By Richard G. Stevens, Calhoun County Bar
Return to District Court MenuI am writing some of my recollections of the justice of the peace system while I can still remember anything. I have been asked by several people to do so, but I have procrastinated, successfully, until now. Judge Kingsley gave me the best advice years ago when he told me to get a small recorder and to put some of the anecdotes and history that linger in the cobwebs of my mind on tape. But like so many things the Judge has told me I have not gotten around to doing it and will try it this way. (Mark Twain said the first time he saw St. Louis he was 12 years old and could have bought the whole place for 3 million dollars and regretted ever since that he hadn't.)
The point was finally driven home the other day when I was trying to tell some deputies a story about the old days and when I mentioned JPs they thought I was talking about pajamas. I looked around for a local history and couldn’t find one. Here are some of the things I remember. You will see very shortly that I am not a writer. I have a knack for remembering trivia and I am very happy to impart it to whomever will listen. When I am telling a story I can watch my listener and change my approach or delivery or emphasis in such a way as to keep them from walking away. Of course, it is different with story telling on paper.
I can’t put words together like writers and am capable of making three or four grammatical errors in a single declarative sentence. If you are reading this you should know that a grammarian, or two have vetted it. Another problem with my writing is I digress. I have decided that I am going to put these words together as if I was writing a letter home.
I have one other disclaimer. What I write down here is true. Is it accurate? I don’t know but I think so. Let me explain. I am writing about things that I have known in some instances for 50 years or more. When I first acquired a particular story or account of an event I may or may not have checked the source for its veracity. If I put it in my repertoire of trivia I must have believed it. That is the truth. I don’t make up stories or accounts for entertainment purposes.
This is not intended to be a history. I have referred to some documents to refresh my memory such as the accounts of the Constitutional Convention of 1961 and the Compiled Laws of 1948. I also re-read Hildabridle v Circuit Judge, 353 Mich 562 (1958). (More about the famous nudist case later.)
Two of our three delegates to the 1961 Constitutional Convention, attorneys Stanley Everett, later Prosecutor and Circuit Judge, and H. van den berg Hatch were on the Judiciary Committee and figured prominently in the debates concerning replacing the JPs.
Our late friend and colleague Joe Wilcox was an antiquarian book collector and dealer. Joe sold me a lot of books on the law and told me about others. He had a pristine copy of “Eirenarcha (or Of the Office of Justices of the Peace in Four Books) published in 1619.” Joe actually used this book in briefing and arguing an appeal case in Michigan. We could never get together on a price and he died without selling it to me. Later I was able to buy another copy from a dealer in New York. The point being the office of justice of the peace was around “since the memory of man remembereth not.”
From territorial days in Michigan justices of the peace provided justice on the local level. Each Township could elect up to four justices (Michigan Constitution of 1835, 1850 and 1908 with the addition that cities would be able to elect more if needed). By the time I was appointed to fill a vacancy in Battle Creek Township most townships did not have active JPs. Some rural townships elected only one JP who would do nothing or would serve minimally to perform such statutory tasks as fence viewing to settle line fence disputes or to survey dog damage to livestock or poultry so the animal’s owner could be reimbursed from the county dog fund. The JP could also serve in the absence of the coroner who was elected, was usually a lay person and often an undertaker. JPs could also perform marriage ceremonies.
The Constitutional Convention of 1961 did not create the District Court that replaced the JP system. The constitution written by them and approved by the voters merely provided that the justice of the peace system would be eliminated. It removed the constitutional status of the justice of the peace system and mandated the Legislature to “create a flexible and modern local court of limited jurisdiction to meet the differing needs of large and small counties and communities.” It also provided that no judge could be paid from the fees received by his court which was the only source of funding in the old system.
