The Detroit times., 1913-10-09
Judge Lacy Would Have "Pro-
C0nfess0s" Investigated to
Get Defendants Stories
WOULD INVOLVE CHANGE
OF PRESENT COURT RULES
Believes That Plan Would Re.
suit In Preventing Many
Marital Wrecks


lection Of the Wayne county domestic
relations court are suggested changes
In the rules OF procedure that will, II
adopted, rev0lutionixe the trial Of pro-
confesso divorces, making the state
In effect party to each, 80 that the
court will have before It the stories
OF both the plaintiff and defendant
before granting decree.
At present this IL impossible" aid
tho judge to The Times. II IL impoo-
SIDE because under the existing rules
pro-confesso cases are noticed for
trial only four days before. the hear
Ing. When a. many as 35 different
suttA are thus set for one day, NO stan
IN the world could investigate them
individually In the short time allowed,
even II II had nothing else to do. 1
Now - matter OF fact our force
OF six persons is occupied almost whol
~ with other matters, chief among
which are charges Of non-support. IN
the few weeks Of work thus far, $50
complaints and requests for warrants
have come into the once. More than
2SO OF them have received peruOuaI
investigation. Many OF the troubles
have been straightened out In the
homes and others IN the 00urtroOm.
I'M boeu hound neceoSaFy q
jsSAe the warrants In only 81 Of the
cases. That surely isn't bad record
for q beginning. The criticism some
people have been Offering to the effect
that the court is granting a. many
divorces 10 were granted under the
old system, instead Of closing up the
divorce MILL 10 based on q mistaken
understanding Of the situation"
Judge Lacy proposes to extend the
required time for the noticing Of pro-
confesso cases before trial to 30 days.
This would give the investigators
time to work and to attempt recon-
citations wherever there was prom.
ise Of success
A more radical suggestion is that
to submit to preliminary examina-
ton. either before the court or before
some person designated by II, to give
the investigator basis OF informa-
ton from which to work. The Judge
has prepared q list of vital questions
which could be used as q guide In the
examination.
The rules of the circuit court are
made by the supreme court, which
alone could put the proposed reforms
into effect.
These questions cannot be takc
up oficially till after the legality OF
the court is passed oa, and they can
be put into practice only gradually a.
the stan OF the court Is enlarged.
said Judge Lacy. But they are of
fundamental Importance to its best
success.
Divorce Is not mere question of
personal relations. 1t Is q social mat
ter, involving public interests. The
state should make itself q party to
every uncontested suit. In criminal
complaints that come before us we
have found by inquiry that In one out
of four not only are the charges un.
true, but the responsibility for the
trouble lies In the complainant. II is
reasonable to suppose that In trials
where only one side IL stated q similar
condition prevails. Witnesses are
friends and relatives of the plainti'
brought In TO testify to the particular
things they know. Could any amount
of zeal and sagacity on the part Of a
Judge ferret out the whole truth that
wayi
Whatever investigating we have
done thus far has been confined neces
sarily to cases involving the custody
OF children and few others where
the testimony presented showed fur
ther inquiry to be needed. Our ef
forts at conciliation have been thus
limited to the troubles that precedt
the filing Of divorce papers rathel
than to take In the 1000 odd cases
already on the docket which were
turned over to us en- masee. II the
work Of patching up the prelimin
aries is well done. its results will ap
pear IN the future. :.
Incidentally, I may say that In IL
of the decrees granted the first three
wceks Of the courts operation, the
crucial breech between the couples re-
suited from the husbands resentment
at being arrested on complaint OF his
wife. II shows that every time an
angry wife IS headed on from swear
ing out n warrant against her nus
bSnd one danger Of wrecking . home
IL avoided"
In a communication TO the board OF
county auditors before the organixa.
tion OF the court. Judge Lacy stateo
h,a belief that the state should inter
est ifself IN all divorce cases. but az
the aame time added: However, the
IN de0uately small stan Am susgest-
ing for the beginning cannot do much
~ mis- divorce investigatiou. and this
Srsnch Of the work win undoubtedly
have 20 await future devenoDment" "
Il ~-- oA->> -,