History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

COURT CONFLICTS. 487
any person could be selected to act as judge for the
trial of a particular cause or question, and while in
this capacity possessed all the powers of a district
judge. The district court judges were, of course,
federal magistrates. By the same act it was provided
that there should be judges of probate for each county
within the territory; that they should be elected for
a term of four years by joint vote of the legislative
assembly ; should hold four regular sessions each year
and that their courts should be considered in law as
always open. Besides the powers pertaining to such
courts, they had the administration of estates, the
guardianship of minors, idiots, and insane persons, and
"power to exercise original jurisdiction, both civil and
criminal, and as well in chancery as at common law,
when not prohibited by legislative enactment." 15 The
probate court judges were, of course, Mormons; but
appeal lay from their decisions to the district courts.
Subject to the revision of the probate courts were the
municipal courts, the justices of the peace, and the
three 'selectmen' appointed for each county, whose
duties were to oversee and provide for the maintenance
of the poor, to take charge of the persons and
estates of the insane, and to bind apprentice, orphan,
and vagrant children. 16
Thus the probate courts, whose proper jurisdiction
concerned only the estates of the dead, were made
judges of the living, with powers almost equal to
those of the supreme and district courts. These
powers were conferred on them, as the gentiles alleged,
in order to nullify, so far as possible, the authority of
15 Utah, Acts Legist, (ed. 1855), 120-1, 123-4. Section 8 of this act, relating
to pleadings, is worthy of note, as it shows the tendency of the Mormona
to simplify their system of legal procedure. 'Any pleading which possesses
the following requisites shall be deemed sufficient: First, when to the common
understanding it conveys a reasonable certainty of meaning. Second,
when by a fair and natural construction it shows a substantial cause of action
or defence. If defective in the former, the court shall direct a more specific
statement. If in the latter, it is ground for demurrer; demurrers for formal
defects are abolished.'
16 An act creating the office of selectmen, and defining their duties, approved
Feb. 5, 1852, will be found in Utah, Ads Legist, (ed. 1855), 136-7.
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