South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1880.
In all probability the District Courts o£ New Zealand will soon follow the way of the moa. Their usefulness as civil or criminal tribunals lias never been generally recognised. As an institution they have led a dead and alive sort of existence. lictrcnclinicnt demands their extinction, and the Judicial Commission, if they perform the task allotted to them with the thoroughness that is anticipated, will recommend their immediate abolition. In the meantime with the view of paving the way for the executioner these Courts are undergoing a salutary reduction. It is understood that several District Court Judges will shortly follow the example of his Honor Judge Bathgate and retire from judicial life. The District Courts will be reduced to a mere skeleton of what they were three being retained in the North Island and two in the South, This will make the final stroke easy. The Government, however, need have no misgivings on this score. Outside of a
veiy limited circle the District Courts have very few friends. They have not been ornamental ; they have certainly rarely been useful ; and tliey have never been popular, Justice Williams, of Dunedin, expressed his mind freely nt Lawrence the other day respecting the confusion as regards jurisdiction which the District Courts arc liable to occasion. As a rule the District Court does nothing that could nut be done far better either by the lower Courts or in the Supreme Court. We believe they have been the means of doing a great deal of injury and injustice. They have been productive of unnecessary litigation, and under the appearance of cheapness, they have attracted the unwary sometimes to their ruin.
There is every liklihood that with the disappearance of the District Courts the Supreme Courts of the colony will be made more accessible. Law reform has often been alluded to by past administrations, but it has never, until now, been properly approached. In the interests of the legal profession, as well as in the interests of the public, it has become desirable that the cost of law proceedings in the chief tribunals should be reduced to reasonable limits. The Government has apparently resolved that the golden key which lias hitheito unlocked the gates of Justice to a privileged few, shall be exchanged for something much cheaper. The task of
popularising the (Supremo Courts ami enabling poor as well as wealthy to seek redress for substantial wrong without undergoing the risk of pecuniary ruin from the process, is a task which the present administration is peculiarly litted to accomplish. In this work of law reform, the Government is, we think, entitled to the sympathy and concurrence of bench, bar, and people.
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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2346, 23 September 1880, Page 2
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452South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1880. South Canterbury Times, Issue 2346, 23 September 1880, Page 2
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