Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 May 1879 — THE SUPREME COURT. [ARTICLE]

THE SUPREME COURT.

Three Years Behind in Its Business—A Review of the Work Done. A review of the business transacted by the Supreme Court of the United States during the term just ended, says a Washington correspondent, shows that the court considered since last October 293 cases, in addition to twenty-nine passed and continued and six ordered for reargument. One hundred and seventy-six of the cases brought before it were argued orally and 117 submitted upon printed briefs. The number of cases finally disposed of, including those brought over pending decision from the previous term, is 379. In 201 of these cases the decisions of the lower courts were affirmed, and seventy-nine i eversed, the remainder having been docketed and dismissed or settled by agreement between the contending parties. It thus appears that two cases out of every five actually decided have resulted in the reversal of the judgments of the courts below. The number of cases on the docket has been steadily increasing every year since 1840, until it has reached, including the cases considered this term, 1,250. The court is now more than three years behind in its business, but it is hoped that the operations of the new law limiting appeals to cases involving $2,500 or more, instead of SI,OOO, as heretofore, will relieve the hard-worked Justices to some extent, and enable them to keep up with the constantly-accumulating appeals. An analysis of the docket for the present term shows that, of the 1,250 cases decided and pending, one-half, come from the five States of New York,’ Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, and Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and Court of Claims. New York heads the list with 146 cases, followed by Illinois with 86; the District of Columbia, 80 ; Louisiana, 78; Missouri, 73; Pennsylvania, 56, and the Court of Claims, 53. Every Slate and Territory in the Union is represented by- at least one case with the exception of Delaware. An examination into the personality of the litigants shows that in twentyone of the 379 cases- disposed of this term the United States was a party, and that 183 involved railroads, States, municipalities and other corporations, leaving only 105 cases in which the contending parties were private individuals. Among the salient features of the business of the term is a large number of municipal-bond cases considered and decided. Twenty-four cities, counties, and towns seeking to avoid the payment of obligations have brought their cases by appeal to this court of last resort. In twenty-three instances out of twenty-four the court has held that the bonds must be paid. Of these twentyfour cases, all but four came from Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, lowa, and Louisiana. A comparison of the work accomplished this term with that of the last shows a decrease of thirty-two in the number of cases finally cleared from the docket. The number of opinions delivered, however, is about the same. The court is now seventy-two cases further behind in its work than it was at the close of the October term of 1877.