The Supreme Court of Georgia.

occasion (if apology be needed) for the ap pearance of his picture among the illustra tions of this article. The influence of the two facts upon the judicature of the State is this. The simpli fication of procedure, secured by the Act of 1799, was doubtless one of the causes which explains the long satisfaction of the people of the State with the administration of the

law by the Superior Courts; for it was not until 1845 that the Su preme Court was or ganized, though it was authorized by a consti tutional amendment in 1835. The influence of the Code has been seen in the decisions of the court. A large body of legal princi ples is set tied,— form ulated in definite shape. A Georgia court need only cite a section of the Code in cases where a judge in another fo rum would devote sev eral pages to the expo sition of the doctrine involved, and reference to authorities support ing the proposition. THOMAS R. Doubtless this has di minished the value of Georgia adjudications in other jurisdictions; but it has made the decisions shorter, and has enabled three judges, without committing more than gradual suicide, to keep up term by term with an enormous docket of about six hundred cases per annum. EARLY JUDICIAL HISTORY. A few words are proper in relation to the judicial system of the State prior to the or ganization of the Supreme Court. The State was divided into circuits (six in number, after wards increased to ten), and law and equity

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was administered by the Superior Courts, presided over by one judge. Fortunately, some of the ablest men in the State held these offices; among others, William H. Crawford, once a cabinet officer and for midable candidate for President; Augustin S. Clayton, afterwards United States Sen ator; Augustus B. Longstreet, author of the "Georgia Scenes; " Walter T. Colquitt, equally eminent inlaw, politics, and religion, who would argue a case, make a political speech, and preach a sermon all in the same day; John McPherson Berrien, afterwards At torney-General under President Jackson; Robert M. Charlton, afterwards in the United States Senate; and L. Q C Lamar, the father of the present Justice Lamar of the Supreme Court of the United States. There are no records of the decisions of these courts, except in the Eastern Circuit, from which various deci sions made between R. COBB 1805 and 1811 were reported by T. U. P. Charlton, and from 18 11 to 1837 by R. M. Charlton. To avoid variance between the rulings in different circuits, the judges of the Superior Courts in 1830 "resolved to hold a convention semi-annually for the purpose of advising with each other and discussing freely and fully all questions of a doubtful or com plex character, which might arise before each in their respective circuits, and thereby en able each judge to decide such question in the light of the united wisdom of the whole Georgia bench." This was a sort of General Term convened by the voluntary act of the