County Court, his two associates being Henry J. Hunt and John R. Williams. On January 2, 1816, these men opened the first session of the county court in the old council house. Abolished by an act of April 15, 1833, the county courts were revived in 1846, but having instead of a chief and two associate justices, a county and a second judge elected by the people of the county in which they sat. This revival of the county court continued until the adoption of the constitution of 1850 revised the Michigan judicial system on substantially the same lines as it exists today.

Succeeding James Abbott as chief justices of the county court were: John L. Leib, appointed June 17, 1822; William A. Fletcher, appointed March 25, 1823; B. F. H. Witherell, June 5, 1824; William A. Fletcher, December 31, 1824; Henry Chipman, December 19, 1825; Asa M. Robinson, December 28, 1826; Daniel LeRoy, January 18, 1828; Melvin Dorr, June 26, 1828; and John McDonnell, January 13, 1830.

The associate justices who sat with the above-mentioned chief justices were: Henry J. Hunt and John R. Williams, November 9, 1815; John McDonnell, January 17, 1817; B. F. H. Witherell, May 23, 1823; Philip Lecuyer, December 23, 1823; Melvin Dorr, August 4, 1826; Shubael Conant, April 14, 1827; Peter Desnoyers, June 26, 1828; William Barstow, January 14, 1830; Orville Cook, July 28, 1830; Charles Moran, March 4, 1831; and James Williams, March 4, 1831.

After the revival of the county court in 1846, E. S. Lee served as county judge and Cyrus Howard as second judge until 1850. In that year B. F. H. Witherell was elected to succeed Lee and Howard to succeed himself, but by the same election, the new constitution was ratified and the two men did not enter upon their judicial duties for the term beginning that year.

Court of Chancery. By an act of March 26, 1836, a court of chancery was established, the chancellor to receive a salary of $1,500 per year and to be appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate. For the responsible position of chancellor, Elon Farnsworth was appointed for a term of seven years. Farnsworth, one of the most respected members of the legal profession in Detroit at that time, was a native of Woodstock, Vermont, where he was born February 2, 1799. Following his graduation from Middlebury college, he studied law in his native state and in 1822 came to Detroit where he formed a law partnership with Sibley & Whitney. Sibley left the firm in 1824 to become supreme court justice, and the firm style was then changed to that of Whitney & Farnsworth. Following the death of Whitney in 1826, Farnsworth went into partnership with Daniel Goodwin, an arrangement that continued until Farnsworth's appointment as chancellor in 1836. Farnsworth administered his office with ability that won for him the regard of all the people, but he was compelled to resign because of ill health in March, 1842. Randolph Manning was the second and last chancellor, he holding the office until the court was abol

ished by an act of March 1, 1847. The jurisdiction of the court was transferred to the circuit courts.

Circuit Courts. It was provided by the act of March 26, 1836, the same one that established the court of chancery, that each supreme court justice should be the presiding judge of a judicial circuit, the associate justices to be elected by the residents of the territory included in the several circuits. Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo circuits were created at that time, the first circuit including the counties of Wayne, St. Clair, Lapeer, Macomb, Chippewa, and Mackinaw. The powers of the court, with the exception of chancery matters, were identical with the territorial courts of the sme nature. Wayne county was made one circuit on March 25, 1840, four other circuits being created at the same time to supplant the original three. George Morell was presiding judge of the Wayne circuit until 1844, when Daniel Goodwin took office to continue for three years. Warner Wing presided over the circuit from 1847 to 1851. The associate justices elected by the people were: Cyrus Howard and Charles Moran, 1837; Eli Bradshaw and Robert T. Elliott, 1841; Ebenezer Farnsworth, 1842; and J. H. Bagg and J. Gunning, 1845.

Circuit, probate, and justice courts, in addition to the supreme court, were established by the constitution of 1850, and the judges of the circuit courts were to constitute the supreme court of the state, the terms of the judges to be six years. When six years had elapsed, according to the constitution, the legislature might create a supreme court consisting of one chief and three associate justices to be elected by the voters of the state and no further change was to be made until eight years had passed. The supreme court, organized in that way, met at Detroit in January, 1852, Warner Wing, judge of the first circuit, being elected chief justice, the other justices being Charles W. Whipple, Second Circuit; Samuel T. Douglass, Third Circuit; David Johnson, Fourth Circuit; Abner Pratt, Fifth Circuit; Joseph F. Copeland, Sixth Circuit; Sanford M. Green, Seventh Circuit; and George Martin, Eighth Circuit.