In the election prior to January 1, 1969 Municipal Judge William C. Burke and Assistant Battle Creek City Attorney John Bothwell were elected to serve the 11th District and Attorneys F. Jack Neller and Paul Nicolich to the 10th District Court. The former court had jurisdiction in the City of Battle Creek and the latter was the court for the rest of the county. The 10th District Judges sat in Marshall, Albion and Springfield. The JP system ended and the District Court commenced operation January 1, 1969 and eliminated all of the JP courts then sitting. One of them, Merle Augustine who had by then graduated from law school, was hopeful he would be elected to the new court and built a courtroom into his office on Michigan Avenue in Emmett Township. Alas he didn’t make the cut.
Because the JP court was not a court of record the Prosecuting Attorney would have to furnish a court reporter for preliminary examinations that were conducted in the JP’s court. Jim O’Brien who was one of the official reporters for Circuit Court would sometimes go or send his typist/reporter Dorothy Lindsey. Later Violet Downard worked out of the prosecutors office and finally Olive Pesseti reported these proceedings. The Prosecutor or the assistant assigned to a JP court would travel to that JP’s home or office or to some convenient meeting house or fire station to do trials or exams. If the purpose of the visit was for a preliminary examination the Prosecutor would bring a court reporter with him.
JP’s were not paid a salary by anyone nor was the office expenses reimbursed. He or she was paid fees for what they did. What follows was the law on fees in effect when I started in 1961. I never remember the amounts being raised.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Section amended.
Section 1. Section 2 of Chapter 15 of Act No. 175 of the Public Acts of 1927, as last amended by Act No. 169 of the Public Acts of 1949, being section 775.2 of the Compiled Laws of 1948, is hereby amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 15
775.2 Criminal cases: fees of justices of the peace. (M.S.A. 28.1239)
Sec. 2 A justice of the peace shall be allowed for taking a complaint on oath, 60 cents; a warrant, 60 cents; for entering a cause upon the docket, 60 cents; a bond or recognizance, 60 cents; for approving the same, 25 cents; issuing a subpoena (not exceeding 10 in any 1 case ), 25 cents; for certifying cause to other magistrates or court, 40 cents; for commitment or mittimus, 60 cents; for an adjournment, 25 cents; for certificate of conviction to file with the clerk, 60 cents; for making and filing return on appeal, or where a party is bound over to the circuit court, or any other court having concurrent jurisdiction, $2.00; for making and filing report in a criminal case to the prosecuting attorney, 40 cents; for notifying county agent for the care of juvenile offenders of the pendency of the case against any juvenile offender, 40 cents; for each arraignment and receiving a plea of guilty, in case such plea is entered, $1.50; for each arraignment where the of not guilty is entered, or where examination is waived or demanded, $1.50; for holding examinations, including the taking of testimony and swearing of witnesses, and for the trial of any cause which shall include the swearing of all witnesses, the constable and jury, if one be called, also the judgment and record of any exceptions or motions made during the trial, $6.00 per day for each day and $3.00 for each half day while actually engaged in such examination or trial, or while engaged in hearing any motion relative to such trial or examination, or final disposition of any cause, but such per diem shall not be allowed until such examination or trial shall have been actually begun, and no justice of the peace shall receive any other fee or compensation for any services rendered in any criminal case than such as hereinbefore provided.The JP maintained his or her own office, paid the help, the heat, the lights, equipment and supplies except for the statutory report forms that were furnished by the county and were serially numbered. There were five or six carbon loaded forms so that when the JP typed the complaint they were also typing all the other forms that came in the packet. They were then torn apart and filed in the respective offices along with the fines and costs collected and once a month the County board would authorize payment of the vouchers the County Clerk had verified and filed and a check was sent to the JP. Sometimes the fines and costs filed did not jibe with the reported amounts on the reconciliation sheet and the JP would have to wait an additional month to get paid. Sometimes the Michigan Auditor General’s Office would send auditors to compare the figures produced by the JP with what was actually in the trust bank account and woe be unto the justice that was out of trust.
Approved April 19, 1960.
