WOULD IMPROVE COURT IN IDAHO
Bar Committee Suggests Appointment of Judges
for Long Terms.
By Associated Press.
BOISE, Idaho, July 24.—Idaho's
judicial system can be vastly improved without radical changes in
law, the judicial committee of the
Idaho State Bar association stated
in its annual report made public
today.
The committee—Frank Wyman,
Karl Paine and O. O. Haga, all of
Boise—was appointed last year to
report to the 1920 convention on
"Should our judicial system be
modified as follows:
Name for Long Terms.
"First, a unified court for the
entire state, with sufficient number
of judges to man both supreme and
district courts, with chief justice
selected for executive as well as
judicial ability, who should assign
judges to different courts as indicated by necessity and by their
fitness.
"Second, appointment, instead of
election, of all judges for long
tenures, perhaps 20 years.
"Third, a considerable increase in
salary to all judges in the unified
court, the salary to be uniform, say
$8000."
The necessary changes, the committee believed, could be, effected
without great changes in the state
law. As to a need for the changes,
the committee stated:
"Undoubtedly the unification of
the courts under some well considered plan would result in greater
efficiency. The present system is
admittedly lacking, particularly in
so far as trial courts are concerned,
and it must tend to become more
inefficient as the number of trial
judges is increased to meet seriously
overcrowded calendars."
On the general question, the committee advised permitting a plan
to be perfected through trial elsewhere. "The evils complained of,"
the committee concluded, "are of
such nature in Idaho as not to require so radical a remedy."