Reforms Needed in Virginia to Lessen Delay and Cost of Litigation ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT SAMUEL GRIFFIN. Soon after the General Assembly met at its last session, a farmer of Bedford published a communication in one of the county papers, in which he claimed that the first duty of that body was to find relief to the people from the burdensome tax imposed by the delays and costs of trials in courts of justice. In this he was but giving utterance to a public demand. Whatever the cause may be, there can be no truthful denial of the fact that in this State, as elsewhere, there is much dissatisfaction with both law-making and law-administration. Whether it is baseless or well-founded, it has had a steady growth until now it has developed such strength as to compel serious thought. It may be true, as asserted by some, that it is no new thing— having always prevailed to some extent. Not until the present time, however, has the discontent become so widespread and impatient as to arouse grave apprehension in the minds of the most prudent, and today remedies are proposed and insisted upon, of a radical, if not revolutionary, character. In the early history of Virginia when the old county courts were the pride of the people, this criticism is said to have been rarely made. This may have been due, in part at least, to the composition of the courts. They consisted, as you know, of magistrates from all parts of the county, elected by popular vote. The people looked upon it as their court, created not only for them, but of them, and while it is no doubt true that the wisdom of its decisions was sometimes questioned, its absolute good faith in aiming to advance the public good was never doubted. The habit of fault-finding is unfortunately too common, but we are not so apt to find fault with ourselves and our own creations; and therefore, the nearness of the tribunal to the people may bring immunity from censure. |