Hall, Law Dean, Favors $15 Fee In Appeal Cases

Livingston Hall, Vice Dean of the Law Faculty, yesterday urged a $15 jury fee to be paid by all defendants in cases before the Massachusetts Superior Court, a proposal included in the Judicial Survey Commission's recent report for court reform.

Speaking before the Joint Committee of the Judiciary, Hall, a member of the Commission and a Vice-President of the Massachusetts Bar Association, favored acceptance of the entire report, the main aim of which is to create more efficiency in the state's courts.

The Judicial Survey Commission's recommendation states that "the requirement of a jury fee will not destroy the right of our citizens to justice." The purpose of the fee, the report implies, is to relieve the congestion that now exists in the higher courts.

Judge Frank W. Tomasello of Boston opposed the Commission's attempt to alter the judicial system. "The whole congestion in Superior Court," he said, "is due to snobbish lawyers who don't want to be seen in district court."

Another bill included in the group's proposals would increase the number of judges without outside occupations in the district courts.