DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9551#0051
activity of a public officer may accomplish, even in so
extensive a district as Hooghley,I may mention that there,
under Mr. D. C. Smith, every case is decided in the course
■of four, five or six months. In the courts of appeal the
causes pending are very numerous. Conscientious and
active as Mr. Smith is, he is often obliged, from the
pressure of business, judicial and magisterial, to authorise
his native judicial officers to take the depositions of
witnesses in the civil suits.
50. Q. Could the number of appeal cases be reduced
■zvithout any disadvantage?
A. Yes, certainly not only without disadvantage but
with great positive advantage. 1st, By introducing a more
regular system of filing papers and bringing on causes,
as above suggested, in answer to Q. 48. 2nd, By the aid
•of a jury and joint native judge, as proposed in reply to
Q- 3°- 3rcb By allowing of no appeal unless when there
is a difference of opinion in the zillah or city court in
giving sentence, as noticed in reply to the Query 36. By
these means the business would be at once conducted
with more dispatch, and with more accuracy ; so many
litigious suits would not occur; and there would be very
little need of appeals to revise the decisions.
51. Q. Has the right of appeal to the King in Coun-
cil proved beneficial or otherwise ?
A. Owing to the vast distance, the heavy expense, and
the very great delay which an appeal to England neces-
sarily involves, owing also to the inaccuracies in the
translations of the papers prepared after decision and sent
to this country, and to other causes, I think the right of
appeal to the king in council is a great source of evil and
must continue to be so, unless a specific court of appeal
extensive a district as Hooghley,I may mention that there,
under Mr. D. C. Smith, every case is decided in the course
■of four, five or six months. In the courts of appeal the
causes pending are very numerous. Conscientious and
active as Mr. Smith is, he is often obliged, from the
pressure of business, judicial and magisterial, to authorise
his native judicial officers to take the depositions of
witnesses in the civil suits.
50. Q. Could the number of appeal cases be reduced
■zvithout any disadvantage?
A. Yes, certainly not only without disadvantage but
with great positive advantage. 1st, By introducing a more
regular system of filing papers and bringing on causes,
as above suggested, in answer to Q. 48. 2nd, By the aid
•of a jury and joint native judge, as proposed in reply to
Q- 3°- 3rcb By allowing of no appeal unless when there
is a difference of opinion in the zillah or city court in
giving sentence, as noticed in reply to the Query 36. By
these means the business would be at once conducted
with more dispatch, and with more accuracy ; so many
litigious suits would not occur; and there would be very
little need of appeals to revise the decisions.
51. Q. Has the right of appeal to the King in Coun-
cil proved beneficial or otherwise ?
A. Owing to the vast distance, the heavy expense, and
the very great delay which an appeal to England neces-
sarily involves, owing also to the inaccuracies in the
translations of the papers prepared after decision and sent
to this country, and to other causes, I think the right of
appeal to the king in council is a great source of evil and
must continue to be so, unless a specific court of appeal