The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-10
CRITICISMS IF
 LAW IN GEORGIA Judge Hammond of Augusta Utters Words of Condemnation DEFECTS IN PROCEDURE Courts Are Not Given Sufficient Juris- dicton and Power in Cases and
 TechnicaIitles Are Very
 Burdensome.

Atlanta December s.-(Specia1l In an Lddress to which comparatively little pub lefty has been given. considering its importance, Judge Henry c. Hammond if Augusta. judge of the Augusta judicial ircuit. as the guest of the Atlanta Bar ssociation night or two ago, indulecd n severe arralgnment of Georgia law md judicial procedure, which should at ract widespread attention.
 Judge Hammond not only attacked per licious technicality and its product. the aw's delay, but he illustrated the ah- urdity of some of the situations brought ,bout by prevailing law and methods lxed by law.
 Among these interesting illustrations was the incident of a case recently brought up from Richmond county to the state supreme court. which the latter court refused to consider because of the method by which it was brought there. In other words, the compliments had Jailed to comply with some insignificant form, which, he said, in no sense affected he merits of the case, and the supreme court declined to consider it.
 Trivial Excuse.
 It is just as if the compliments had brought to Atlanta a sealed box, Judge Hammond said, and presented it to the upreme court with the request that 1t pen the box and state just exactly what we're its contents.
 How did you bring this box here?" sks the court.
 We came around by the Central of ieorgia railway" replied the complain nts.
 '.Theren you were wrong," says the upreme court. You must go back to augusta and bring your box here over the ;eorgia railroad before we can open it nd tell you what is in it.'
 It makes no difference that the box is ready here, Judge Hammond went on, nd that it's contents will be exactly the ame whatever route be taken. It came yer the wrong road therefore it must o back.
 The foregoing is an interesting example f Judge Hammond's exposition of the aults of Georgia law and judicial pro- edure, which. perhaps. applies with equal orce in many other states.
 Greatest Defect.
 Perhaps the greatest defect in our ju- icial procedure, Judge Hammond de- Jared is that there exists no fixed stop ing place. The litigant Is lured on and oft hoc T. nd forth many times between trial and .ppellate courts, all because the so-called ourts of last resort are of such limited jurisdiction that they can deal only with ertain aspects of a case brought be- ore them,. He told a story of state nent made in a decision by the late Jus ice Lumpkin in Carson vs,. Fears, 91 la, wherein the justice wrote that he vas attempting to prepare an opinion in case which was actually in court yhen he was a little child; and one in which, probably. another generation of tigants would still participate.
 The machinery of the criminal law he eclared still worse, hedged about as t Witu HuHuTeuS Oi tecnifcdilieS through which the ends of justice are often de- eated, especially if the criminal possesses means for the employment of the best egal talent. The judge must often sit 'ound hand and foot and see the guilty scape,.
 One of the chief difficulties, if not the oremost, Judge Hammond declares, when | comes to securing remedy, is that the general judiciary committee (of the Iouse of representatives) is the grave ard of judicial reform in Georgia"
 Severe Indictment.
 This is a severe indictment, but one which seems borne out by the facts. Composed Of all the lawyers of the house, whose combined demand would, undoubt- ally, secure the enactment of any proper ,r essential legal reform, the committee great problem, but is eontented to ham ner away at minor evils, producing little substantial result.
 The subject of Judge Hammonds ad- iress was well put-"Less form and more 
 And 1t is the excess of form, he con- ,luded. which is largely responsible for the minimum of substance.
 The suggestion contained in his closing follows:
 "Let us establish in this state a real court of appeals. a court that will take ! view of the whole case, a court whose broad powers will enable 1t to terminate litigation by a final Judgment. court in which law-making would be incidental and secondary to deciding cases. court whose ingenuity would not be taxed to find flaws in the first trial, a court in which a new trial should not be granted on the ground of misdirection or the im- proper admission or rejection of evidence unless in It's opinion some substantial wrong or miscarriage has been thereby occasioned. Let this court be designated the high court of justice, and in it let substance and not form prevail"
 There Is no question that Judge Ham, mond's address will give lawyers and leg islators much to think about if they will but bestir themselves to the thinking point.
 
 Dancer of Rjotjnu Ende