Section III THE JUDICIARY The Judiciary THE STATE OF THE JUDICIARY BY ALAN V. SOKOLOW* HE COURTS, like all government insti­ tutions, are continually seeking to CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE Tmodernise their administrative ACTIONS structures and practices in order to best The voters in Alabama, South Caro: cope with the demands of a fast and ever- lina. South Dakota, Kansas, and Wyo­ changing society. Since 1971, significant ming supported constitutional amend­ changes have taken place influencing ments to revamp their court systems. court structure and procedure as a result Alabama—The new judicial article in of the passage of either new constitutional Alabama establishes a "unified" court sys-. articles or substantive legislation in Ala­ tem consisting of a supreme court, a court bama, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Soiith of criminal appyeals, a court of civil ap­ Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and peals, trial courts of general jurisdiction Wyoming. These actions will be high­ (circuit courts), trial courts of limited lighted. jurisdiction (district courts), probate Further, there will be a discussion of courts, and such municipal courts (the two reports issued by the National Ad­ municipalities havie the option of retain­ visory Commission on Criminal Justice ing municipal courts with the one caveat Standards and Goals, and the American that municipal judges must b(? lawyers) Bar Association's Commission on the as may be provided by law. Standards of Judicial Administration. The district court system will be estab­ The emphasis of both reports was the set­ lished by the Legislature after four years. ting of general guidelines for improving The Legislature will decide on the juris­ the functioning of the courts at all levels. diction of the district courts, the subject Also included will be a brief overview matter they will hear, and the geographic of a developing trend to remove certain location of the courts. kinds of cases from the courts so they The article seeks to assure siystemwide might be handled in other ways and by uniformity through the rules of pleading, other agencies. practice, and procedure on the basis of The final section of this survey will re­ both the rule-making power vested in the view the latest developments in respect to supreme court and the uniform jurisdic­ the establishment of offices of state court tion within the trial courts. administrator, judicial salary increases, The Chief Justice is designated as the and developments at the National Center administra:tive head of the judiciaL sys­ for State Courts and the Institute of Ju­ tem, including the power to assign judges dicial Administration. as needed. Although the supreme court' It is not the purpose of this review to be is required to make and promulgate rules exhaustive of actions being taken in the which will govern administration of all courts throughout the Nation, but rather courts, those rules cannot "abridge, en­ to highlight the more significant occur­ large or modify the substantive right of rences in the past two years. any party nor effect the jurisdiction of circuit and district courts or venue of ac­ *Mr. Sokolow is Director of the Eastern office tions therein." of the Council of State Governments. A five-merriber Judicial Compensation 115 116 THE BOOK OF THE STATES Commission will be established to recom­ sion to implement a judicial merit selec­ mend salary and expense allowances to be tion program, a niandatory retirement paid all judges of the State except those age of 70 for judges, a judicial discipline of probate and municipal courts. and removal commission, and an increase The new article also creates a Judicial in the number of supreme court justices Inquiry Commission to conduct investi­ from four to five. gations and receive or initiate complaints In respect to the selection process, the against any judge, and a Court of the Ju­ nominating commission will tender three diciary to hear complaints and decide the nominees to the Governor for each va­ case on the merits. Presently, a Judicial cancy. The person chosen must stand for Commission of Alabama exists with au­ office one year after the appointment and thority to both investigate complaints as then again upon the expiration of the well as adjudicate them. term on a nonpartisan basis. South Carolina—The new judicial ar­ Kansas—The major developments in ticle in South Carolina creates a unified Kansas related to the creation of a unified court system comprised of a supreme court system and the establishment of a court, circuit courts of general jurisdic­ judicial discipline commission. tion, and such other courts as may be In respect to the former, the court sys­ necessary. As far as the latter is concerned, tem will be composed of the supreme the establishment of such courts will be by court and several district courts, with all legislative enactment. other courts to be determined by the Leg­ To deal more effectively with the ad­ islature as the need arises. Parentheti­ ministration of the courts, the supreme cally, an additional power given to the court can utilize both its broad rule­ Legislature is the ability to increase the making authority as well as appoint a number of supreme court justices if the state court administrator. In addition, the workload should demand such an action. Legislature may establish additional cir­ The article now allows for removal or cuits and increase the number of judges retirement of- justices of the supreme in a circuit in' response to workload de­ court, after an appropriate hearing and mands. One further and significant fea­ certification by the supreme court nomi­ ture of the new judicial article is that it nating commission, by means other than does not contain provisions regarding impeachment. The grounds for removal special, minor or county courts. or retirement can now be for incapacity South Dakota—In South Dakota, sev­ or cause. eral constitutional amendments were Virginia—The 1973 Virginia- General adopted. The salient ones establish a Assembly enacted legislation which will unified court system to be financed solely significantly revamp the structure and op­ by the State. The Chief Justice is given eration of its courts. broad rule-making and administrative The number of judicial courts of record powers, including the assignment of judi­ was reduced from 40 to 30 by means ofan- cial personnel on the basis of need. stituting a 30-circuit court system. Various Not only does the article eliminate con­ courts of record were combined while current jurisdictional boundaries be­ numerous city and corporation courts tween courts but it also empowers the were eliminated. To assure better admin­ Legislature to create courts of limited istration for the new circuit court ar­ jurisdiction whenever necessary. rangement, the chief judge of each circuit Furthermore, the new article requires would be responsible for administering the Legislature to establish a judicial his division. qualifications commission to investigate There also was a streamlining of the complaints and conduct hearings in re­ district court structure—the former courts gard to the removal, retirement, disquali­ not of record were replaced by a 31-dis- fication, or censure of a justice or judge. trict court system. The key reason for this Wyoming—The judicial article sup­ change was to abolish courts of limited ported by Wyoming voters provides for jurisdiction in towns and cities and to creation of a judicial nominating commis­ eliminate the position of part-time judge. THE JUDICIARY 117 As of January I, 1974, the present court system structure and procedure, justice-of-the-peace system was replaced are: (1) judges should be selected on the by one of magistrates. Not only will the basis of merit and vacancies be filled from existing fee system be eliminated, but the lists presented by a highly qualified judi­ magistrates, who will have comparable cial nominating commission; (2) judges powers to the justices-of-the-peace, will be should be adequately compensated in salaried state employees. salaries and retirement benefits (possibly The court administrator's staff was en­ equivalent to the federal judiciary); (3) larged from three to 11 members to han­ judges should be subject to discipline or dle its broadened scope of responsibility, removal for permanent physical or men­ including the payroll for the newly cre­ tal disability as well as cause—a judicial ated court system. conduct commission should be estab­ Finally, the Chief Justice of the Su­ lished to initiate and conduct investiga­ preme Court is now designated as the tions; (4) a comprehensive continuing ju­ statutory and constitutional head of the dicial education program should be Virginia system. instituted both for new and more senior Georgm—Georgia voters ratified a con­ staff; (5) the state court system should be stitutional amendment establishing a unified—there should be a single trial seven-member Judicial Qualifications court with both criminal and civil juris­ Commission to investigate and review the dictions; (6) the state court system should removal, discipline, or involuntary retire­ be financed by the state; (7) traffic viola­ ment of justices or judges of state courts. tion cases, except serious moving viola­ O^/ier^—States taking similar actions in tions, should be made infractions subject regard to judicial discipline were Iowa, to administrative disposition rather than Minnesota, and North Carolina. In the jury trial; (8) every State should establish case of North Carolina, however,