Evening journal., 1911-01-16

also in very satisfactory condition,
and undoubtedly accomplishing mucn
good. The trustees. president and
teachers are cacapble and jealous in
their work and the number of stu
dents exceptionally large. The Leg
islature ] am sure can make no mis-
take IN aiding the college in a rea-
sonable and proper way.
The Courts and the Law.
There has been some criticism of
the laws delay in this State. and par
tlcularly respecting capital cases.
such long time intervenes between
the judgment In the lower court and
the hnal judgment of the Supreme
Court that many persons think the
effect OF conviction is to a great ex-
tent lost
/ While IL seems hardly fair to deny
the defendant a right of appeal. or
what is equivalent thereto, In a case
where his life is involved, surely there
ought 10 be some moro expeditions
way of determining whethe- the. G
! was harmful error committed by the
5 trial court. The object of an appeal
must be to ascertain whether SUBJ
} stantial justice has been done the an
! pelant in the lower court. and o
| have his rights determined by .he
court OF last resort. If the same OBJ
ject can be attained in a simpler way.
| and by an early decision of the same
judges who, is case Of an appeal.
would have composed the highest
r court certainly there is no good rea-
, son why it should not be done
: J would recommend, therefore. that
Tue Constitution OF the State be so
3 amended as 10 take away the defend
, ants right of appeal i'm a criminal
case, and to provide. in lieu thereof.
b that on motion for a new trial and
= IN arrest Of judgment. every question
might be determined that could be
: upon appeal, as well as upon such
motion, and chat such motion should
be heard and determined. either bv
all the law judges and the Chancello-.
I or by The law judges who did not sit
! at the trial of the case. and the Chan
lcellor, as to the Legislature may seem
best. in this way a final decision could
ordinarily be reached during the trial
term, aud Ia any event at the succeed
ing term.
such procedure is not necessary
! perhaps in larger States where the
o appellate court is constantly I'm ses-
sion, but in this State, where the
: highest court has but two regular ses-
sions IN year, it would probably
3 furnish, in a large degree a remedy
for the evils that are thought to exist
, in the administration of criminal
, law.
II may be thought that the ends de-
sired might be attained by providing
TOT more frequent terms Of the Su.
! preme Court. This appears to me to
be scarcely practicable for the rea-
son, that the judges who compose
T such court are now required, on ac-
count of the large increase of busi-
ness, to be almost continuously ell
gagged in the lower courts. I am salts
ned that they dispatch the business. as
rapidly as they can, and it very rare
ly happens that a decision is not
handed down in the appellate court at
, the first term succeeding the argu-
ment Il would not be reasonable to
impose additional duties which the
judges would not have the time to
, carefully discharge. I am informed
that they now render decisions in inn
portant criminal cases at adjourned
terms held about midway between the
regular terms; and that they propose,
so far as possible, to pursue the same
practice in respect to other cases both
, criminal and civil. If this is done
there will be accomplished, largely,
all that could be effected by providing
for more frequent terms.
There is very general feeling that
, petty criminal cases should not be
tried i'm our county courts. but that
! some different means should be pro-
vided for their disposition. Il is
{ commonly believed that such cases
, take up much of the time OF the
, courts, and that there IS no good rea-
r SON why two or three judges should
: be required to try them. There is
= much plausibility and force in this
belief. but there is something 20 be
said on the other side.
During the first few days Of almost
every term of the criminal court there
l is little for the court to do but dis
! pose of the petty cases. The grand
81 juries take up such cases first and act
upon them very quickly. A very large
majority of those who are indicted
plead guilty and the arraignments
[ and imposition of sentences takes but
- little time. If the courts did not have
! such business to attend to there would
D be but little OF any kind to engage
e. them during the first two or three
K days of the term, because the grand
. juries do not seem to be able TO get
Q at the more important cases during
S the first day or two. Therefore. the
v court being in session, the general
e jury in attendance. after the first day,
e and the important cases not being
j ready for trial, there is an opportu-
nifty to attend TO the petty business
? and il can perhaps be done then and
9 there at less expense to the county
! than il could be Ia any other way. II
= defendants in such cases are to be
, accorded the right of jury trials as
they have been i'm the past
4 There is another suggestion, how
ever. that is sometimes made, which
= / strongly recommend for your con.
! sideration. Il is this: That the Con
a stitution of the State be so amended
= as that one judge shall constitute q
Q quorum in some of the courts, and
!. at least in the Court of General Ses.
r sions. BY so doing we would have Q
G more flexible system, small cases
r could be tried before a single Judge
It and more time given the judges to at.
T tend to other business, especially that
Q in the higher court. One. two or three
n judges could then sit, as the Charac.
g ter of the cases should require, and
the court and members of the bai
,,r.afot.