Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1914-03-04

OhSdSSu 1OI year OF more IN their
preparation, and during that time
examined the court rules of the New
-ngiand States, submitted a tenta-
I'VE set of proposed rules to COM
-Iltees of the several bars of the
ate, and after receiving reports
from those committees and carefully
considering the same, promulgated
our present rules of procedure and
practice, which have been only slight
i amended since, to improve them
here their use showed that improve
ment could be made
Under these rules as they now
stand, petitions, bastardy proceed
lngs, divorce cases and session pro-
ceedings stand for trial when the de-
PENDANT is required to appear. Ap-
peals from Probate Courts, except
nose requiring an issue to be Join
ed by plea, stands for trial at the
rst term after the time fixed by
law tor defendant to appear, and
in account and book account judg-
ment to account is entered as soon
as the pleadings permit, which is
almost always at the term when en-
tered, and when such judgment is
altered, the court hears the case or
sends it out to an auditor or COM
missioner to find the facts and state
he account between the parties, and
IL other cases stand for trial when
issue is joined, if Joined before as
signment Of causes.
If a party wishes to try his case,
all he has to do is to set it for trial
It least Is days before the opening
Of court, and a case thus set will
tried in its order if either party
ready, unless a good cause is
'hoWn by a party asking for a con-
1nuance, and the court before con-
ing case must be well satisfied
lat injustice would be done the
party asking for it, if such continu-
7nce IS denied, and if the court is
lot so satisfied, it will proceed to
ear the case whether the other side
: ready or not, Or will render judg-
ment without hearing if the case is
# such a character as to permit it.
Applicants for admission to the bar
ere now examined by a state COM
nlittee and the examination is of a
very strict character and we'll de-
f:igned to bring out the fact of wheth-
or the applicant is qualified for ad-
mission to the bar.
Except in rare cases. as hereinafter
s+%fed, it cannot be said, that under
our practice and procedure, one can
not have speedy trial in county
court and that suitors are kept there
an unreasonable time awaiting for
an opportunity to try their cases, for
he facts are the other way. There
is not a county in the State in which
a sutton may not try his case as
soon as is provided by law, unless
some accident occurs preventing the
her side from being ready, such
as sickness etc. My experience and
hat Of my associates, so far as
know, is that every sutton can try
is case and does try it when he
wants to do so. if it is ripe for trial
md the other side cannot and does
not show by ample proof that in
Justice would be done him if forced
TO trial at that term, and very few
cases are continued now where
either party wants to try his case.
No rule of court nor even law can
force parties to try their. cases if
neither desires to do so. The most
at a rule or law can do is to say
hat unless a case is disposed Of with
in a given time it shall be discon-
.inued by the court for want Of
prosecution. This measure we in
corporated into our rules of 1909
and we made the time limit at four
years. Some of the Judges and at
1Orneys in the state thought it ought
D be shorter and some thought it
ought to be longer, but the majority
fought four years was the proper
NIT, and so it was fixed at that as
e proper time, based upon the ex-
perience of the majority of the pro-
ession. Most of the cases brought
o the county court are tried within
year after they are entered in court,
and many of them within six months.
BY this statement I mean the cases
brought to the county court intended
to be tried. In looking over my
September Term, 1 find that all the
cases tried at that term, except one
were less than year old and some
were less than six months old. From
his it would seem that four years
was an unnecessary length of time
to allow a case to remain on the
docket, but the advocates for that
time, speaking from experience, urg-
ed the fact that all lawyers knew,
that the great number of suits
| brought to court were never intended
to be tried, but were brought there
| for another purpose and were kept
| on the docket because of the original
purpose; that parties frequently died
and representatives had to be
brought in, witnesses were some
times sick, and the evidence was in
a foreign land or away in distant
city, and various other grounds were
urged too numerous to mention
here; but all agreed that this limita-
ion of four years would in no way
affect the great bulk of litigation
hat the rule that parties to case
set for trial must be ready to try
it when reached, was sufficient tt
bring about a speedy trial and tina
suitors desiring to try their case
could do so under that rule. 1 an
yet to hear a sutton complaining tina
he cannot get trial because of GU
procedure. I have seen him com
planning in a few instances that hi
attorney had not been true to hin
and had neglected his case and hal
| hr0 orb -, %v.io 81 1n1 7,