Initial messages of Governor W. P. Hobby to the thirty-sixth legislature, state of Texas: Jan. 14, 1919 and Jan. 22, 1919. Page: 29 of 32
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GOVERNOR'S MESSAGES.
29
such a system as has been adopted
by California and other States to extend
credit for agricultural purposes
and to acquire land for cultivation
and occupancy. It will be a forward
step towards putting an end to land
monopoly and bringing about its
ownership in small instead of large
tracts.
Such a measure would possess an
added degree of usefulness to our
citizenship at this particular ~time
when our victorious boys in khaki
are returning to us, ready to beat
their swords into plowshares. It
would extend to these young men,
many of whom come from'the farms
and ranches of Texas, where the
fountain of service flows from a
spring of patriotism, the same principle
of encouragement which the
pioneers of Texas adopted with respect
to actual settlement upon the.
public lands on long time terms and
at a low rate of interest. Such an
amendmnenit will afford the opportunity
to perform a real service for
the farmers of Texas, give new impetus
to agricultural developmen't,
remove the burden of rent paying,
and make homes for the homeless
and farms for the farmless a reality.
I wish to direct your attention to
the necessity of making provision for
the,. permanent' relief, of the Judicial
department, of the State government.'
The evils gro(wing out of our.
judicial system as at present constituted
are numerous and very graye.
Among the more important-of these
evis. are the'following:.
1. The conflicting opinions of our
two courts of last resort, the Supreme
Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals..These
two courts are supposed
to be concerned with entirely different
matters, the one: having jurisdiction
over civil matters and the other
over criminal matters. But experience
has shown that it is easily possible
for the constitutionality of a
statute to be brought before the Supreme
Court in a civil. action and the
constitutionality of the same statute
to.come before the Court of Criminal
Appeals in a criminal-action. If the
two, courts ,could always agree in
their construction of the, statute, this
conflict of jurisdiction would be a
matter of small concern. But unfortunately
the courts sometimes disagree,
and we are placed in the very
emparrassing situation of having a
statute ;that is wholly valid in theeyes of one court and at'the same
time wholly void in the eyes of another
court whose decisions 'areequally
binding on the citizen and the
inferior courts and officers of the
law.
Instances of conflict 'in decisions
will readily come'to mind. 'Such a
con'dition arose when the Supreme
'Court upheld the original commission
charter for the city of Galveston,
while the Court of Criminal Appeals,
in a criminal case'coming up from
Galveston, held the tharter void and
of no effect. A m:ore'iecent case was
that of the local option'pool hall law,
which was held to be Voi'd br the' Supreme
Court and valid by the'"Coutt'
of Criminal Appeals until a chiange in
the personnel of', the latter ': court
brought a change in its' opinion :on:
this question. .
It is not
my purpose here to criti-'
cise any person connected' with the
courts or departments 'mlentioned.
My only object ts to'point out:the absurd
situation 'to which .our. presentdouble-headed
system has-brought us,
and. to show,the imperative necessity
of' creating a
single court of last re-:
sort, whose. decisions cannot
be questioned-..
-
*
r '
;'Another very-grfave -evil in; oir. present
judicial system is tihe long delays
in' reacling -a final decision ,in cases
coming before -the courts.. In
some
cases; these delays are eo long'. that
.the original litigants and the lawyers
are all dead before the' matter is
finally adjudicated., Such delays are,
to a large extent, a substantial' denial
of justice, and at that same time they
entail a very heavy expense. on the
litigant and the-general public.
The overcrowded 'condition of the
Supreme Court docket -is :due to the
fact thatt it is impossible for ..three
nlen -to -handle the vast -volume of
business :now coming before. that
court. As a result we find that the
court, in spite of the earnest and
diligent efforts of 'its members,. is
now from three to five years behind
with its-work. To remedy this situation
the Thirty-fifth
Legislature
adopted two measures. calculated to
bring temporary relief to the court,
One of these -measures: provided a
commission composed of three judges
selected from the Court of Civil Appeals,whose
business it should be to
pass on application for writ of error.
The other provided a Commission of
Appeals of six judges, sitting in two
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Hobby, W. P. Initial messages of Governor W. P. Hobby to the thirty-sixth legislature, state of Texas: Jan. 14, 1919 and Jan. 22, 1919., book, 1919; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5863/m1/29/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .