At heart, King Solomon was a mediator.

When he told the two women fighting over a baby that he'd just split it in half, what he was really doing was allowing the parties to settle their dispute themselves. Indeed, the true mother was willing to give up her baby, and he let her suggest that.

Several thousand years later, King Solomon has come to the Augusta Judicial Circuit.

The court's new mediation program -- mandatory for domestic cases and available on a voluntary basis for civil cases -- is allowing litigants to help fashion their own court orders.

The results: More than 80 percent of the cases are settled prior to a final hearing.

Moreover, those who have input into a case's disposition are going to naturally be less inclined to complain later -- and file motions and seek new hearings.

The program, installed last September and not even a year old, can't be viewed as anything but a smashing success.

"It's a huge success," says domestic Judge Danny Craig.

"This will expand," says Chief Judge Carlisle Overstreet.

Some 25 certified mediators -- lawyers, judges and laymen who've taken 80 hours of intensive mediation training -- work with litigants in domestic cases to settle their disputes without having to have a judge impose a resolution.

The mediators work through the issues, and end up with a set of decisions on property, custody and other matters. If the two parties ultimately agree -- they have up to 10 days to think it over, but can agree right away if they want -- they sign on the bottom line and the agreement eventually becomes a court order.

The impact of that is a less antagonistic divorce and a much more efficient court system that can deal with the rest of the cases more quickly. Mediators also help the court get a divorce's dozens of forms filled out properly.

It's hard to put a number to the savings, but there can be no doubt that the circuit's mediation program is costing less in court time. And litigants pay mediation fees that fund the program. Down the road, one would think that the program will also lessen the need for more judges and staff.

Judge Sheryl Jolly, with four years' experience the dean of the court's domestic judges, says the caseload was crushing at first. Now, judges have an opportunity to give cases the attention they deserve on a more timely basis.

That's an important consideration in this day and age. Consider: With the economy the way it is, more litigants than ever are going to court without a lawyer. The upshot of that is, the judges must essentially take such litigants by the hand and help them negotiate the legal system -- show them what documents they need to complete, what personal effects they must produce, and so on.

So, when a mediator has gotten involved and worked everything out to everyone's satisfaction, it's a tremendous relief.

As program coordinator Cyndy McElmurray and domestic Judge David Roper note, anytime people have input into decisions affecting their lives, those decisions have a much greater chance of being accepted.

If this can be so successful in domestic cases -- some of the most intractable cases a court will ever see -- then it can work in other areas too.

We congratulate the Augusta Judicial Circuit on a tremendous success in its mediation program. And we hope it continues to grow.