Connecticut western news., 1921-01-06
RELIEVE CONGESTION
 IN COUNTY COURT
J. C. Roraback One of Committee on Legis-
 Iation

For the first time in a great many years, an additional session of the superior court for Litchfield county will be held and has been ordered by 1 Chief Justice George w. Wheeler. It will begin at Winsted on January n and this session will be solely for the trial of civil cases to the court with out jury. The presiding judge will be Judge Haines. An additional session for jury trials of civil nature has also been designated to begin OF March 1 at Winsted and at this Judge Avery will preside.
 These additional sessions have been called by the chief justice at the request of William M. Foord, of the law firm of Lancaster & Foord. of Litchfeld, to meet the congested condition of the civil docket of this county.
 Since October, 1919, there have been practically no civil cases tried in this county, as so much time has been taken with the transaction of criminal trials, and in this county both civil and criminal terms are held together and presided over by the same judge. The criminal cases have succeeding in crowding out all other business. Many of these crim- inal cases have been hard fought on both sides and have taken a number of weeks. For example, the state against Tierney, which was tried during the October term at Winsted, occupied five weeks of the courts time and in addition to this were other criminal cases.
 While the congested conditions in this county have been a source of great vexation to both attorneys ana their clients, it is not alone confined to Litchfeld County but is quite gen. eral throughout the state. There have been recent instances where even criminal cases could not be held and in some, the accused have made application to the United States court for a writ of habeas corpus in order to get themselves out of jan while their cases were pending.
 Much of the troublesome situation in Litchfeld County k due to tha AA- tiqutaed arrangement of the terms of court, These are prescribed by the general assembly and have mol been changed for more than 7e years, although the county has greatly increased in population and meanwhile litigation and criminal offenses have increased with the growth. Under the present law there is no session of the superior court in September, January or March and the severity of last win ter made it impossible for witnesses or counsel to get to court many times when the court was in session At the present time there are about 236 civil cases awaiting trial in Litchfield superior court. Of these, practically 20 per cent. were pending in June 1919. There have, of course, been some civil trials held since that time but these were an for uncontested matters. Eighty -four such cases were heard and of these Fl were divorces, the rest being foreclosures, changes of name, etc.
 In response to Attorney Foord,s requets for the special session, Jus tice Wheeler has replied; "The bar can help amazingly by preparing their cases we'll and by not over cross-examining or re-directing. I trust that by spring the congestion will be pretty much flattenei out"
 While the special sessions win very much aid litigants to have their complaints determined, it will nor afford a permanent relief for the situation. The County Bar Associa- tion has already recognized that fact and at it's annual meeting voted to request the general assembly to separate the criminal from the civil business. The association ap- pointed L. J. Nickerson of West Cornwall, William M. Foord of Litch- field, J. Clinton Roraback of Canaan and H. Roger Jones of New Hart ford as a committee to draft legis- lation which will bring about this separation. The committee will ap- pear before the general assembly, and ask that these changes be made, and in addition, that the court be held during the months when there is now no session.-Torrington Reg ister.