Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1909-07-29
CONTINUED from Fourth Page

peals The amendment allows only
one appeal
~ AT present in cases involving the
probate Of wills and the administra-
ton Of estates and in matters Of the
guardianship Of infants the first pro-
ceeding is before the surrogate From
his action there is an appeal TO the
orphans court; from the action of
that court there is an appeal TO the
prerogative court or the ordinary
i these are but names for the chancel-
lori; from the chancellor sitting as
| ordinary or as the prerogative court
there is an appeal to the court of err
rors and appeals. Thus under the
present system If litigants are deter
mined, there are three appeals in mat
| ters involving the settlement of es-
tates and the property and persons Of
Infants. Under the proposed system
there would be but two appeals, one
! from the surrogate to the county
! court and one from the county court
to the appellate division, and the leg
islature is authorized even to take
away the appellate jurisdiction of the
| county court. so that litigants may
| appeal direct from the surrogate to
the court Of last resort if the legisla-
ture SO enacts a. The legislature
[ may confer further appellate jurisdic-
i ton upon the appeals division. This
! needs an explanation. 1t leaves the
matter for future legislatures as need
1 may arise. ~ The amendment gives
/ the appeals division such jurisdiction
! as may be incident to. the complete
! determination of any cause on review.
saving the right Of trial by jury. At
present the court of errors and APP
Leals has no original Jurisdiction. 1t
has sometimes been questioned wheth-
! er 1t has power to dispose finally of
any cause or whether it must send
the case back with orders as to what
| is to be done by the lower court. The
new provision meets this difficulty and
i authorizes the appeals division to do
what is necessary for a complete de-
termination of the cause. The pro-
! vision reserving the right Of trial by
jury is necessary for the reason that
the spirit of our constitution requires
| that the final determination of the
facts in trial at law shall be by a
jury. This provision is merely meant
to preserve the present right Of trial
by jury.
In short, the object Of paragraph /
of section of the third amendment
is to simplify and shorten proceedings
/ on appeal.
Section 5. paragraph 2. The object
of this paragraph is to confer upon
the law division the present jurisdic-
ton of the supreme and circuit courts
and such further jurisdiction as the
legislature may choose to give it. 1t
is necessary to provide in this way,
since the circuit courts will in name
] cease to exist if the amendments are
adopted, and the supreme court will
become really supreme instead of be-
is to be composed of seven judges in
stead of nine, as at present. Its func-
lions will be the same as those now
exercised by the supreme and circuit
court, except in appeals. which will go
direct to the appeals division. The
substantial change here seems to be
merely in name. Instead of the judges
being called justices of the supreme
court and circuit court judges, all will
be called justices of the supreme
court and will do the same trial work
as the circuit judges and supreme
court justices do now
This paragraph, however, contains
one most important clause The juris
diction is to be exercised by the law
division in accordance with the rules
of practice and procedure prescribed
i by statute or. in the absence of statute.
! by the supreme court. Our present
system of practice and procedure is
based upon the old English practice
and procedure dating centuries ago.
/ with some notifications in the direc-
/ ton of greater simplicity and some
technicality made some fifty years ago.
The present procedure is very tech
nical. For example. when man is
sued upon an ordinary book account or
promissory note the declaration, as it
| is cdlleu-tudl Is " say, the COLI
| plant or state of demanded the
plaintiff need not give the defendant
any information at all as to what the
suit is about. Ordinarily the defend
ant is puzzled by being informed that
he was indebted to the plaintiff for
goods sold. for work and labor. for
money loaned for money had and re-
+ ceived by the defendant for the plain
| tiff's use, for interest and upon an ac
count stated. The puzzled defendant
is obliged to employ lawyer to tell
him what it means, and even the law
] yer can only guess what the suit is all
about. Again, it has recently hap
pened and has not been infrequent
that in litigations over the right to
Office in a municipal corporation-a
town, city, borough or township or in