Tuesday, 4th November 1913: Municipal Court Positions Sought By Over 1,000 Men, The Atlanta Constitution

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From left to right, Luther Rosser, Jr., T. A.

Hathcock, Eugene D. Thomas, J. B. Ridley, and L. F. McClelland.

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The five judges of the new municipal court will receive their commissions from

Governor Slaton on his return to the city Friday. So soon as they are

officially confirmed in their positions they will hold a meeting, and before the

week is out will probably name the chief marshal, chief clerk and the four

deputy marshals of the new division in Fulton countys judiciary. The four

deputy clerks who are also allowed the new court will be named later by the

chief clerk.

The

chief marshal of the new court will receive a yearly salary of $1, 800. His

four deputies will receive $1,500 each. The chief clerk of the court will

receive $2, 400. His deputies will also receive $1,500 each.

The

scramble for the offices left in the new court reached a terrific pitch Monday

when the new judges were in receipt of over 1,000 applications from persons in

the county seeking the lucrative berths to be filled. As yet no inkling of the

successful appointees has become public.

Three Urged for Place.

Eugene

D. Thomas, L. F. McClelland and J. B. Ridley are being urged for the place of

chief justice, which pays $3,6000, while the associate judges receive $3,000

each.

The

establishment of the new court, contrary to general belief, becomes a fact at

once. The chief marshal, who will probably be announced during the present

week, and the chief justice of the court will at once secure rooms in some

downtown building in which to conduct business until the new quarters on the

seventh floor of the new courthouse are ready for occupancy.

The

court proper will take up sittings on January first. The justices will hold

individual court, having more power than the present justice of peace courts.

The new court can try cases which involve any sum from $500 down, while the old

justice courts could only try cases of from $100 down.

The

new court will be conducted along lines similar in nearly all details to the

superior court of the county. It will cost a litigant a few of $2 to begin suit

in the new court, the same as the superior court. The new court will also

facilitate the work of the superior court, as appeals can eb taken from the new

court directly to the court of appeals. The justices have heretofore had to

appeal their cases to the superior court, and from there to the court of

appeals.

Appeal Provided For.

In

case an attorney wishes to take an appeal from one of the judges of the new

court, a retrial, if granted, can be had before three of the new court judges

sitting in bank. If an appeal from the three judges is desired the case then

goes directly to the court of appeals, relieving the superior court of

numberless minor cases which have no place in its records.

The

new court will also be conducted by the jury system. The jurors who serve in

the court will be paid at the rate of $2 per day, the same as superior court

jurors. The new courts jury will be composed of five members.

While

none of the judges of the new court will be quoted Monday, it was learned

Monday that they do not fear the reported attack to be made on their court by

the combined justices of peace in Fulton county.

Much

confusion has resulted from conflicting reports as to just what the new court

will mean the absolute abolishment of the justice courts of Fulton county; it

will mean a great cutting down of extra fees which in the past have reaped the

harvest for justice courts in the community, and it will mean a direct method

of relieving the work of the superior court, which during the past three years,

has all but been swamped under its heavy work.

Two

of ten judges and the chief judges are commissioned by the governor for four

years, and the other two for two years.