OPINION OF WM. D. FENTON
On the Power of the Legislature to Increase the Number of Justices Constituting the Supreme Court of Oregon.[1]
Prepared January 13, 1899, and furnished at that date to Hon. Charles A. Cogswell, Chairman of the Committee on Legislation of the Oregon Bar Association, and Note added by Mr. Fenton December 18, 1909.
Portland, Oregon, January 13, 1899.
Hon. Charles A. Cogswell, Chairman Committee on Legislation, Oregon Bar Association.
My Dear Sir: The following table may show somewhat roughly the existing need 1 of some measure of relief of the Supreme Court:
States. No. of Justices. No. Vols. Reports. Population.
Alabama .... 5 116 1,513,017 Arkansas .... 5 63 1,128,179 California, 5 commissioners appointed by Supreme Court ...... 7 121 1,208,130 Delaware .... 5 17 168,493 Florida .... 5 35 391,422 Georgia 6 101 1,837,385 Idaho .... 8 84,385 Illinois .... 8 173 3,826,351
- ↑ The views expressed by Mr. Fenton were sustained by the Supreme Court in an opinion rendered by Mr. Justice McBride on December 21, 1909, in the case of the State of Oregon v. Sam. Cochran. In this opinion Mr. Justice McBride, sitting with his associates, Chief Justice Moore and Mr. Justice Eakin (the other two members of the Court, Mr. Justice King and Mr. Justice Slater not sitting), fully sustained the validity of the legislation increasing the number of Justices from three to five.
