A Small Claims Court for Pennsylvania

Two of the principal criticisms directed against the present arrangement of our courts are that the costs are too high in controversies involving small sums of money and that the procedure in such cases is too complicated. In many states an effort has been made to remedy these defects by the establishment of special courts, of limited jurisdiction, to hear certain cases of small claims only. To date, eighteen states have adopted legislation setting up small claims machinery of one type or another.1 In some states in which such tribunals have been set up the court consists of nothing more than a division of an existing court, with the right to file pleadings more informally than is otherwise permitted and a diminution of costs.2 In one state an independent court has been set up.3 In Pennsylvania, while the machinery of the law is no more cumbersome than that of many other states, there exists among lawyers, nevertheless, much sentiment in favor of simplifying the procedure and decreasing the costs in certain types of small cases. This sentiment is particularly to be