the illinois county and probate judges association
TRANSCRIPT
1“ Juvenile Court Judges Journal
The Illinois County and Probate Judges Association
By STANLEY THOMAS County Court of Songomori County, Springfield
We are quite naturally proud of the fact that the first modern Juvenile Court Act in the world was enacted into law in Illinois in 1899. This original act set the pattern and philosophy for all later acts. The original act conferred jurisdiction over juvenile proceed- ings concurrently in the Circuit Courts and the County Courts of this state. The title of the act was a few years ago changed to “The Family Court Act,” more adequately to express the concern of the court with the entire family relationship.
Cook County in Illinois contains slightly over one-half of the population of the state, yet Cook County has only one county judge, while it has a multiple number of circuit court judges, It is, there- fore, quite natural that the family court jurisdiction in Cook County has in practice come to be exclusively under the circuit court, and is set up as a separate or family court division of the circuit court in Cook County. I t is equally natural that the practice in the other counties in the state has resulted in an exclusive jurisdiction in each of the other county courts to handle the family court proceed- ings to the exclusion of the various circuit courts. There are 102 counties in Illinois; and all the county judges and the 16 probate judges are members of the Illinois County and Probate Judges As- sociation. Thus our association represents all the judges in the State of Illinois who hold family court proceedings, except for the Circuit Court Judge of Cook County who is assigned to its Family Court Division; and he is always invited to our functions and meetings.
Our current officers are president, Stanley Thomas, Spring- field ; 1st vice-president, William M . Coppel, Havana ; 2nd vice- president, Robert Jerome Dunne, Chicago ; directors, Weseley A. Eberle, Freeport ; Otto Keruzer, Jr., Chicago ; John C . Cowing, Joliet.
Our next annual meeting will be held in Chicago, at the Sher- man Hotel on December 6 , 6 and 7.
Our legislative committee this year succeeded in having adopted by the Legislature various technical changes in the Family Court Act and in the Adoption Law and in various other laws which re- late to children. All members of the Illinois County and Probate Judges Association who have paid their annual dues are integrated into the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges by payment of their annual dues through the state association.