The most common sin that JPs committed and were sometimes prosecuted for was co-mingling funds. They would take in a bond, or fines and costs, and not immediately put the money in the trust or bond account thinking they would use it until the end of the month and then deposit it in time for the monthly report. If they were caught in this state of being out of trust they were prosecuted and usually went to jail for 60 or 90 days.
One such JP who served before I did was caught, was prosecuted and sent to jail. In those days the jail was in Marshall and had two capias rooms. (In the bad old days of practice a creditor could take out a writ of Capias Ad Respondendum which directed the Sheriff to take a debtor into custody until he could post a bond or be taken before a judge to be required to answer a complaint filed against him for debt. These writs were seldom used as the creditor had to pay the debtor's keep and the Sheriff could not house the debtor with criminals nor could he feed them the same food as criminal inmates.
So these rooms were at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the jail. They had wooden doors, no bars, and were furnished with a cot and a dresser and a chair. The door was not locked. These rooms, therefore, were mostly used to house scoundrels who the Sheriff thought didn’t deserve regular lockage; police officers who had got popped for drunk driving or non-support or lawyers or politicians for the similar offenses; (the fire chief from Battle Creek Township for accepting kickbacks from his volunteers) and the like.
Anyway, I went to the jail to see my friend and spoke to the Sheriff who was sitting in the dispatch office with his chair leaned back against the wall and asked him if I could go up to see the jugged ex-JP. The sheriff said o.k., but as I walked toward the stairs he yelled at me and said he just remembered the prisoner wasn’t in his room. I asked him what had happened and he said my friend had gone downtown Marshall to get his hair cut or maybe to go to the movie.
I recall another JP in another county wrote to the Prosecutor and suggested that when the prosecutor doing the preliminary examination was satisfied he enough evidence in the record for a bind over he should signal him and he would stop the exam and do his duty. The prosecutor gave the letter to a local newspaper and the matter went public to everyone’s embarrassment
I was appointed by the Battle Creek Township Board of Trustees in 1961 and served until 1966. My office was over the Lakeview Hardware in the Lakeview area of what was then Battle Creek Township. Like all townships ours had been 36 square miles but in the '50’s some of the residents carved out 6 square miles and formed the City of Springfield. Later they were annexed to the City of Battle Creek but that move was put asunder due to the efforts of Springfield’s attorney Joseph V. Wilcox of Albion and the Michigan Supreme Court.
Springfield had an active JP in the person of Fred Hindenach, later one of the first Magistrates of the District Court; Bedford Township had Mrs. Martha Hard; Emmett Twp. was served by Ivan Worden and later by Merle Augustine and Richard Doud; Pennfield’s longtime JP was Tom Nelson; Sheridan Township had Howard Dean who was Roger Dean’s father. Roger was later sheriff. Tekonsha was served by Maxine Hill and Burlington by Joe Ricolta, Athens, John Netterer. There was a long line of JPs in Battle Creek Township; Lester Clark was sometimes JP, sometimes police officer, sometimes pilot, flight instructor, carpenter and always a sign painter. Clayton Rice served before and after my time. While I was in office he was Township Supervisor. Howard Chambers was in office just before Dell Schoder and operated a drug store across the street from the hardware building.
JP Martha Hard who served Bedford Township for many years lived in the first house outside the City of Battle Creek on W. Michigan Avenue. She was an elderly widow whose daughter lived next door and helped Martha in the office. The much publicized Hildabridle, nudist camp, case originated in this court in 1956. Aunt Martha bound the defendants over to Circuit Court where they were found of indecent exposure. There was no Court of Appeals at that time and the Supreme Court of Michigan reversed the conviction. Justice Voelker, wrote the dissenting opinion that blasted the police for being storm troopers and marching the poor unsuspecting souls caught in this raid before their clicking cameras, and then arresting them for shocking their modesty. The case is worth reading. Sunshine Gardens still operates in Bedford Township.
