St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-06-21
PRESS COMMENT.
Need Of Court Reform.

Need of Court REFORM.
s.In spite of the efforts of our
Judges the expense OF administering
tremendously. One illuStI alton OF
the way this happens is furnished Dy
THE Barre Times, which says:
latter two trials in Caledonia
county court, two hearings IN YER
mont supreme court, and the pegih-
ming of a third in county court, the
1itieants in an alienation action got
tooother and settled the case out OIL
court Fine result, and finer IL they
had got together before Vermont nao
been forced to spend SO niuch noneS
on the case. aorod
s.This was a fair case as compared
with some of the causes Oh htlsallun
which so frequently monol'ollle az tte
w.! of our courts and absorb the
taxnavers' money. 1t is time TO put
more reasonable limit upon the
Li1d If cases that can be draggeo
along in this way through all LIE
courts - Burlington Free Press.
Pipht at this time there is broughI
70 THE Messengers attention Dy
LAWYER friend the following lnteresC.
mo suggestion taken from a current
professional publication
sPrelixity of pleading, scarcely le-
parded as a fault in this day, seelns
10 have been more serious one 1.s.s
in the Elizabethan era OF the Enslisn
practice. Munro's Acta Cancel.al a =
500 quotes a decree entered IN 19So'
6nd;ne that replication doth
amount to six score sheets OF paper.
and vet all of the matter Thereon
Trhich is pertinent might have Deen
well contrived in Is sheets OF paper |,
and reciting confession OF RlchaIo
Mvlward that he did both draw, de-
1rise and eneross the same replica
zion His Iordship, being OF the
oninion that such an abuse is not III
any sort to be tolerated, proceeding
of a malicious purpose 10 increase
tbe defendant charge, ana Delns
fraught with much impairment MAJ
fer not fit for this court, ordered tnat
t1a warden of the Fleet bring the
offender into Westminster Hail ana
cent a hole in the myddest OF the
same engrossed replication ana put
+ha said Richards head through the
same hole, and so let the SAID replica
fion hang about his shoulders, WIN
Tho written side outwardS, and then
the same so hanging shall lead the
same Richard bareheaded and pare
faced round about Westminster. Hail
whilst the courts are sitting, anu
shall show him at the bar OF every
one of the three courts within enI
hall and shall then take him BACK
again to the Fleet, and Keep MIN
prisoner until he shall have paid 4 ~
to Her Majesty for fne, and ~
mobiles to the defendant, for MS costs
in respect of the aforesaid abuse.
There was a sterner sense OF JUS
tice in those days about some OF these
things, but the tendency OF the par
has been toward these faults IRON
a time whereof the memory o. man
runneth not to the contrary. lhere
is something in the art OF practlce al
Iawthat easily beguiles men into spin
ninr over-nice refinements of mean
ing out of once very clearly INTENDED
nhrases of statutes, into Inventlng IN
genious means of prolong1ng the
Way to final judgment, and this, Wltf
the long established principle OF Jur'
isDrudence of the English-speak1ne
neoDle that man is presumed tC
he innocent until proven guilty, ma:
led to a degree of procrastinat1on ant
multiplication of process ana near
ings that in latter years in this coun
try has come to be a great natlona
reDroach. The administration O
Justice is seldom speedy and certain
ana IfSQu6nI1y 1d1Ao eSAIO6SNAh~A'
the deliberations of the courts IN on
form or another entail tremendous
" disproportionate burden OF ex
.pense upon the taxpayers.
The courts of Vermont, that is t
say. the supreme court and super1o
Judges, have recently made YER
earnest and to an extent effective Ell
forts to do away with this abuse. But
in the opinion of a layman, they WI
never succeed completely in redeem
ing the system from this eveil unit
the bar itself undertakes the reforI
from within it's own membership
There should be a higher ethies
standard for the profession and
should be enforced. But, back c
that, the standard of qualification
for admission to and practice at tn
bar should be raised to that leVt
where the ethical standard will pre-
vail as a mere matter of course. w
have too many lawyers in Vernon
and too many of them {
them are undeserving of tn
very great and serious respol
sibility of being officers of the cour
as they actually are. A part of tn
vexatious and expensive prolongatio
or multiplication of suits comes frol
deliberate intent to make dolls
at the expense of state or client.
is the result of a systematic endeayt
to make the law, like war, in anciel
times, support itself. And part .
it comes from the incapaeity of igno
ant and unfit lawyers.