1867 and after 185

been since about 1700 an accumulated excess of
appellate cases awaiting the chance that the court
might reach them before those interested died.
At the opening of the June term, 1864, there were
two hundred and forty cases on the docket, and
although a judge had been added to the court in
that year, and an increased effort thenceforth
made, the April term of 1867, during which the
next constitutional convention met, had opened
with a docket of one hundred and eighty-seven
cases. And in a comparison with dockets of the
present time, it must be remembered that in 1867
a maximum time of two hours was allowed for
the argument of each counsel, and a single case
could and commonly did consume more than one
day of a session. One hundred and eighty-seven
cases, all argued, might consume fifty weeks or
more. The framers of the new constitution
meant that the existing accumulation of cases
should be disposed of forthwith, and that the old
practice of passing over portions of dockets un-
heard should stop; and this purpose they made
manifest in their provision of eight judges to do
the work, and in the added provision that these
judges should sit at least ten months in the year,
if necessary, to dispose of the business. And the
judges did regularly, each year for many years,
sit, not ten, but nine months of almost uninter-
rupted sessions. From the beginning of the
October term each year they sat six hours a day
on five days a week until some time in the follow-
ing July, with the exception of a short recess for
Christmas, and one for a large part of the month
of March. Just when the accumulation was over-