In accordance with the provisions of chapter 244 of the General Acts of 1924 we have the honor to transmit the following report of the Judicial Council. WILLIAM CALEB LORING. WILLIAM M. PREST. FRANK A. MILLIKEN. ADDISON L. GREEN. ROBERT G. DODGE. FREDERICK W. MANSFIELD. FRANK W. GRINNELL. District Court Judges sitting in the Superior Court Election of Jury Trial in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston and Judicial Notice of the Law of Other States and Countries Report of Robert G. Dodge, Esq., on Certain Features of English Practice An Appraisal of English Procedure, by Professor Edson R. Sunderland Chief Justice Bond's Account of the Maryland Practice of Trying Criminal Cases at the Election of the Accused by Judges without Juries Letter of Chief Clerk of State's Attorney in Baltimore The Opinion of the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut in State v. Rankin, decided February 23, 1925, illustrating the Connecticut Practice as to Election of Trial in Criminal Cases by the Court or Reprint of Tabulated Returns of the Business of the Superior Court made under G. L., c. 221, § 4, St. 1924, c. 131, to the Secretary of the Commonwealth for the Year ending June 30, 1924. Analytical Tables based on these Returns, showing Comparative Increase Statistical Table of the Business of District Courts of Massachusetts for An Act to Further the Prompt Administration of the Criminal Law An Act to Provide for Election of Jury Trial in Criminal Cases in the Mu- nicipal Court of the City of Boston and for Review of Sentences An Act concerning the Admission of Facts and Documents in Civil Cases An Act to Regulate Practice as to Exceptions in Suits in Equity GENERAL ACTS OF 1924, CHAPTER 244. AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JUDICIAL COUNCIL TO MAKE A CONTINUOUS STUDY OF THE ORGANIZATION, PROCEDURE AND PRACTICE OF THE COURTS. Be it enacted, etc., as follows: Chapter two hundred and twenty-one of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section thirty-four, under the heading "Judicial Council", the following three new sections: Section 34A. There shall be a judicial council for the continuous study of the organization, rules and methods of procedure and practice of the judicial system of the commonwealth, the work accomplished, and the results produced by that system and its various parts. Said council shall be composed of the chief justice of the supreme judicial court or some other justice or former justice of that court appointed from time to time by him; the chief justice of the superior court or some other justice or former justice of that court appointed from time to time by him; the judge of the land court or some other judge or former judge of that court appointed from time to time by him; one judge of a probate court in the commonwealth and one justice of a district court in the commonwealth and not more than four members of the bar all to be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the executive council. The appointments by the governor shall be for such periods, not exceeding four years, as he shall determine. Section 34B. The judicial council shall report annually on or before December first to the governor upon the work of the various branches of the judicial system. Said council may also from time to time submit for the consideration of the justices of the various courts such suggestions in regard to rules of practice and procedure as it may deem advisable. Section 34C. No member of said council shall receive any compensation for his services, but said council and the several members thereof shall be allowed from the state treasury out of any appropriation made for the purpose such expenses for clerical and other services, travel and incidentals as the governor and council shall approve. |