The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-16
COURT IS ADJOURNED
CHILTON TERM CONTINUED TO A
 LATER DATE.
Question Raised By Attorney Collier If Act Creating Fifteenth Circuit Fixed The Time In Legal
 Manner.

Partially as an outgrownth of the legislation and partly because there was an allegation of error in the draw ing of the jury. number of lawyers. jurors and others who gathered at the Chiffon County Circuit Court yesterday had to go away disappointed and many of them much disgusted. There were many cases, on the docket and all of these have gone over to the next term of court.
 The decision of Judge Alston to ad- journ the court sine die was made af- ter he had listened to the argument Of counsel to the effect that it was inn proper to hold the court at this time. He did not rule that counseis conten- tion was right, but said that the ob- jections were so weighty that ke could not take time at present to investigate them. and therefore. If counsel agreed with him. he deemed it better to have the eases go over.
 county, but both the court and the at- torneys were satisfied that there was nothing else to do under the ctrcum- stances.
 Judge Aston was presiding because Judge Pearson was not competent to try some of the cases by reason of hav- ing been counsel in them. The coun- ty had been without a sheriff for two weeks because of the death of the for mer incumbent, and there Is no coroner in the county.
 When the court convened yesterday. Attorney w. A. Collier addressed Judge Aston and said that 1t was not proper to hold the court at this time. He sub mitted that the bill creating the Eff teenth Judicial Circuit Court. known as the pony circuit. fixed different time for holding the court.
 There is no repeating clause in the general act. known as the Lusk act. he said. dividing the State into circuits. and that the court should be held at the time specified in the special act
 He submitted that Judge Pearson had appointed a special coroner and that special coroner had appointed an H. legal jury. in that he did not have au- thority to serve processes as though he were a sheriff; that Judge Pearson had committed an error in issuing an order summoning a jury. having made that order ir vacation: that there had been no jury drawn by the Jury Commission by reason of the fact that heretofore juries had been drawn for two terms instead of three. and that there was therefore no jury for this term of the court.
 Tn principal ground for not holding the court he said. was that in addition to providing for holding a Circuit Court the act creating the Fifteenth Circuit gave chancery powers and re- quired chancery cases to be heard by the Chancery Court and with other pro- visions authorizing judges to direct pleadings. etc
 Attorney Mullen submitted to the court that tl.e court should not ho held off the further reason that even if it be true that the general act repealed the special act the general act was un- constitutional as to the time of hold ing court, because the title of the act did not embrace all the subjects of the act the act fixing time by an amend ment of the section. which section only related to one circuit. while the amend ment related to several, Consequently the subject embraced by the act was not covered by the title nor germane thereto.
 It was then represented to the court that in the important case that Judge Pearson was unable to try, the defend ant was sick and could not be present at this time.
 Judge Aston stated that he had not investigated the questions raised and while he thought there was a good deal of force in the position taken, the matter involved too much of import ance to be decided without more thor ough consideration and more investiga- tion than he had given or was prepared to give to the matter. He thought that the better course would be to continue all the cases, in other words. not hold the court. and asked the opinion of each of the attorneys attending the court, each of whom stated they con cured in the view that this was not proper time under the law to hold the court and that the course suggested by the judge should be pursued. The judge therefore made an order continu- ing all the cases and the court adjourn ed sine die.