Los Angeles herald., 1908-12-05
WANT
3 MORE JUDGES
|. a. BAR ADOPTS RESOLUTION
FOR EXTRA COURTS
FORMER JURIsT ENTERS oBJEC-
TIoN TO INCREASE
Attorney Works Declares Writers OF
Their Decisions and Briefs
Should Be Considered
in Contempt

The Los Angeles Bar association held
a meeting in department SIX Oh the su
perjor Scourt yesterday 1or the pu
pose of discussing two bllls no" peHu-
ing in congress, and TO TAKE "Ct. .e'
on a proposition to increase the mum
ber of Judges of the superior court, for
Los Angeles county The latter was
regarded as the most important mat
fer to come before the gathering, anu
brought forth the greater discussion
Resolutions favoring the passage OF
the senate bill increasing the salary
of United States circuit court Judges
n 100000 and district court judges 10
soooo Ivere adopted. A federal bill,
which has for it's purpose the credtlon
of a new United States court OF patent
appeals with five judges, alsos was IN
dorsed. H. -
resolution providing for the in
crease of Judges for Los Angeles county
from nine to twelve ELECTED prolesr
from former Judge John X. WORKS,
who declared the prevailing system Oh
carving on the work in the courts is
the most cumbersome and labortous
human ingenuity could devise. -,
1T was astounded when 1 came here,
said Mr. Works 'to see the length
of time it takes to try case Under
the practice here a three-day case oc-
cupies three weeks. something sIoulu
be done to remedy this, and l oel1eVe
it could be done without any increase
in the number of judges.
Judge Works also expressed the opln-
ion any Judge who writes decision,
or an attorney who files briefs, snould
be considered in contempt.
There was no responsive voice to Mr..
Works remarks, and when Chairman
Lynn Helm put the question the reso-
luton was carried with only one dis
senting vote. -.
view after the meeting, said: IF three
Judges. are added the work of the pres
emf Judges will not be decreased at all.
IT still will be necessary for every
Judge to be on the bench during regu-
lar court hours. The benefit to be de-
rived by the additions will be that
some of the surplus business now pc
ing crowded into the future can be
taken care of by the new judges, and
litigants, therefore, will secure earlier
trials"
The percentage of suits filed is in
cYea sing each day, and calendars in all
departments are filled far into the
coming year. In Judge Huttons court,
for instance, cases were set Tor trlal
Yesterday as far ahead as September;
and it is claimed, if motions to set
trial dates were made in all cases now
on file, calendars would be hlled even
into the first part of 1910.
County Clerk Reyes. by request OF
T. w. Robinson, secretary of the bar
association, compiled a table yesterday.
showing that in 1900 there were filed
269O cases of all kinds, compared with
S244 for this year. 80
Mr.. Robinson stated that with 500
cases filed each month, half of which
will be brought to trial. it readily can
be seen that even with the creation OF
three new departments the courts will
scarcely be able to take care of the
work.
Should the percentage of increase
continue-and there is no doubt it will, -
said Mr.. Robinson, 1.-The courts will find
themselves in the same condition they
are today, even if the additional judges
are provided"