An act approved February 16, 1857, revised the judicial system of Michigan on practically the same lines as it exists today. The supreme court was established as primarily an appellate body, and the judicial circuits of the state were placed in charge of judges elected by the voters of the territory within the circuits, and the jurisdiction of the circuit courts was defined as follows:

"The said Circuit courts within and for their respective counties shall have and exercise exclusive jurisdiction on all civil actions. and remedies of whatever description, and of all prosecutions in the name of the people of this state for crimes, misdemeanors, offenses and penalties, except in cases where exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction shall be given to, or possessed by, some other court or tribunal, in virtue of some statutory provision, or of the principles and usage of law, and shall have such appellate jurisdiction and powers as may be provided by law; and the said courts shall also have and exercise, within and for their respective counties, all the powers

usually possessed by courts of record at the common law and in equity, subject to such modifications as may be provided by the laws of this state, for the full exercise of the jurisdiction hereby conferred."

Wayne and Sheboygan counties were formed into the third circuit by an act of January 29, 1858, and at a special session of the legislature in the same year, the number of circuits in the state was increased to ten. Wayne county was placed in a circuit by itself on March 27, 1867.

B. F. H. Witherell was appointed judge of the Wayne County Circuit when the constitution of 1850 went into effect, Samuel T. Douglass resigning from the bench at that time. Witherell was candidate for election to the judgeship at the next regular election and thereafter held the office until the time of his death in 1866. Charles I. Walker sat on the bench until his resignation in 1868, when he was succeeded by Henry B. Brown until the next regular election. Jared Patchin was the next choice of the people for the position of circuit judge, and in the spring of 1875, Cornelius J. Reilly was made judge, serving until his resignation in November, 1879. F. H. Chambers filled out Reilly's unexpired term and was elected to succeed himself at the regular election in 1881, the same election when by an overwhelming majority the people voted for more than one judge for the Wayne county circuit.

At the next session of the legislature following the election of 1881, a bill was passed calling for three judges for Wayne county, and in November, 1882, the people chose William Jennison and John J. Speed as the two additional judges of the circuit court. Following the passage of an act in 1887 giving Wayne county a fourth judge, Henry N. Brevoort, George Gartner, George S. Hosmer, and Cornelius J. Reilly were elected for full terms. William Look was elected to serve from May 1, 1887, to January 1, 1888. When the legislature added a fifth judge in 1891, Robert E. Frazer was given the appointment.

William L. Carpenter, Joseph W. Donovan, Robert E. Frazer, George S. Hosmer, and Willard M. Lillibridge were the judges elected in 1893, Carpenter, Donovan, Frazer, and Hosmer being re-elected in 1899 and Lillibridge being succeeded by Morse Rhonert. In the same year, 1899, the legislature gave Wayne county a sixth judge, to fill which Byron S. Waite was appointed and served until the election of 1901, when Flavius L. Brooke was elected. Upon the appointment of Judge Carpenter to the supreme bench in November, 1902, Henry A. Mandell, was appointed to fill out the unexpired term. Brooke, Donovan, Frazer, Hosmer, and Rhonert were all re-elected in 1905, and Mandell was succeeded by Alfred L. Murphy.

In the fall of 1909, Judge Brooke resigned from the bench and his place was filled by the appointment of James O. Murfin. George P. Codd was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Judge Rhonert who died in office in March, 1911. The April election of 1911 resulted in the election of George P. Codd, P. J. M. Hally, George

S. Hosmer, Henry A. Mandell, Alfred J. Murphy, and Philip T. Van Zile. After 1911, three more judgeships were added to the Wayne circuit. The election of 1917 placed these judges on the bench: George P. Codd, Harry A. Dingeman, George S. Hosmer, Ormond F. Hunt, Ira W. Jayne, Henry A. Mandell, Adolph F. Marschner, Arthur Webster, and Clyde I. Webster. Codd resigned in 1920 after his election to Congress and was succeeded by Joseph A. Moynihan. In March, 1921, Theodore J. Richter was appointed to fill out the unexpired term of Judge Hosmer who died in office. At the spring election of 1923 the present judges were elected, they being Vincent M. Brennan, George P. Codd, Harry J. Dingeman, Ormond E. Hunt, Ira W. Jayne, Henry A. Mandell, Adolph F. Marschner, DeWitt H. Merriam, Guy A. Miller, Joseph A. Moynihan, Alfred J. Murphy, Theodore J. Richter, Arthur Webster, and Clyde I. Webster.

