Court Opinion

ID: 9675818
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:06:38.702235+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:39.931998
License: Public Domain

David Newbern, concurring. The result reached by the Court’s opinion is correct, and I join it without reservation. I cannot let the case go by, however, without expressing again my concern about the need for revision of Article 7 of the Constitution of Arkansas. The original scheme of Article 7 was for the circuit courts to have general jurisdiction except in probate matters, and the circuit judges were to be the judges of the probate courts as well. Section 11 provides, “The circuit court shall have jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases the exclusive jurisdiction of which may not be vested in some other court provided for by this Constitution.” Section 15 provides, “Until the General Assembly shall deem it expedient to establish courts of chancery the circuit court shall have jurisdiction in matters of equity. . . .” Prior to Amendment 24, Section 34 provided for probate jurisdiction in the county courts. Amendment 24 placed it with the court exercising equity jurisdiction. If chancery courts had not been created, the circuit judges would have had jurisdiction of all civil matters except the minor ones assigned to the lower courts and probate courts. The circuit judges would, however, have presided over the probate courts. Had the chancery courts not been created by the General Assembly, the judges of the Twentieth District would presumably all be circuit judges, able to preside as their exchange agreement proposes. Now that we have all these courts, there is no doubt that Article 7 contemplates them as being separate from each other. Given the separation of the courts, operation of one judge in another’s bailiwick requires “exchange.” Section 22 makes it clear that the judges of the circuit courts may only exchange circuits “temporarily,” and yet the plan and agreement among the Twentieth District judges makes eminently good sense. No one could doubt the efficiency to be achieved. The fact that the General Assembly has already given one of the responsibilities as both a chancellor and circuit judge is indicative that the duties can be combined, at least to that extent. The citizens of this State should be given an opportunity to revise Article 7. See Griffin v. State, 297 Ark. 208 at 217, 760 S.W.2d 852 at 857 (1988) (Newbern, J., dissenting). See also Arkansas State Medical Board v. Leipzig, 299 Ark. 71 at 74, 770 S.W.2d 661 at 663 (1989) (Newbern, J., dissenting); Malakul v. Altech Arkansas, Inc., 298 Ark. 246 at 253, 766 S.W.2d 433 at 437 (1989).