Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 August 1910 — THE WORK OF THE SUPREME COURT. [ARTICLE]

THE WORK OF THE SUPREME COURT.

A statement has been issued which seems to show that the supreme court of to-dav is hardly as industrious as it was twenty years ago. During the four and a half years between January, 1889, and June, 1893, tihere were 2,075 cases decided by' the court. In those days the judges wrote out their opinions in long hand. During 1 half of this time there was no appellate court in existence. In the last four arid a *half years the court decided 799 cases. Though the judges have had the help of stenographers and the assistance ot tflte appellate court, which is sup-

posed to reduce the number of 1,276 cases less than were decided by its predecessor in the same length of time. The old court decided 460 cases a year, which was an average of ninetytwo for each judge. The present appeals, the present court decided court proceeds at the rate 0f’177 cases a year which is an average of thirty-five for each judge. The average annual appropriation in the older day was $26.161, each case tihus costing 557. The average annual appropriation for the last four years and a half was 840,750, which means that each case cost $229. It is hard to tihink of any explanation that will consist with the theory that the court has been as industrious, comparatively speaking, as it ought to have been. We are spending 814,000 more for 799 decisions than we paid for 2,075, spending 514,000 more and getting 283 fewer cases decided each year. No. doubt it will be said that we ought to think of tihe number of pages rather than of the number of opinions in each reix>rt. But what if these longer opinions are tihie result of prolixity, of an extreme devotion to technicalities, and of the habit of discussing learnedly points that have been decided over and over again? There is no reason to believe that the cases decided now are any more important than) tihiose decided twenty years ago. Both court> handled important questions. There certainly has been no difference in this regard that would begin to explain the great falling off in the number of decided cases. It may. of course, be claimed that tihe earlier judges worked" too rapidly, and gave too little attention. But we doubt whether there has lieem any considerable improvement in the character or weight of the opinion.-. Ttße earlier court was certainly no bad court. If its work was at all respectable it should have made the work of the later judges easier. For many of the questions presented to it, especially those involving practice, must already have been decided. If so there could have been no need to write elaborate opinions. One is almost driven to tih'e conclusion that much time has been wasted on points that were well settled, and that there have been too many “thereby,” “if any,” and ‘proximate cause” decisions. The judges of 1889 were not trying to make a record for speed—probably no sudb thought was in their minds. They simply did their work from day to day, and we see the result.

If there is the same industry that there used to be one can only infer that mudb' of it is wasted, much of it fruitless of any result that is at all worth while. The contrast between the two records is certainly startling. Many will wonder whether we get any better work for 8229 a case till an we did for 857 a caseC If we do, the taxpayers" will be glad to have the superiority pointed out to them. Then they will be able to decide whether, if it exists, it is great enough to compensate for tih'e greatly higher cost. —Indianapolis News.