The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-12-13
Reforming the Courts

lldL lUe uldll6I VI TelOIuulHS AuS
courts of Vermont so as to reduce the
expense of the department of justice
and expedite the final adjudication of
cases taken before the courts lis being
earnestly considered is evident by the
number of papers discussing the mat
ter. The Rutland Herald shows that
the judges of the supreme court in
| Vermont gave an average of eighteen
decisions each during the past year,
that in nine states there are fewer de-
cisions per judge than in Vermont
and that in four states the judges av-
erage about 100 decisions each year.
1t believes the increase of the num-
Der of judges Of the supreme court TO
five was unnecessary. The Benning
ton Banner and The Union Journal
believe the next legislature should re-
duce the number of supreme court
judges to three and the judges of the
superior courts to five and compel the
municipal courts to hear all of the
cases within their jurisdiction to
avoid The payment c. justice OF the
peace fees there The Montpelier
Journal and the Springfield Reporter
preseni strong arguments against any
reduction in the number of judges in
the various courts and especially the
supreme court because five members
are necessary to give that court pro-
per dignity and TO make its decisions
weighty enough to be properly recOg
nized throughout the country. To
this the Groton Times and some other
papers have replied that they believe
the supreme courts decisions should
derive their strength from their jus
tice rather than from the number of
men making them.
The Caledonian is inclined to ac-
cept the argument of the papers
against the maintenance of so large
courts as the stronger of these so far
submitted. Discussion Of the courts
and their procedure is rather danger
Gus for one unacquainted with the
principles of law, as most Vermont
editors are, ourselves included, still it
seems reasonable for a layman to ask
the judicial department of the state
to show that the great increases in
the court expenses of the state have
expedited or made more certain the
rendering of justice in this state. II
is true the court dockets have been
cleared to some extent but that has
been partially accomplished by the
disposition of the judges to strike off
cases that are never intended for tri-
al and have been kept on the dockets
for the sole purpose of thwaTing JUS
tice. There is also a growing dispOs-
ition in Vermont courts to be less in
fluenced by mere technicalities and
thus to some extent expediting their
worwk These conditions are the re
suits of the quality of the judges rath-
er than of their number. With the
dOckets being cleared and reduced in
size, as the advocates of the larger
courts assert the amount of work for
each Judge must soon be diminished
and the number of judges could be re
duced without delaying the cases be-
fore the courts The supreme court
does not consider questions Of fact in
connection with a case, the facts in
the case are presented in the lower
courts The supreme court decides
whether or not the rights under the
law of the parties in litigation have
been violated and ii they have order
La re-trial. So il would hardly seem
necessary to have bulk to secure ac-
curacy in this class of work. The
salary of judge now is large enough
(but they are not over paid to Sc
cure a man whose accuracy on these
questions is as sure as that OF a null
titude.
These facts increase the demand for
a demonstration that the work of the
Vermont supreme court cannot be
safely. accurately and promptly done
by a smaller body OF judges than it
is at present If il cannot no one will
ask for the change, if il can be done,
the state is entitled TO it.-St Johns
bury CaledOnian.