Probate Court was established to succeed the Orphans' Court, held by the judges of the court of General Quarter Sessions in the days of the Northwest Territory. In 1809, after the erection of the Territory of Michigan, the governor and judges directed the probate judge to appoint a register, but though many acts have been passed subsequently affecting the probate court, none of these acts have changed the powers of the court concerning estates and its other duties. The probate judge was paid through fees prior to 1859, but in that year he was granted a salary of $2,500. In 1880 the board of auditors was authorized to fix a salary that would be not less than $2,500 nor more than $3,000, and within a year the salary of the probate judge was increased to $3,500 per year. The number of probate judges for Wayne county was increased to three in 1913 and has not been altered since that time.

The probate judges of Wayne county have been as follows: Peter Audrain, 1796; George McDougall, 1809; Charles Larned, 1818; W. W. Petit, 1825; Henry S. Cole, 1826; Joseph W. Torrey, 1829; Thomas Rowland, 1833; Benjamin F. H. Witherell, 1834; George E. Hand, 1835; George A. O'Keefe, 1837; Alpheus S. Williams, 1840; Cornelius O'Flynn, 1844; Joseph H. Bagg, 1852; Elijah Hawley, Jr., 1856; W. P. Yerkes, 1860; H. W. Deare, 1864; James D. Weier, 1868; A. H. Wilkinson, 1872; Edgar O. Durfee, 1876. Durfee, who is one of the present probate judges of the county, has held office continuously since he was first elected in 1876. In 1913, when the number of probate judges was increased to three, Henry S. Hulbert and Stewart Hanley were elected to the new positions. Durfee and Hulbert were re-elected in 1915 and Edward Command succeeded Hanley, and since that time these three men have held office.

City Courts. A provision of the city charter granted August 5, 1824, authorized the mayor, recorder, and all or any three of the aldermen to hold court on the second Monday of each month, each session not to continue for more than three days. The court was held for the trial of violators of city ordinances and laws. Within a few years, the council began the practice of fixing the dates for

the holding of the Mayor's Court, as it was known, and of naming two aldermen to sit with the mayor as associate justices. Though the court had the power to levy fines and inflict jail sentences, the defendants found it so easy to secure remission of the fine and release from jail by appeal to the council that the authority of the court came almost to be nullified. As a result, an amendment to the city charter was made June 29, 1832, giving the council the right to employ convicted persons on the streets with ball and chain attached to them. Although the amendment stopped the appeals to the council, so many prisoners escaped while they were employed on the street gangs that the employment of convicts in this manner was ordered suspended. Until June 18, 1839, the convicted persons. were kept in idleness at the jail, but on that day, the council authorized the street commissioner to employ prisoners on the streets and to pay them the usual wages for such work, the money to be applied to the payment of fines and jail and trial costs.

Such a system was used for several years, but the amendments added to the city charter by the act of February 5, 1857, inaugurated the Recorder's court to supersede the Mayor's court. The new court had original and exclusive jurisdiction in the prosecution on behalf of the people of the state for crimes, misdemeanors, and offenses committed within the corporate limits of the city. Violations of the city ordinances, offenses against the city charter, complaints under the truancy law, condemnation proceedings, matters pertaining to the widening of streets and alleys, and similar matters also came within the province of the Recorder's court. Henry A. Morrow became the first judge of the Recorder's court and opened the first session on January 12, 1858, at which the only business discharged was the adoption of a seal for the court. Six sessions of the court were scheduled for each year, they to be held on the first Wednesday in January, March, May, July, September, and November. The court was originally in charge of a judge and a recorder, each of whom was elected for a term of six years.

Under the Municipal Court reform bill passed in 1920, two more judges were added to the Recorder's court and the name was altered to that of the Municipal Recorder's court as it is today. Pliny W. Marsh and Harry B. Keidan received the appointments as the two new judges, the former being the father of the bill passed by the legislature making the change in the constitution of the court. The new court combined the powers of the former Recorder's court and the Police court, the latter of which passed out of existence in that same year. The present judges of the court are Thomas M. Cotter; Edward J. Jeffries, Harry B. Keidan, Frank Murphy, and Christopher E. Stein, and the recorder is Charles L. Bartlett.

The Police court, which went out of existence in 1920 after the passage of the Municipal Court reform bill, was established by an act of the legislature approved April 2, 1850. P. C. Higgins became the first judge of this court and the first sessions of the court were held in his office on Jefferson avenue, but after the election of B. R. Bagg in 1852, the sessions of the court were held in the old