Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 17.pdf/328

 The Green Bag PUBLISHED MONTHLY AT $4.00 PER ANNUM. SINGLE NUMBERS 50 CENTS. Communications in regard to the contents of the Magazine should be addressed to the Editor, S. R. WRIGHTINGTON, 31 State Street, Boston, Mass. The Editor will be glad to receive contributions of articles of moderate length upon subjects of in terest to the profession; also anything in the way of legal antiquities or curiosities, facetice, anecdotes, etc.

BY the recent public discussion in Chicago of the causes of and remedies for the extreme congestion of business in its trial courts, com ing at a time when the Bar of Colorado had been devoting much time to the problem of remedying the arrears of business in their Appellate Courts, and when Rhode Island was revising its entire judicial system, and Balti more was experimenting with new methods designed to avoid the difficulties experienced by Chicago, and Boston was again compelled to face the problem of increased court facili ties, public attention has been brought more widely and forcibly than for many years to the ever old and ever new problem of the "Law's delay." In view of all this public interest and the necessity which it imposes upon lawyers everywhere to form an intelli gent opinion upon the subject — since the remedy, if remedy there be, must ultimately be found by the lawyers themselves — it has seemed that it might be not without interest to our readers to have a comprehensive dis cussion of the subject from different points of view, and to this purpose we have devoted the whole of our present issue. Recently a commission in New York studied the local problem with special reference to improved conditions elsewhere. The publication of the results of their researches called to our atten tion the surprising fact that England, the his toric home of legal delay, had been quietly mending its procedure during recent years until it had attained a celerity with which, in this country, there seemed little to compare. We, therefore, requested a description of the English methods from R. Newton Crane, Esq., and submitted proofs of his article to eminent judges and lawyers throughout the country, requesting an expression of their opinions

upon the applicability of English methods to local conditions and also their suggestions upon the general subject. As might be ex pected, in many instances our efforts to obtain such contributions were unavailing. Press ure of other business and, perhaps, fear of the consequences of hasty expression of opinion deterred many. We have been favored, how ever, with contributions from different parts of our country by men whose standing in the profession gives weight to their word upon any discussion of its problems, and on behalf of our readers we wish to take this opportunity of thanking them for their kindness in taking time from their practice, often at great per sonal inconvenience, to assist in forming an opinion upon this very important subject. Although it seems unnecessary to give any extended account of the experience and ability of these men, some of the names of our con tributors may be unfamiliar to some of our readers, and for their benefit we will pursue the custom adopted in previous numbers of a brief editorial note. Mr. Fiero, Mr. Russell, and Mr. Hayes are among the leading trial lawyers of New York. Mr. Fiero is dean of the Albany Law School and chairman of the committee on law reform of the New York State Bar Association. He took an active part in the investigation of this subject by a New York Commission ten years ago. Mr. Hayes was counsel for the Commis sion of 1903, whose report is above referred to. Mr. Miller, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Westenhaver, and Mr. Gibbes are eminent trial lawyersof Chicago, Denver, Cleveland, and Columbia respectively. Mr. Rogers was selected to deliver the address for the Bar at the installation of the new Supreme Court Judges of Colorado, from which the contribution we publish is an extract. Mr. Elder is one of the leading jury lawyers of Boston, and his time is constantly spent in the trial of cases. He was one of a com mittee of the Bar selected by the late Chief Justice of the Superior Court to advise with the judges regarding methods of expediting