had to be found to bring about a speedier adjudication of civil action and criminal cases. The advocates of an enlarged Supreme Court again made an effort to have the number of judges increased, but, as before, their efforts were doomed to failure. Instead, the Eighth General Assembly in 1891 created a Court of Appeals, giving it jurisdiction over litigation coming up from the lower courts. George Q. Richmond, today an active member of the Denver bar, Gilbert R. Reed and Julius Bissell were the first judges appointed as judges of this court. For fourteen years this court assisted the Supreme Court in disposing of the litigation which had accumulated in the course of years. Altogether its judges decided not less than 2,631 cases.
The Court of Appeals was abolished by the Sixteenth General Assembly. In 1905 those lawyers and judges favoring an increased Supreme Court as the only satisfactory means of successfully disposing of the accumulation of appealed cases, were successful in their efforts to have the number of the judges of the state's highest tribunal increased to a number which, in their judgment, would be sufficient to take care of all appealed cases. Through their efforts the General Assembly was induced to pass a bill abolishing the Court of Appeals and increasing the number of Supreme Court judges from three to seven. The Court of Appeals passed out of existence on April 4, 1905, and on the following day the enlarged Supreme Court, with William H. Gabbert as chief justice, held its first session.
Accumulation of business again compelled the state's lawmakers to have recourse to a Court of Appeals in 1913. Despite the increase of its membership to seven, the Supreme Court had been unable to dispose of its cases as rapidly as was desirable in the interests of right and justice. For the purpose of helping the court to dispose of many cases of minor importance, the Court of Appeals was called into being again. It was composed of five judges, to whom were assigned cases of minor importance. It was created for the sole purpose of disposing of accumulated cases.
