The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1915-08-05
More Judges.

New Orleans Times Picayune.j
Whenever board or committee or COM
mission is called on to look into our iudici-
airy it always suggests the same remedies
more judges at higher salaries. Matters of
procedure are deemed of little moment. If
justice is slow, it can be expedited only by
more judges; if it is uncertain, the remedy
lies in paying higher salaries and getting
ADLER lawyers on the bench.
This has been SO uniformly the case in
past reports that all expected the first de-
mand of the 'sprobers" to be more judges,
in spite of the fact that Louisiana grinds
them out in greater quantity and faster
than any other State of the same size. The
constitution, knowing the tendency of leg
islators to create more judgeships, which
the same Legislators usually seize at the
first opportunity, prohibited the General
Assembly from creating more of these posi-
tons or raising judicial salaries. Notwith-
standing this prohibition, the last session
alone turned out, in log-rolling amend
ment and despite the adverse vote of the
parishes, four new judgeships were manu-
featured. The good work thus keeps stead
lily on.
In the first draft of its report the ssProbe
Commission" showed itself more liberal
than the Legislature. 1t proposed to in
crease the civil division of the Supreme
Court from five to seven and to estab lish in
addition, to handle the criminal cases now
coming before that court, a Court of Grim
inal Appeals, of three members, making a
total of ten justices to do the work now
done by five; and it proposed to increase
salaries some % per cent, although on this
point, there was difference of opinion and
two of the members wanted to reduce SAL
aries. In regard to the District Courts, it
was proposed to have two judges in each
district, whereas now some twenty four OF
the districts or five sixths of all, manage
to get along very we'll with only one judge,
and he is not overworked. This first draft,
however, has been withdrawn for recon
sideration and the proposed Court of Grim
inal Appeals has been dropped.
| We do not believe that the people and
the tax payers will welcome this program
which provides many more places on the
bench. AS we have before noted, Louisiana
has one of the most extensively operated
judicial systems in the South. They have
been getting along with three justices oil
the Supreme Court in Mississippi and four
10 South Carolina, whereas the probers al
first wanted ten for Louisiana.
AS for District Courts, not to mention
Courts of Appeal, We have in Louisiana
from three to five times as many, on the
basis Of population or wealth, as any other
State of the South. Justice costs us pc,
capita two or three times as much as il
costs the other States of this section. MOI
have we found that it is higher in quality
because of the creation of more judicia
offices and the spending of more money
When the Constitutional Convention takes
up the judiciary problems, we hope, in spite
of the large number of lawyers it seems
likely to contain, that it will go to the study
of the question from a different point oil
view than other Louisiana bodies have
done-conventions, commissions and leg.
islatures-that it will profit by the expert.
ence Of our neighboring States and not try
to cure existing judicial evils Or faults by
multiplying the number of judgeships. Il
is evident from our experience that this
method does not set matters straight OF
Improve justice, in spite of the belief o.
many that more judges and more highly
paid judges are the panacea for all court ills