Wendell Schoder, an attorney, resigned to take a part time position as assistant prosecuting attorney for then Prosecutor, General Noble O. Moore which created the vacancy I filled. Later Dell served with distinction as Probate Judge and was recognized statewide as an outstanding authority on probate matters. At the time he was a JP, he was the only attorney justice in the county. The JPs relied on the elected constables in their respective townships to serve as the ministerial officers of the court. They would serve papers, summon and attend juries and were paid by a statutory fee schedule. I had been elected in Battle Creek Township and worked with Judge Schoder.
The City of Battle Creek had a long line of JPs including Paul Shafer from 1929 to 1936 who later served many years in the United States House of Representatives from this district who car-pooled with then Representative Jerry Ford from Willow Run Airport to Battle Creek for Shafer and on to Grand Rapids for Ford. The rather cryptic newspaper ad that adorns Judge Miller’s office wall refers to one of the last elections for JP's in the City. Municipal Judges soon replaced them.
Because the State Police, at that time station 46, was in Battle Creek Township and handy to my office I received a goodly share of the work they produced. At that time I was working 2PM to 10PM at Kellogg’s and was able to open the office early and leave just before 2. If I was doing an examination I would sometimes call in and be late or absent at Kellogg’s.
I held preliminary examinations in the Battle Creek Township Hall Community Building at 1125 W. Territorial Road which also housed the Battle Creek Township Police Department. I also used that room for jury trials. We had six person juries but had trouble getting the Township Clerk to give us enough names to make up a panel. We often relied on a jury of passersby by sending the constable who served as bailiff to the barbershop down the street to impress those gents waiting for their haircut to come and sit as jurors with us. I knew this system worked because I had used it when I was a constable for JP Dell Schoder.
I remember with delight an old man, then in his 80.’s who was a school crossing guard and who always was available to set on a jury. Deliberations speeded up when Uncle Earl realized it was getting close to the time he had to help the kids cross 20th St. I recall a defendant being put off when Earl came out of the jury room and found against him and immediately put on his cap, which had a badge on it and rushed to his post at the corner.
The police had some latitude as to where they could send their tickets. The Township Police departments were locked in and had to use their own JP if their township had one, but the State Police, sheriffs department and conservation officers, public service officers and weigh-masters could send their traffic tickets or carry their arrestees anywhere in the county. (The law said they were to be taken to the nearest JP but that provision was honored more in the breach then in the observance.)
In the case of the State Police the arresting trooper who arrested someone after business hours would come back to the post the next day and take the report, by then reviewed by his desk corporal and usually the post commander, to the Prosecutors office in Marshall. In the case of felonies he would have an assistant prosecutor or sometimes the Prosecutor himself review the case. If the prosecutor was convinced he would issue a praecipe from a pad they all carried and the officer would bring that order to the JP designated and a complaint and warrant would be prepared which was signed by him, usually on information and belief, and the warrant would be issued. The trooper or officer would then go to the jail or make arrangements for another officer to go to the jail and bring the prisoner before the JP for arraignment.
In my case the police would park in front of the Lakeview Hardware, get his prisoner out of the car and hike up the stairs and down the hall, past the dentist’s office, past a union business office, past the hardware’s office to the end of the hall to my office. The prisoner would be arraigned. bond ordered or denied and the miscreant would be returned to Marshall or bonded out.
My three room “suite” cost me forty five dollars per month. Sometimes a trooper or a deputy or a conservation officer would get upset about the way a JP handled a ticket and would cut them off. I remember JPs being cut off from any work after a big ticket writing holiday. When you were counting on 50 or 60 tickets the first day back after Memorial Day or the Fourth of July and you got three you knew you had a big problem.
When the State Police first started using radar I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was a monstrous big unit that they would put in the trunk of a parked car and raise the trunk lid slightly. Later they had a fiberglass trunk lid they could keep closed and that helped disguise the unit. They would then have a pickup car to stop the speeder when the unit car would call out the offending driver's speed.
