be further amended as to carry out Mr. Hayes' idea and not lose sight of the recommendation of our Committee, which is, that no legislation shall be fostered by this Association that shall counteract the good effects that have already been introduced in the First Department by these much more elaborate schedules which have been devised. and are actually in operation in the First Department. The bill as now suggested by Mr. Hayes is not so specific in its requirements as these present schedules that have been worked out after a year of very hard and careful consideration of the actual problems in the Courts from the standpoint of the Judges and clerks themselves, and I should like to so amend the resolution as to empower the Committee to remodel this bill so as to make available the schedules in the First Department, and as so remodeled to favor its passage by the Legislature. A. T. Clearwater, of Kingston: J. Noble Hayes, of New York: I want to say this to Mr. Boston, that there is nothing in this bill that would interfere in any way with the Judges making any reports, or requiring any reports in regard to specific statements of their work. This is a direction to the County Clerks to report to the Secretary of State. At the time this bill was drawn, we had a plan for a most elaborate and specific direction to the County Clerk, but it was thought better to put in a section which should provide that the Appellate Division may make such rules in keeping the judicial statistics of the State as may to them seem necessary to carry this provision into effect and that would be better and more elastic and flexible than to attempt to fix by statutory rule exactly what they should do. A. T. Clearwater, of Kingston: Before there is any conflict here over so important a matter as this, whatever is done or whatever is advocated, should be without dissent of any character and the action of the Association and its endorsement should be of the most harmonious sort. In order that all shades of opinion. as well as all practical experience should be united in the one body, I will make still another addendum to my amendment, and that is, that Mr. Hayes be added to this Committee having this matter in charge. That will make it entirely comprehensive and they can discuss it. The President: The motion now is in its final form, that Mr. Hayes be added to this Committee on Judicial Statistics, that the Committee be continued with the recommendation which you have heard stated which is in substance to present specific legislation along the lines suggested in the report provided it be in harmony with the action already taken in the First District. Everett P. Wheeler, of New York: May I remind the Chair that part of the motion was that the President and Secretary of the Association be added? The President: I didn't assume to state it in full. Mr. Wheeler: We all would feel it would be very unfortunate if that should be omitted. The President: That was part of the motion; in re-stating it I did not assume to incorporate every detail that our stenographer has. Those in favor of this resolution will say aye. The resolution was duly adopted. The following is a copy of the report of the Committee on Judicial Statistics : REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL To the New York State Bar Association: This Committee was appointed pursuant to a resolution. adopted at the annual meeting of 1912, as follows: Resolved, That a special committee of five be appointed by the President to inquire and report at the next meeting of the Association: I. What Terms of Court have been during the five years last past appointed to be held by each Justice of the Supreme Court. 2. How many days during each year each Justice has in fact held Court. 3. The number of contested cases tried with a jury and the number of contested cases tried without a jury by each Justice. 4. The periods of time consumed in the trial of those criminal cases, the trials of which have occupied more than one week and the general character of the case the trial of which was so extended. 5. The periods of time consumed in the trial of those civil cases, the trials of which have occupied more than one week and the general character of the case the trial of which was so extended. 6. The period of time which ordinarily elapses in each county after a case is at issue before it is brought to trial, distinguishing between cases tried with and those without a jury. 7. The amount of appeal work done by each Justice of the Supreme Court and the department of the Court in which it was done. 8. The percentage of reversals in the respective judicial departments. The Committee promptly organized, and Harry M. Ingram, one of its members, was chosen as Secretary, and Mr. Ingram has personally endeavored to secure the necessary information. We annex hereto a copy of a communication which was prepared by the Committee and sent to each County Clerk and each Justice of the Supreme Court in the State. The Secretary of the Committee undertook to gather such information as possible in answer to subdivision 8 of the Resolution instituting the Committee. We have, however, been utterly unable to secure from the entire State trustworthy information, owing to our almost complete dependence upon the courtesy of the County Clerks and the Justices of the Supreme Court, and our failure to receive complete or uniform replies. It was impossible for us, with the resources at our command, to make an independent collection of the statistics necessary to answer these many questions. In so far as we were able to secure the active co-operation of County Clerks and of the Justices themselves we collected data. Reports, however, were received from only thirtyone out of sixty-one counties, and while some of these appear to be complete answers to the questions submitted by us, in many instances they are fragmentary and incomplete. A tabulation of a judge's court work must embrace all of the counties in his judicial district. As the reports have come in to our Secretary up to the time of the preparation of this report in advance of the meeting, there are counties in every judicial district, except the ninth, from which we have received no reports. The reports which we have received from the various counties can be combined to a certain extent, but some Clerks have answered certain of the questions, which others have left blank, and any attempt on our part to compile the information so received would necessarily produce an inaccurate and misleading result. We therefore regard it as wholly unwise to attempt to present any sort of a tabulation of these incomplete figures to the Association. They are not complete for any Justice and any table which might be prepared from them would be justly the subject of criticism. We have consequently concluded not to attempt to present such an incomplete and misleading tabulation. We are impressed that our necessary failure to secure the information desired by the Association is due to the lack of adequate laws in the State for the collection and preservation of judicial statistics. We are advised that careful provision is made in England for the preservation of judicial statistics, and that laws exist in some of the States of a similar nature. It has, however, been impossible for us to collect these laws for presentation to the Association since it became apparent that the information which would be forwarded to us would be as incomplete as it has proven. We have endeavored to procure for transmission to the Association a copy of the forms used in England for the uniform collection of the data for judicial statistics; though it has not been received at the time of preparing this report. Having, in the course of our inquiry gathered the following information which will be of interest to members of the Association, we deem it proper to incorporate it into this report. |