Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1914-03-04
COURT PROCEDURE
Judge Miles Speaks of I'm provement in
Court Rules and Present Expediency
in Law.

Editor Monitor:
[ have been asked to give my
written opinion as to reforms in the
court procedure of Vermont. At
first | hesitated about doing it, be-
cause [ thought that the act might be
construed by some as an interference
with a legislative matter. Upon re-
Election, however, l became convinced
that no just criticism could be made
if I confined my statements to facts
not known to the public generally
and which were necessary to be
known in order to Judge under
standingly upon that subject. [ felt
that it could only be perfectly under
stood by those constantly observing
the effect and result of it's workings,
or by those who were fully informed
as to its operation by one under
standing it, and that the many and
various conditions of litigation must
be understood and carefully consid-
cred before deciding what is best, if
We would avoid creating a greater
evil than the one sought to be cor
rected. A very wholesome lesson in
this respect may be learned from a
study Of the attempt by the English
to change the court procedure of
British India from the native to the
Common Law. Though sufficient in
England it proved disastrous in In
dia, because the conditions in India,
which were overlooked by the COM
mission appointed to Investigate that
subject, were entirely different from
those in England.
In view of the fact that [ believed
that the people ought to know the
conditions as they exist in Vermont
relative to this matter, and in con-
sideratiOn of the present agitation
relative to the court procedure Of
Vermont. [ thought that possibly it
was my duty as we'll as that Of others
whose every day work lay in = the
| field. of county court procedure, to
! give to the people such information
| as we possessed respecting this sub
| ject, that those interested in that
matter might judge for themselves
! and thereby be better prepared tC
avoid erroneous conclusions based up
on incorrect information obtained
either from misinformed and mis-
taken sources Or from sources de.
signed to misinform. am also
mindful of the fact that the people
can safely trust themselves to make
laws for themselves and amend an(
change them as necessities require
if they are correctly Informed will
reference to the subject matter act
ed upon, and that they are dangerou
to themselves only when misled O.
misinformed, which does not fire
quently occur; although the criti
cisms at the close of the activities o
each Legislature might lead one t.
an opposite conclusion, but thos
criticisms are usually hasty and oftel
groundless. Even the much abuse,
Legislature of 1912, which containe
as able and honorable men as any o
it's predecessors, would probably hav
avoided much Of it's lengthy term,
it had not been so strenuOusly urge
to do something about which it an
the public had so little information
Viewing the matter in this ligh1
. and with no purpose to dominate tn
opinion of any one, but simply t
give the people the benefit of my ez
perience, I write this letter respect
ing some of our rules, the prOgres
made in the courts during the las
forty years and make some sugges
tions as to laws that might be passed
if the Legislature saw fit, that nigh
simplify our procedure and do ava
with much of technicalities of trial:
From recent discussions by advC
Gates of reform in court procedure
CONTINUED ON PAGE EIGHT