Year: 1879

against restoring the omnibus clause to the di-

 vorce law. E>

 The proposal to pay state attorneys salaries in place of fees strikes usfavorably The only objection is the removal of an inducement to 1 expedite business 7S'7 ''"'

 Committee work is said to be well ahead and there is now prospect of a close of the leg islative session somewhat earlier than had been anticipated The most important measures yet to be acted upon are woman suffrage, rail- road fares the state prison and capitol investi- gations, and the New Haven harbor bill.

 The Syntax Committee, as the Courant terms il, has greatly improved the wording of acts pas sed at the present session, thinks that paper Some delays have already occurred, however, and more are probable. Still the work accom- plished will be worth all the trouble and delay the expressing ot bills under the new plan may involve. It will save the courts a world of trouble to correct in advance the mere blun- ders of legislation

 The House, last week, took the opening steps towards constitutional amendment giv- the appointment of judges to the governor by the passage of resolutions to that affect which will come up for final legislative action before the next General Assembly. We have so often given our views against judicial ap- pointments by the legislature that we will not repeat them at this time. We believe that the proposed reform is of even greater practical importance than that which will be submitted te the people this fall, extending the terms of Superior and Supreme court judges till they reach the age of seventy-fve

 The passage of the civil procedure bill by It brought out the lawyers of that body in un- usual force; and they were quite equally d- vided, both in numbers and ability It was the 'laity' that gave the bill it's overwhelming approval. Anything that promises relief from the technicalities of the law is sure of popular support. Our one notion is that both sides will be in measure disappointed Such at least has been the experience of other States who long ago tried this experiment. We do not imagine that the practice of the law will ever be made so simple that men can success fully prosecute or defend their own cases Technicalities are to a certain extent unavoid- able, and difficulties will certainly occur in applying the best system of law practice to hQ ioH uphi oh o1y oip der it. Still we believe that the new form of civil procedure will be productive of much more good than evil in the end. Lawyers, especially old ones, are often unwilling to give up system they know to be narrow, techni- cal, and unjust in it's practical workings, for any better plan, simply because they are fla miliar with the old system but must learn the new one. If another generation should de- mand further Improvements, there will be the same grumbling about changing what is now decried as rash and unnecessary innovation.

 The appointment of Francis A. Walker as railroad commissioner is one of the best acts of the exceptionally good administration of State affairs, by Gov. Andrews. Gen. Walker is not only the right man for the place, but it is an unsought, bipartisan nomination, made in spite of those personal and partisan inf1uen- ces which are always brought to bear upon the appointing power by the party machine which in these days claims control of that power. In this action the Governor has the full support of the more liberal papers, under the lead of the Courant On the other hands machine delegations of politicians from New Haven, have sought to defeat the nomination in the Senate by claiming rigid construction of the statute requiring the appointment of ''goed, practical business man" to fill the existing va- cancy The Courant sums up Gen. Walkers qualifications as follows: he is one of the most accomplished statisticans in the country, he is an authority on questions of tariff and finance besides being professor of political economy (the science of business) at Yale Col lege; he was the best superintendent of the census we have ever had, and he was also the chief of the Centennial bureau of awards. To hold that, in addition, he should also have kept a corner grocery, would as the Courant we'll says, have been sticking to the letter rather than to the spirit of the law. On mature con- sideration of the matter the nomination was confirmed by unanimous vote of the Senate, as it so we'll deserved.

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