Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1914-03-04
COURT PROCEDURE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

the impression obtains WIN some
that our courts have not kept pace
In the line of progress with other de-
partments of the Government.
Going back over the condition of
our courts and procedure within my
memory, and comparing it now with
what it was when [ first began to OBJ
serve it, | am impressed with the be-
lief that no department of our State
Government has made more rapid
progress than our courts. No fea-
ture of this progress is more notice.
able than the increase of thoroughly
trained and educated young men who
are coming to the bar each year.
When first I came to notice mat
tiers relating to our courts, there
were strong and well educated men
at the bar, who in the course Of their
lives acquired eminence for them
selves in the legal profession and
elsewhere; but the general average
was far below what it is to-day. Only
a few of the bar at that earlier date
were college bred men, and those
who were such, to a certain extent,
were subject to the customs of that
time, which largely grew out of JUS
tice trials, which were more frequent
and Of more rugged character than
they are now.
Ill tuOSG udyS, 10 luo p6OplS l1oH1
the country around who attended JUS
tice and county courts, the attractive
feature of the trial was the conflict
that sometimes ragged between cOun-
sell and in justice courts the con-
fiicts OccaSiOnly became so heated
that personal violence was resOrted
to, and at one time an attorney now
living and practicing law, by forcibly
seating his adversary, became known
as the author of demOnstrative de-
murrer.
At that time candidates for ad-
mission to the bar were examined by
a committee Of three members of the
county bar where the application
was made, and Judging such eNam1na-
lions by the one made in my case,
[ should say they were simply
farce. in no way designed to deter
mine the fitness and qualification OF
the candidate. Such a superficial
examination permitted unsuitable
persons to become members Of the
bar. who have cast reprOach upon an
ancient and honorable profession.
The procedure adopted by the
rules of a court partakeS more or
less Of the characteristics Of the bar
adopting it, and hence it is, that
back at that time, some attorneys
examined witnesses, made objections
to the court and stated the grounds
Of those objections seated in their
chairs with feet elevated upon the
table in front Of them.
The address of counsel to the jury
was aften an appeal to their pre-
JUDGES and sympathies, and the
statement with such a purpose IN
view, quite frequently rested upon
no foundation supported by the evil
dence. Each court has it's own rules
of practice and procedure and no
county, | think, had the same. So
far as practice and procedure were
concerned, Vermont was in very lit
rIe better condition than France at
the time Napoleon caused to be
written his famous "Code Napoleon, -
the greatest achievement of his
meteoric reign.
Among the rules in nearly all, if
not all the counties of the State was
one which provided, that az cases,
with few exceptions, should be con-
tinued the first term after they were
entered in court. This rule was pro-
mulgated upon the theory that no
defendant should be dragged into
court" without ample opportunity
to prepare his defense.
COntinuances were easily obtain
able and many cases dragged along
in court for years, and deSpa1rlng
suitors sometimes sacrificed we'll
grounded causes to get out Of court.
The rustic and rugged character
of some of the bar made it necessary
and possible for the court to adopt
some of the methods of the old
school-master of those days, and be-
cause that course is not followed by
thn court at this time, some critics
point to that fact as evidence OF a
defect in our present procedure; but
those methods of the old schOOl-mas-
ter have been laid aside and with
them similar methods in the practice
of the courts, in the march of indie
pendent manhood and WOmanhOOd to
a higher plane of self-respect and
equality, where the courtesy due to
a gentleman must be respected
whether upon the bench or at the
bar.
The change in the bar and it's
practice and procedure within the
last forty years can only be under
stood by comparing the present with
that of forty years ago. To-day the
bar is largely made up of college
bred and we'll educated men whose
neld of information extends beyond
the bare subject of the law, and
enters into the activities and neces-
stiles Of every day life, and the rustic
struggles and discourteous conduct in
court during trials, have passed
away and been succeeded by that dig
nified and courteous demeanor that
everywhere marks the cultured
gentleman, leaving only here and
there an ancient landmark of wha
used to be as a dying echo of con
di ion now passed and gone.
Our rules of procedure and prac
tice to-day require the attorney tt
examine witnesses, make objections
to the grounds of his objections
make his offers and address tn
court standing within the bar, I'm
less for physical disabilities he
excused by the court, and banter an