The Justice of the Peace Who Found His Salary Unjust
A Seattle judge argues that new laws have expanded his workload beyond his original pay grade, testing the limits of municipal budgeting.
Judge Ginn thinks that his salary is too small for the amount of work required of him, and he has petitioned the city council for an increase. He states that he has not only acted as justice of the peace, but has served as police judge. A law passed by the last legislature makes it unlawful for justices to hold court outside of the precinct in which they are elected, and this law is now in effect under an emergency clause. The statute has had the effect of increasing Judge Ginn's duties as civil court justice until the justice appointed by the county commissioners takes his seat in June.
“Judge Ginn thinks that his salary is too small for the amount of work required of him.”
This 1899 dispute over the compensation of judicial officials for their expanded duties resonates with modern Seattle's perennial debates over funding municipal courts and the administrative capacity of local government to handle increasing legal workloads.
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