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compress into an oral argument. The argument would be considered by the whole court and the case investigated by every member thereof, the same afternoon it is made. The opinion would be scrutinized at leisure by every member of the bench and would be handed down within thirty days after the case was called. This means, however, that each judge must give to the court and to his colleagues his whole time. during "office hours," and consequently the continual presence of each justice at the court save during vacations.

This plan would enable the Supreme Court to prepare its opinions with such care that it would have no doubts of the soundness of the same. It would be economy of time in the long run. There is no reason why the clerk of the Supreme Court of Illinois should not be able to state, as did the clerk of the Court of Appeals of New York, and as could the clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, that not five rehearings have been granted in twenty years by his court.

In order to compare the work done by our court with that done by courts of last resort of the States wherein are located the large cities of the land, and find out if possible whether the same system as that now in force in Illinois produces the same results elsewhere, I some time since wrote to the clerks of the highest courts of such States for the desired information. Almost without exception they responded promptly and at great length, and gave me a complete insight into the way the work was carried on. In several instances the Chief Justice of the courts supplemented the information given by the clerk. From these sources I learn that the following number of opinions have been filed in the States named during the past year:

PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS.

These figures would seem to indicate that while our Supreme Court does its full share of work it does no more than the average amount of work.

I find, for instance, that the Supreme Court of the State of California is migratory like our own court, and so is the Supreme Court of the State of Massachusetts. The courts of the States of Missouri and Iowa were, a few years ago, the victims of the same methods. But these courts are by law now located at one point. On the contrary, the highest courts of New York, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota are and have for many years past been held at the State capitals. A word about these several courts:

CALIFORNIA.

The Supreme Court of California consists of a chief justice and six associates, and also five commissioners. It holds court in three separate districts, at the following terms, to-wit: At Los Angeles in April and October; at Sacramento in May and November; at San Francisco in January and July. The regular court divides itself into two departments-three judges to a department. A case appealed to that court is ready for hearing when a transcript of the record and appellant's points are filed: The clerk of the court, thirty days before the session of the court, makes up a calendar of all cases ready for hearing. These cases may be argued orally, but parties may stipulate for the court taking the case on briefs, whereupon the case will summarily be placed upon a special calendar, which may be taken up by the court at any time. Cases in which such stipulation is not filed are placed upon the regular calendar of the district of the court in which the case is assigned. No case can be heard in banc or by the full court save on application of a party and an order of allowance entered by the court, either before or after the department to which the case has been allotted has decided it.

To illustrate how the department system works: The January calendar of the San Francisco Division, which the

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clerk kindly forwarded to me, showed seven cases set down for hearing by the court in banc on the first day of the term, five cases set down in banc for the second day. Of these twelve cases most of them were criminal cases. Upon the conclusion of this call of two days the court adjourned for three weeks. Then each department called eight cases a day, allotted on said calendar to said department, calling Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of each week, until the calendar of 191 cases was called through. When the court was not engaged in the various districts the members thereof all assembled at San Francisco. After the calendar of cases to be heard in banc has been called through, all the judges look over each record and brief and decide the cases, and the chief justice. assigns the case to a judge to write an opinion. Causes heard. in the departments are apportioned by the presiding judge to the members of that department for an opinion. The other two judges of that department review the opinion and authorities before signing, but it is evident that but one man examines the record, to wit, the writer of the opinion.

The commissioners only examine the causes submitted no briefs, and after an opinion is written one of the departments reviews the authorities cited therein, and if the opinion is in line with the citation of authorities, it is signed by the judge of the department. It is obvious that in this class of cases the regular judges do not examine the cases at all. They simply review the opinion to see whether the man who wrote the opinion made the law conform to the cases he cited. But this, it will be seen, imposes quite a degree of additional labor on the judges of the Supreme Court.

The clerk writes me that the system is highly unsatisfactory and a movement is on foot to create an intermediate Appellate Court to take charge of the petty appeal litigation, and relieve. the Supreme Court from a considerable amount of the work it now does, and do away with the commissioners. He advises me that, including motions to dismiss, original proceed

PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS.

ings, etc., there have been about a thousand cases heard during the last year. Since January 1, 1895, 1,000 opinions have been filed. After they were filed petitions for rehearings were applied for in 237 cases, and thirty-five of such petitions were granted. In other words, the bar thought the court was wrong in twentythree per cent. of its opinions, and the court feared the bar might be right and the court wrong one out of seven times. As we have snown, such a system works the same way here. The clerk says that the court is badly overworked, and although under the law if the case is not decided by the court within ninety days after it is submitted, the members thereof shall not receive their salaries, yet the court is five months behind in cases submitted.

MISSOURI.

Up to 1875 the Supreme Court of Missouri met at three different places-St. Louis, St. Joseph and Jefferson City; but a constitutional amendment adopted in that year required the court to hold all its terms at Jefferson City. The St. Louis Court of Appeals, with jurisdiction over certain counties, was created at the same time. This court exercises a jurisdiction similar to that of our own Court of Appeals, save that the pecuniary limit was $2,500.

In 1884 an additional Court of Appeals was established at Kansas City, which exercised jurisdiction over the rest of the State that did not come within the jurisdiction of the St. Louis Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court is now divided into two divisionsDivision 1 is composed of four judges, and exercises jurisdiction in civil cases alone. Division 2 is composed of three judges, and has jurisdiction over all criminal cases as well as over civil cases. A dissent in either division to an opinion means a transfer of the case to the court in banc, upon the filing of a motion to that effect by the losing party.

There are two terms a year. They begin respectively on the second Tuesday of April and October. The April term

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lasts until about July 1st, when the court adjourns, while the October term usually continues until the April term. At the April term the court sets about 150 cases for argument and at the October term about 300 cases are set. But the call for the October term is divided so that half are heard in October and half in January. The call when made is continuous at the rate of ten cases a day. After the completion of the call the cases are assigned to the judges and taken to their several rooms, where opinions are prepared. Saturdays and Mondays of each week are devoted to consultations over the opinions that have been rendered during the preceding two weeks.

Motions for rehearings are filed in about one-third of the cases decided, and granted in about one per cent. of those filed. In 1885 the court was about 800 cases behind. Since the creation of the Court of Appeals it has received 4,211 new cases and decided 4,727 cases, so that it has pretty well disposed of its arrears. From January 1, 1895, to January 1, 1896, 477 cases were decided, and 421 cases received.

The improvements brought about by the consolidation of the court and the creation of Appellate Courts is quite marked.

IOWA.

Prior to 1886 the Supreme Court met at Des Moines and three other places, holding two terms at each place annually. Now the court meets at Des Moines, and holds a term in January, another one in May, and another one in October. There are six judges on the bench. The cases sub. mitted are assigned to these judges in rotation, and in disposing of the cases, the court divides itself into two sections, or committees, of three judges each. The judges of a section read the entire record and briefs of all cases wherein every judge in that section is to write an opinion. But this reading is done as follows: Upon the call of the term docket the judges separate, and go to their homes, and each begins.