Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1825-03-11

the conrt oil appeals. and the only court of an
pcals which should exist.
Bat il any doub: OF The intention TO do go could
ARISE from the SECTIONS VIC have quoted when ,a
ken alone. that douht must be disocIle,i bv al.
v"ri'ng to other parts Of The constitution. and
coinp'rrig-th them with those sections
The first and second sections oil the first ar,i-
Gle declare, ',The powers of the Government
OF iihc state of Kentucky, shall be divided into
three distinct departments. and eat,l, oil them he
! conadcd to separate body of Magis.racv TO
wat those which are Legislative To one those
which are executive 10 another. and those which
are judiciary 10 another.''
'No person Or collection uf persuns hciuor of
one olt'tose denarmcnts sl,a!! exercise any now
erPropefiy belonging to either of tho Others. cx
cert he instances herein after expressly per.
mitted or directed"
Having thus divided the powers of rovern-
ment into three distinct departments ti,c instr,.
rnent proceeds to establish, those departments :
In the first scctionof the second article is tlcclar
ed, that "tie legislative power of this common
wealth shall be'vested in two distinct branches
the one to be styled the House of Representa-
tives, the other the Senate, and both together.
the General Assembly OF the Commonwealth Of
kentucky.n
The first section ofthe third article declares.
monwcaith shall be vested in a Chief Naristratc
who shall be sly led the Governor of the Com
monwealth If kenIuctSyn
And the first section of the fourth article de-
ciares, '''Fhe Judicial power of t, common
wealth, both as TO matters ofaw and equity shall
he vested in ono supreme court. which shall be
styled the Court OF Appeals &c.
III Impossible to read these different sections
with re poet 10 these Gnlercst departments and
not he struck with the exact identity of the
(. phraseoegy employed IN each. No inference
OF an intention Ill the Trainers of the constitution
To create any one of these departments can he
derived from the language in reference 10 II.
winch viii not be equally justified witt, respeci
to their intention TO create the Others fro,n tie
language used IN reference to them For III,
ri!ie OF reason and colulan sense as wei AS of
common law, that whenever the same Ianruar,.
is used IN different part. of The same instr,ncu,
! 1t must receive the same constructions A CON
/ irary rnle would indeed rcnicr language worse
than use less, aud insread of being the iustru
nemt "f communicating our thoughts or of as
/ ccriis'uinG the Intention of others, ii vouli be-
/ cuine tic means of dcco ptiuu and deu i:,n We
must therefore conclude If the fr;ttnr,s of il.
con>iItuiion snaani 10 create on iabi h. ei,b,.r
OF those departments, that they also nietlc,; o
| create Or establish the others. No one has vet
! hal the hardihood tn contend that either The
! General Assembly, the Office of Governor
was not created by the constitution, AMI ifit be
conceded that lbey were thus created II must IN
evitahiS follow, that the court of appeals is Gre
! atcd by the same power. IL when The trainers
| OF the constitution say, ''thc Legislative power
sjtt.H be rested in tw distinct braIlcl,csn or hou
! ses, (which shall be STYLED the General Assem-
| biy-"thcY have thereby created ihe General As
! senlbIF-and if when they again saw .s'rlie SUI
| Prcme executive power Sbd!t be eesscd in
Chief Magistrate, ,cho shaFbe styicd he (toreyp-
of--they have tlIercfs created the office u Gt,-
! yernor--uron what ground can it he urged
when they say, '''fhe iricii power of the com
| monwealth shaH be rested IN one supreme court
;Ct'ch s',afI be styted The court OF appeasn-tat
tiIev did not thereby create the court of apncals3
II must and does inevitably follow. that they nave
! created all neither. If they di not create
| the Court they have not creI tied the General
! Assembly TIC Governors Office. II will
then readily follow, i(tlIey have created neither
that all can be swept a9ay by Legislative enact
ment, and that the legislature can deprive us not
| onlr of Court or Governor, but also of two
| branches of the General Assembly, and cousc-
| qucn'iv OF the right Of sutfrage--and declare
| Themselves perpetual. If on the contrary the
| people in convention have created I'll those dc.
| part,ncnts, neither can be Gestrov cd. exccnt by
| the same power which created It. We iruId il
| to be clear proposition, thai whatcver the poo
| pie have created, neither the Legislature nor any
! other power in the government can alter or dcs-
| troy. ifthc legislature could so alter orhcstrcy
| they might create more Governors Dian one
1
| reduce tie number which we have, or put al
| once 0ut Of ojce hy legislative act. those whom
| the people have elected Or appointed. Such
! doctrine would be destructive 10 our cOnstilu-
| ton and the principles ofour Government. A
! contrary doctrine preserves each department in
I lis sphere, and guards the Fundamental rights of
f, the pcoue and tier constitutional ordinances,
| from legislative cncroachncnt AMI violation.
IL is truc hat the number of Judges of the SUI
/ prcfne court IS in The power of the legislature.
| But when once fixed il cannot be Iesscned ex-
! Cept the Office to be taken away is vacant. So
! is the pum''er of each branch Of the Legislature
| from fifty eight to one hundred in the House of
! Representatives, and from iwsuty four to thirty
| eight III thc Senate, il the power of the lcgsla-
turc once in every four years butn so much
so as to permit tire casting out of office those al
| ready in. For II never has been contcnded that
| a Legislative act could put member ofthat body
ont Of office during the period for Which l'o was
| elected. II IS true that forty two members Of
The House of REPRESENTATIVES aud fourteen ofihe
| senate, have been added TO the legislature, BY
legislative cnact'neu's, aincc tie adoption of the
present constitution. Can these legislative acts
which from timc to tifne irave added additional
numbers ne repealed, and i they can will all
such additional members be at once driven from
Officer Tie power in the legislature TO DO such