Court Organization for a Metropolitan District1

The idea of a unified and responsible court for a metropolitan district must not be looked upon as a competitor of the idea of a unified state court system; it is instead an elaboration of the state system intended to meet extraordinary conditions. The needs and conditions of administration in the great modern city are so different from those in rural districts that a system of courts applicable to a State which is wholly rural must necessarily be elaborated to adapt it to a State which has such a metropolitan center. In many cities the present situation is so desperate that it is plausible to hold that reorganization will come first in those cities and later in the States in which they are located.In either case there will be no serious difficulty in adjusting the local court to the state system. And though we speak of it as a local court it is of course but the local agency for the exercise of a state function. The large city usually has suburbs which should not be excluded from the benefits of reorganization. The metropolitan judicial district may then be presumed to include the city, its suburbs, and such other territory as may be conveniently administered from the local center. In most instances this would mean the county in which the large city is located.