Traffic ticket books were not serialy numbered in those days but they were entered in an arrest book in sequence and almost impossible to remove. Appearance bonds were used and Interim Bonds were created while I was in office.
The 50’s were the years of Interstate Highway building initiated by President Eisenhower. In Michigan Governor Williams and a bi-partisan legislative program spearheaded by our own Senator, later Circuit Judge Creighton R. Coleman, set out to build highways. And build they did. By the late 1950's I-94 was mostly completed and the increase in traffic between Detroit and Chicago brought with it lots of work for the law enforcement community. When I took office and all of the connections were being completed motorists would hit the road with virtually no speed limit to get in the way. Battle Creek MSP would have an expressway patrol that would work from Albion to 35th Street in Kalamazoo County; a boon to the JPs along its route.
Often the troopers would stop interstate motorists for sundry violations and find they were residents of Chicago or Gary or South Bend or Ontario and they would have to post a bond or in the case of serious offenses go to a Justice of the Peace or to jail. In the movies JPs were often depicted marrying eloping couples late at night in their bathrobes. I never did that ,but I went to the office many nights or early mornings to do an arraignment, set a bond, or write a search warrant.
Milt Jinks, a colorful trooper, and his partner stopped a car one night and found a non-resident driver from Chicago. The driver had a five dollar bill and four kids in the car and almost no gas and was on his way back home. The occupants, including the kids shook the car down and found $1.81 on the floor in the seats and the glove box. Milty took it and let the guy keep his $5.00 to get home with. Gasoline at that time was about 20 cents a gallon. I receipted the bond and, of course, the driver never came back. The amount taken was not enough to pay the costs let alone a fine so I kept that amount in my bond account until I left office at which time I had to supply a few dollars in order to convert the bond to a usable amount. I had to explain its being deposited every time I was audited.
The Chicago Motor Club issued cards to its members that were picked up by the troopers as if they were cash bonds. All the JP had to do is write to the club and tell them the amount of fines and costs and they would send it without question and ask that their card be returned to them. They would insist on reimbursement from the member before returning their membership card. I failed to mention that if fines and costs were not paid in a case because the defendant was committed to jail, the county had to make up the JP's fees. In most cases it was $4.30 or $4.90 if a commitment had to be prepared.
How did we get by without formal legal education? Well, most of us had a set of the Compiled Laws of 1948 furnished by the state, and some of us and all the police agencies and the prosecutor's office used Gillespie’s Criminal Law and Procedure,( four volumes $60.00.) The forms for criminal complaints came directly from that work so we were all on the same page.
You might want to stop now and not read the last paragraph. I didn’t know how else to end this trip down memory lane so I added an epilogue.
In 1966 I resigned to finish my undergraduate schooling so I could go to law school. I took a leave of absence from Kellogg’s and used the benefits from the extended G.I. Bill of Rights but that wasn’t enough. While I was trying to figure out what to do Judge Coleman asked me to take the Assignment Clerk’s job in Circuit Court, replacing Damon Pythias Baxter who was being forced to retire because of his age. (Damon told the gentry that it would take him at least 6 months to teach the job to a bonehead like me. I only got to work with him for 3 1/2 days so you know what kind of job I did) I jumped on the opportunity and earning $5200.00 per year was able to attend classes at KCC and Western Michigan University while doing the scheduling for Judge Coleman and Judge Ryan. In 1969 those kind gentlemen and great bosses talked Dean King into admitting me to the Detroit College of Law. My admission was negotiated standing on East Elizabeth in Detroit with Judge Ryan while he persuaded Dean King. Then bailiff Shirley Ann Petroff (SAM) replaced me and Valdene Waidelich who was a driver’s license examiner in the sheriff's department replaced Sam. She later retired as Judge Kingsley's bailiff.
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Last Updated: 2-23-06
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