but good; it enables the wise few to superintend the actions of the unwise many, and it subjects the "tyrant majority," as ever should be the case, to the will of the favored minority. As the Conqueror of Sindh often said, "When noses are counted, the many are those without brains."
The bad working of a divided executive is as nothing compared with the troubles occasioned by the opposition judiciaries, federal and territorial.
An act (19th of Jan., 1855) provides that a Supreme Court of the United States be held annually on the first Monday in January, at Fillmore City; each session to be kept open at least one day, and no session to be legal except on adjournment in the regular term. Another act (4th of Feb., 1852) directed that the District Courts, now three in number, shall exercise original jurisdiction both in civil and criminal cases when not otherwise provided by law, and also have a general supervision over all inferior courts, to prevent and correct abuses where no other remedy is provided. The above are officered by the federal government.
Section 23d of the same act provides for a Judge of Probate—of course a Mormon—elected by the joint vote of the Legislative Assembly and commissioned by the governor. His tenure of office is four years, and he holds regular sessions on the second Mondays of March, June, September, and December of each year. The Probate Court, besides the duties which its name suggests, has the administration of estates, and the guardianship of minors, idiots, and insane persons; with these its proper offices, however, it combines power to exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, regulated only by appeal under certain conditions to the District Courts. Of late the anomaly has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court.[1] Inferior to the Probate Court, and subject to its revision, are the Justices of the Peace, the Municipal Court, and
- ↑ The Court held, First. That the 9th section of the Organic Act vested all judicial power in the Supreme, District, and Probate Courts, and in Justices of the Peace.
Second. That the only restriction placed upon these courts was as to Justices of the Peace, refusing them jurisdiction to try any case involving the title or boundary to land, or any suit where the claim or demand exceeded one hundred dollars.
Third. That by virtue of that clause of the Organic Act which provides that "the jurisdiction of the several courts therein provided for," including the Probate Courts, "shall be as limited by law," that the Legislature had the right to provide by law for the exercise by the Probate Courts of jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases.
Fourth. That as the Organic Act conferred common law and chancery jurisdiction upon the Supreme and District Courts respectively, that this jurisdiction belonged to these courts exclusively, and that the Probate Courts were confined to the jurisdiction conferred by statute, and such jurisdiction might be exercised concurrently with the District Courts to the extent provided by statute.
Fifth. That as the Legislature had passed a law conferring upon the Probate Courts concurrent jurisdiction with the District Courts to hear and determine civil as well as criminal cases within their respective counties, and had provided the manner in which this jurisdiction should be exercised, that the trial, conviction, and sentence of the prisoner were valid and binding in law until reversed by an appellate court.
Although Judge Shaver, one of the best of jurists, tacitly acknowledged the jurisdiction of Probate Courts, Judge Kinney is the first who has dared assert his decision judicially.
