They would either work harder on unpublished decisions, at the expense of published decisions or of the efficiency of the judicial system generally.

The 1880s saw a major effort to clarify the law and simplify court procedure, both of which were seen as essential prerequisites for improving the efficiency of the judicial system.

Discretionary review forces parties to always concentrate their resources on persuading the trial court to get it right the first time around (rather than assuming an appellate court will "fix it later"), thus increasing the overall efficiency of the judicial system.