Legal Reform

If you, follovv citizens, are but true to your.-elves, and to ihe best intSrests of the country, such reform may be had ín lhe judiciary as to do away with the present dclays, so vexatious to all partips, and with the enormous expenses, necessarily incident thereby, as to iiuike our courts what tliey should be, a simple place of arhitralion, for the settlemenl of such disputes as cannol he setlled by ihe parlies, ater thcy have hoth leen rigidly examined under oalh hefore a justice for that purpose. Such a tribuna] can only be obtained by the adnption of the following amendmentsto our present lavvs : lst. All terms of court should be abolished in the County Courts, where trials are to be held ; and every cause should be tried on the earliest day possiI)1p, consistent with the riglits and interests of bolh parties. 2d. The jurisdiction of the County Courts shouid be extended to the trial of all causes, civil and criminal, so as to avoid the delays and expenses of jury trials before the circuit courts, which should bebut nppellato courts forthesettlement of questions of law, erroneously decided in the County Courts. 3rd. The unmeaning and unneccssary distinction which exists between law and chancery, ought to be nbolished. No good reason has been offered or can be offered íbr ts continuance. Every cause should be tried, upon the law and facts existing in the particular case, and equilij Justice, meted out to every one alike, and not asit is now, giving equity Justice to one man, and law Justice to anolher, whh some hair breadlh distinctiuii in tho cases, which no man of common sense can discover ; and which too ofien, is only to be found in the technical brains of some would-be Iearned Judges or Chancellors. With these amendinents to our pi-esent system, few and simple as they are, our courts of Juslico wonld be what ihey are dcsigned for, and be in some Uegree ndapted to the simplicity of our republican ins'ilutions. In this way a jury trial would be, what it should be, arbitrators chosen by the parlies to settle theirdiflicullies, with a Judge to preside and keep order, and see ihnt unfairness was practised by eilher patty. Now, a tria! by Jury, ín many cases, is but a form. - The jury decide according to equily Jístice, and the courts overrule tand set it aside beoause t s not according to law