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JUSTICE AND THE POOR*

HE bulletin of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, entitled "Justice and the Poor," contains much valuable information, but its publication has evoked public criticisms of the administration of justice which are unfortunate, particularly in this period of unrest, because they have not been confined to the facts covered by the bulletin or justified by its contents. Many newspaper comments have been obviously written by persons who had never read the bulletin. Its author, however, is not free from some blame for this, for some of his generalizations have been made for rhetorical effect and his special instances have sometimes been injudiciously selected.

This method of treating the subject has stimulated sensational and injurious comment upon certain portions of the bulletin which might have been omitted without affecting the value of the investigation or the force of the author's recommendations. The effect of the bulletin has been especially unfortunate in this State, and particularly in this city, where the conditions are admittedly good. William McAdoo, the Chief City Magistrate, writes me as follows:

"This report has been used for purposes far from the intention of its author. Radical publications and

* An Analysis of the Report (Bulletin Number Thirteen) of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Reprinted from the New York Times of January 4, 1920.

speakers have given it a wide circulation. They emphasize their point of view that there is no justice for the poor in New York City. It is too bad that such an erroneous and false impression should have found lodgment in the public mind."

MINOR TRIBUNALS IN CITIES

The bulletin is devoted almost exclusively to conditions in the minor tribunals in the large cities which deal with small claims and other matters affecting the poorer classes. It shows that, in spite of difficulties which could not be overcome at once, there has been in the last quarter of a century most encouraging progress toward equality of justice for all classes in the community. With the crowding of the population, particularly through the immense immigration of recent years, the minor courts in some localities have failed at times to give satisfactory results. But this is accounted for in large part by what is described in the bulletin as being "the tremendous changes which have taken place in every phase of the nation's life."

The

The fundamental principles of our jurisprudence, embodied in our substantive law, afford no ground for complaint. They are described in the bulletin as being "democratic to the core," and rights are conferred and liabilities "imposed without respect to persons." system deserves "to be recognized as a remarkably satisfactory human achievement," although its perfection has not served to render its administration free from "grave defects." These, under the rapid development of our national life in the last quarter of a century, have crept in and at times have caused a "wide disparity between the ability of the richer and poorer classes to util

ize the machinery of the law," causing "unrest and dissatisfaction."

But the defects have not been to any great extent the result of neglect of legislatures to pass adequate laws, or of bias or favor of the courts, or of corruption. Nor are they accounted for by any neglect or deficiency of the bar as a class. On the contrary, they have been produced by causes largely traceable to the rapid increase of the population in the larger cities. Before the inferior courts had been able adequately to cope with conditions thus produced, and before lawyers and others interested in civic problems presented by the enormous increase in our urban population had been aroused to the need for remedial measures, conditions arose which demanded a reform. But the bulletin clearly shows that the progress toward such a reform is a most creditable tribute to the genius of the American people for correcting the deficiencies of their governmental institutions.

IMPROVED CONDITIONS

The conditions which have worked to the disadvantage of the poor are delay and expense, the latter including court costs and lawyers' fees. A "high percentage of the total" of the legal difficulties encountered by the poor in the administration of justice relate to (1) claims for wages, (2) domestic matters, (3) personal injuries, and (4) small debts and claims such as those for rent, groceries, and loans, and those arising out of chattel mortgages and assignments of wages.

In respect of all these matters much progress has been made in recent years toward eliminating both delay and excessive cost. This has been accomplished through the instrumentality of small claims courts, conciliation

courts, and conciliation in general, arbitration by courts and other instrumentalities, domestic relations courts, administrative tribunals and officials, defenders in criminal cases, and legal aid organizations. The following is a summary of what has been done through these agencies in ameliorating the situation:

(1) Small claims courts have been established in a number of cities. They are conducted without lawyers, and claims have been adjudicated promptly and at nominal expense. Thus, for instance, in the words of the bulletin, the New York Municipal Court, "with its 1917 rules for conciliation and arbitration," has "substantially established a small claims court," and "there is every reason to predict that the immediate future will see small claims courts established in all the other cities of the United States. If this comes about, it will mean an enormous step forward toward freedom and equality of justice."

(2) Conciliation has been introduced through the instrumentalities of the minor courts. Furthermore, "there is a growing disposition on the part of our organized city courts to assist in the movement to put into practical operation more extensively the process of arbitration."

(3) Domestic relations courts have been established dealing with difficulties between husband and wife, between parent and child, illegitimacy, juvenile and contributory delinquency, guardianship, custody and adoption. By the modern courts of this character it is said in the bulletin that "delays and court costs do not operate to defeat justice. These courts, likewise, squarely meet the third and greater difficulty of the attorney's expense, and reduce it to a minimum by the double pro

cess of eliminating the attorney's function so far as it is dispensable, and, as to the rest, of supplying the attorney or some one to perform his functions." The elimination of the attorney in most cases results from the employment of the probation staff attached to the court. The conclusion of the bulletin is that:

"It is readily apparent that the domestic relations courts, as to the large majority of cases within their jurisdiction, secure freedom and equality of justice to a degree hitherto never attained. There is a margin where, owing to the complexity of the issues or the difficulty of legal points involved, the services of an attorney will be required, but such cases are the minority. This type of court is now clearly established, and will undoubtedly in a short time extend itself into every large city. It almost completely solves the problem of denial of justice in cases of desertion, abandonment, nonsupport, and also of illegitimacy, where such cases are within its jurisdiction.

But we

"For the greater part, divorce, separate maintenance, and questions of custody remain unaffected. have seen the steady drift toward incorporating these matters within the jurisdiction of the domestic relations courts, and further, the tendency of such courts, whereever they have acquired civil jurisdiction, to apply to the civil matters the same processes as those originally developed through the summary criminal remedies. This movement is only at its inception, but signs of its development are clear."

The prediction is made by the author of the bulletin that "the territorial expansion of domestic relations courts will be rapid," although the increase in the jurisdiction of each court to include all domestic disputes and all proceedings relating thereto will probably be slow. (4) The establishment of administrative tribunals

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