage of the bill rec commended bv the State Bar association and by nearly all the local bars of the state. for the appointment of an addi- tional judge for these two districts. as we believe 1t is an absolute necessity. and the only feasible or just remedy for the over-crowded state of the dockets, the business of which is constantly in- creasng. Resolved further that "a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to the judiciary committee of the house of representa- tives. the department fo justice and to each of our senators and representatives t-