The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1906-10-25
A Man OF Experience Tells Why
Court Expenses Have Increased.


court expenses Ia the state have III
creased enormously in the last thirty
years There Is No doubt tina, these
expenses nre much larger than they
should be, and yet the judges, court
officers and witnesses are paid no more
than is their just due and the legisla
tare eau hardly reduce salaries or fees
10 lessen these expenses. 1t is true
that salaries and fees are higher now
than they were, and ought TO be higher,
but the difference does not account for
the large increase m the expense ac-
count.
Has there been enough increase IN
the amount Of business done 10y The
the courts 10 make up the differencei
think not. Ii is rather in the manner
in which the courts are administered.
was admitted TO the bar more than
forty years ago, and have been quite
eonyersant with the business Of the
different courts in the state since that
time. think the average number Of
jury trials in the state is no greater
now than il was forty years ago. 1t
certainly is not as great except perhaps
in three counties. a large number of
cases are now referred and tried out of
court, which lessons the expense; then,
there were almost none Then, there
We're five judges; now there are seven,
Then, there were no official stenog-
raphers, each Judge taking his own
minutes of the trial, and there was no
more complaint of overworked judges
than there is now, and think the cases
were rs well tried. But there has been
a marked change in the method of adj
ministering the courts, and for this |
think we lawyers are mostly at fault.
1t was the rule then that lawyers
should have their cases ready for trial
when called and the rule was strictly
enforced. No frivolous reasons were
allowed for continuing eases, and as
result the court was busy trying cases
from the first day until the end of the
term. Now more than half of the time
OF the court and jury is absolutely
wasted, at an expense TO the state Of
from $50 to 500 per day. As rule it
is absolutely painful for Il spectator
and doubly painful for clients 10 attend
session Of court, with the judges,
iuries and clients waiting for something
TO do. ! have known two or three
weeks to be wasted trying two or three
petty cases that never ought to have
been in court at all. Under the former
rules and with the old time judges such
a state of things would not have been
tolerated.
The last Judge who ran his court on
business principles was Ashel Peek.
We lawyers called him cross and crab
bed. and threatened to defeat his re-
election in the legislature, but instead
he was nominated and elected governor
which took him off the bench. Once
since his day have known Judge to
use his best endeavors TO bring cases |
on for trial and would have summary |
adjourned court but for the fact that il |
was grand jury term, and that jury
did not finish its business for two weeks
though it had "A small amount of BUSH
ness before it, aud the time of the two
weeks was mostly wasted.
Now if the rules were revised, and
judges and lawyers would do their best
to live up to them, the court expenses
might be reduced nearly one-half and
the course of justice would not suffer
in the least.
II is expected that bill will be in
troduced in the present Legislature pro-
vidmg for an appellate court and adj
ditional judges, but | hardly see the
need of this and it must increase the
already too large expense of the courts.
think if the supreme court would hold
sessions at Rutland, Montpelier and
st. Johnsbury it would better accom-
modate the state with no increase in
the expenses. 5.