Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-05
NEW COURT SYSTEM
SPEEDS UP WORK;
JUSTICES PLEASED
500 More Motions Handled
and Nearly 1000 Cases
Are Tried.
JUDGE BAILEY SAYS
METHOD SAVES TIME
Plan Derives It's Effectiveness
From Placing Preliminaries in
Charge of One Man.

AAe N1eVeldnQ system Tor eXpedit-
Ing court work has been In operation
Tor 10 weeks in the District Supreme
Court and has met with the approval
OF the justices and Of the lawyers en-
gagged in court practice. More than 500
motions were disposed Of and nearly
twice the number of cases tried.
One OF the outstanding features of
the system is the assigning of one Of
Justices to the disposition of all pre-
hm1nary motions instead of dividing
them among the justices assigned to
tne law and equity divisions. Hereto
lore the justices sat only four days in
the week for the trial Of cases and de-
yoteo each Friday to hearing motions.
Onoer the new system motions are
heard five days In the week and the
lawyers know just what time their mo-
tons are to be heard.
justice Jennings Bailey has been act
ing as motions justice throughout the
10 weeks that the system has been in
operation. Asked for his views of the
new practice the justice declared that
ne was Skeptical of the practicabilitv
OF the method when it was adopted,
Dut Is now converted to it, The system
works excellently, he said. for a Court
OF nine or more justices and disposeS
OF many preliminary matters, while per-
m1ttlng the trial justices to devote the
entire week to trials.
Advantages Cited.
ut is really big Job" said the ms
tlce, and keeps one man busy through
OUT the day. Morning sessions are held
in court and the afternoons are occ1,-
pied In reading the cited cases and
reaching decisions. It is surprising how
many points arise in these hearings for
Jurisdiction" -'
Justice Bailey pointed out that the
court, realizing the volume of business
before the motions justice, has reached
Lne decision to divide the next court
year INTO three terms for that position.
Chief Justice Alfred A. Wheat win take
over the motions court in October and
VIII preside there until the Christmas
nonoays. Beginning with January an
otner justice Will be assigned, who will
mold motions court until the Easter
recess: A third justice will then take
over the duties until the end Of the
court year.
500 Motions Handled.
During the past 10 weeks Justice
BAILEY has disposed Of sos motions.
Ihey covered questions Of law, equity.
PROBATE, bankruptcy and habeas corpus
proceedings. No figures are available
OF the number Of cases disposed of since
the adoption of the Cleveland system
because ASSIGNMENT Commissioner
Frederick c. O'Connell has not yet com.
pleted his report. 1t is generally &C
cepted that nearly twice as many cases
were heard as under the old system, as
sometimes as many as four justices
were named to hear law trials. The
equity courts got damned" by a num-
Der OF long-drawn-out hearings and did
not make the showings that the law
courts did.
O'Connen expressed the opinion that,
with the beginning Of the Fall term in
October, the new system will be working
In good shape.
More Gases Disposed.
The addition of two justices to the
Court of Appeals, although late in the
term, aided in the disposition of 80
more cases in that tribunal for the
court year than in the preceding year.
With five justices presiding next year.
great inroads into the docket are ex-
pected. During the fiscal year ending
a. being criminal and $50 civil cases.
On July /, 1880, there were pending
224 appeals, Z of them being criminal.
During the past fiscal year 244 new
appeals were filed, OF which "a were
criminal. The court disposed Of %
criminal appeals and 260 civil cases.
leaving a docket of 1856 cases, as COM
pared with July /, 1880, when there
were pending 224 appeals.
OF the 282 cases disposed of during
the past court year 81 were reversed,
being a percentage Of "a, as compared
with the preceding year, when only As
casese were reversed out of total Of
252 cases heard, being only 10 per cent.