The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-02-27
A Timely Editorial
Congress and the Courts
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Popular dissatisfaction with our
courts is widespread. Judges and
lawyers are as dissatisfied as lay
men are. The layman, bewildered
at the intricate procedure and maze
of technicality by which litigation
is spun out interminably and JUS
tice is SO frequently delayed that it
is in effect denied, blames the
judge. That judgment is wrong.
1t is not the judge who is at fault;
nor is it the lawyer. Congress is
responsible, and the remedy must
come from congress. The press,
however, must do its part.
This is the conclusion of an inter-
esting paper on "The Press and the
Administration of Justice by
Thomas w. Shelton, chairman of the
American Bar associations commit
tee on uniform judicial procedure.
In his discussion Mr.. Shelton re-
views the history of English juris-
prudence, the present simplicity and
efficiency of which are in striking
contrast to the complicated ii fl
cheney of our system. But it was
not always thus in England. AS
long as court practice was regulated
by parliament the English litigant
was as badly off as the American
litigant now is. 1t was only when
parliament quit trying to regulate
the courts by statutes and turned the
matter of regulation over to the
Judges and the legal profession that
English justice was unfettered and
empowered to function.
In the United States our courts
must be liberated from the regula-
tions of congress if justice is to OPP
crate competently, Mr.. Stone insists.
A move to that end has been made.
A resolution, recommended by Chief
Justice Taft, has been adopted by
the American Bar association and
embodied in bills introduced ini the
senate and house. The proposed
statute provides for the erection of
a commission, to be appointed by the
president, composed of six judges,
two of whom shall be justices of the
supreme court, and three lawyers
of distinction, which shall
prepare and recommend to con-
gress any necessary amend
ments to the present statutes
and the judicial code, tending TO
the simplification OF the system
of pleading, practice and proce-
dure to be used in all actions, mo-
tons and proceedings at law or
in equity and in bankruptcy or
whatever nature, by the circuit
court of appeals and the district
courts of the United States and
the courts of the District Of Co.
lumbia, so as to promote the
speedy termination Of litigation
on the merits, and a unit admin
istration of law and equity in one
form of civil action.
In his paper Mr.. Shelton directs
attention to the fact that the Eng
fish system of simplified court prac-
tice was originally an American
idea. The trainers of our constitu-
ton feared the inroads of congress
upon the judiciary and methods to
protect the courts from such inva-
sion were debated. The necessary
protection was not devised and the
results apprehended have come
about. 1t is imperative now that
congress and the state legislatures
do what the British parliament did
in 1873, namely, take their hands
off the courts and let the judges
and legal profession determine the
rules of practice and procedure SO
that lawsuits will cease to be battles
of wits and the first and sole con-
sideration of litigation in the United
States shall be the doing of justice.