our system, which so much required alteration
and amendment One prominent reason why
complaint is not so loud upon this subject, as
upon some others is, that the injuries felt are not
occasioned, by those who are members of the
court, at the time the loss is felt. The authors
of the mischief have passed away and then es-
cape censure. An erroneous proceeding of the
Orphan's Court generally affects the interests of
minors. It often does not become the subject
of investigation in a court of law, until some ten
to twenty years have elapsed, when these persons
have become adult, and when frequently, the ori-
ginal debtors have died. or ceased to be respon-
sible, leaving innocent sureties to pay the forfeit
of a misplaced confidence in the accuracy and
intelligence of the tribunal. Those whose con-
duct has produced the mischief are no longer
before the community. They have been succeed-
ed by others, who have now the same confidence
which their predecessors in their day were suppo-
sed entitled to, though perhaps, some ten to
twenty years hence, the same errors will be
found to have heel. committed by them, and the
same ruinous consequences found to result from
them It is said, that a smaller number of cases
taken from the Orphan's Courts to the Court of
Appeals have been reversed, in proportion to the
whole number, than of cases taken from the law
courts. I have never made an estimate or known
one to be made. But it is easily accounted for,
by a very slight attention to the mode of proceed-
ing in two cases. In a court of law, exceptions
are taken, at all stages of the trial, and on each
particular point as it arises. In some cases there
are twenty different points presented, upon the
character of the pleas, the admissibility of evi-
dence, and its effect; upon each of which, the
Court of Appeals is to pass judgment. The court
below, may have decided nineteen of these points
correctly, and the Court of Appeals may affirm
their decision on these nineteen questions; yet if
they differ from the inferior court, in one single
point, the judgment is reversed, and thus twenty
of these case would be charged, simply as rever-
sed cases, and as such produced to prove the
frequent errors of the law courts, when in fact,
to consider the matter according to the truth of
it these reversed cases alone would prove the
court below to be right nineteen times in twenty,
The courts of law are thus very unfairly dealt by,
from the want of accurate information Per-
sons form their opinions merely from seeing, in
the published proceedings of the Court of Ap-
peals, that a judgment was reversed, and have
no other idea but that it is owing to unmixed er-
ror in the inferior Court.
Now, in the Orphans court a totally different
mode of proceeding is observed. A case is made
by libel and answer, in which no technical pru-
ali y is requisite, depositions are taken in writing,
and a general judgment is rendered, and made
the subject of appeal. It more resembles the
case of a general verdict of the jury. If the
general conclusion meets the approval of the
Court of Appeals, they affirm the judgment, al-
though that conclusion may be reached by a pro- |
cess quite unlike that pursued by the Orphans
Court, and whether reversed or affirmed, it is
generally by a direct action upon the conclusions
of the court, and not upon the particular items
occurring in the progress of the cause. But it is
worthy of the strictest notice, that it is not by di-
rect appeals from the Orphans Court to the Court
of Appeals, that these errors are detected and
exposed. As I before stated, after the lapse of
many years, and the change of persons who are
responsible and liable, when minors have become
adults, investigations are pursued. This is done
by suits on testamentary bonds, administration
bonds, and guardians' bonds, in the progress of
which, the transactions of the Orphans Courts
are brought into review, and errors detected
which had escaped observation for many years,
and the late discovery of which, frequently in-
volves the sudden and unexpected ruin of estates
of deceased sureties, and the consequent im-
poverishment of their children.
My plan is, to make the Register the Judge,
in all the formal and less intricate or difficult
matters, reserving such portion of the business of
these courts as require high legal attainment for
the action of the circuit judge. The register is,
or ought to he, an intelligent man, and by exclu-
sively devoting himself to the duties of his office,
will soon acquire a competent knowledge of them
to qualify him for all the current and ordinary
buriness now acted upon by the court. The dif-
ficulty which seems to some gentlemen so very
formidable, will by this means be avoided. There
will be no necessity to employ a lawyer for mat-
ters of common occcurrence. The register of
wills is the same sort of man as the present judge
of the Orphans Court, quite as acceptable and as
little likely to create alarm amongst suitors.
Of course, according to the temper of the
times, be is to be elected by the people, and being
a people's man. any of the people having business
to transact with him, can appear without the ne-
cessity of taking a member of the bar to aid
them. It is to be expected, when a controversy
exists, and the law judge has to act, there will
generally be a propriety in employing counsel.
But that is the case now, and will be under any
system, so long as men continue to consult their
personal and pecuniary interests, rather than
gratify a very expensive prejudice. It will also
be the least costly system we can adopt, it dis-
penses with the present judges of the Orphans
Courts. The register of wills is an officer that
does now, and must continue to exist, and your
judge of the court of law is to have no additional
compensation, so that the economy of the plan is
obvious. If the Convention shall approve the
scheme in its general features, it will of course
be proper to provide in detail for the respective
duties of the register and the judge.
The PRESIDENT was of the opinion that the
amendment was not pertinent to the proposition
under consideration. .
Mr. CHAMBERS. I understand the proposition
now is, that there shall be one judge of the Or-
phans court. I propose to say that that judge
shall be the circuit judge for that district. |
