The Virginia Court System Study Commission was created by the 1968 Regular Session of the General Assembly in Senate Joint Resolution No. 5 to make a "full and complete study of the entire judicial system of the Commonwealth ... " The Resolution directed appointment of fifteen men to serve on the Commission. Pursuant to his authority under the Resolution, Governor Godwin appointed Lawrence W. I'Anson, Justice of the Supreme Court, to serve as Chairman of the Commission and appointed to serve with him Joseph C. Carter, Jr., Attorney at Law, Richmond; C. Hobson Goddin, Attorney at Law, Richmond; Kermit V. Rooke, Judge of the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court; and Rayner V. Snead, Judge of the Twenty-Sixth Judicial Circuit, Washington. The Speaker of the House of Delegates appointed Delegates John N. Dalton, Radford; C. Harrison Mann, Jr., Arlington; Julian J. Mason, Bowling Green; Garnett S. Moore, Pulaski; and C. Armonde Paxson, Charlottesville. The President of the Senate appointed State Senators Herbert H. Bateman, Newport News; Edward L. Breeden, Jr., Norfolk; J. C. Hutcheson, Lawrenceville; M. M. Long, St. Paul; and William F. Stone, Martinsville.

The Commission elected Senator Long to serve as Vice-Chairman. The Division of Statutory Research and Drafting, represented by Mary Spain, served as Secretariat.

The Commission was directed to make its report to the Governor and the General Assembly by November 1, 1969. At that time, due to the extensive study and research required, it was able only to give a preliminary report (Senate Document No. 12, 1970) and request extension of the life of the Commission in order to complete its work. A description of the activities of the Commission prior to January of 1970 appears in that document. Among other things, an extensive research project was undertaken and some general policy decisions made.

The Commission continued its study under the authority of Senate Joint Resolution No. 27 of the 1970 Session with the same membership, Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Sally T. Warthen and the Division of Statutory Research and Drafting acted as staff for the remainder of the study, and supplied the needed administrative and legal aid.

Results of the research project were made available to the Commission in the late summer of 1970.

On March 11 through 14, 1971, the Commission, in conjunction with the Council of Higher Education's Research and Development Committee, the Division of Justice and Crime Prevention, and the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, with funds from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and with help and endorsement from many other people and organizations interested in judicial reform, sponsored the National Conference on the Judiciary, held in Williamsburg, perhaps the largest gathering of judicial personnel, members of the bar and concerned laymen ever to come together for discussion of the administration of justice in the United States. Much time was spent, especially by the Chairman and staff, in planning the Conference. The effort was generously rewarded. Addresses by President Nixon and Chief Justice Warren Burger were highlights of an intensely informative and exhaustive discussion of the problems of and remedies for the judicial system, in the forms of lectures by the foremost authorities on court reform, and workshop discussions with citizens, jurists, lawyers and officials of other states. The Commission was afforded the opportunity to learn of and discuss court reform, both new ideas and old, from and with the best informed judges and lawyers in the country.

On the basis of its extensive research, discussions and lectures at the Conference, and many meetings, the Commission makes the following report.