Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-08-12
THE RUTLAND WaHkIY AUGUST 1aa

y deducihle hon IL nataxo q - quAis
AcaAioas thsy ssqsips. Il - bs0 ne
quently remarked with great propFisty
that voluminous code Of hws u one OF
the inconveniencies necessarily connected
with the advantages of . free government
To avoid an arbitrary discretion in the
courts, Il il indispensabls that they
should b bound down BY strict rules and
presidents, which serve TO define and
point out their duty In every particular
case that comes before them. And it will
readily be conceived, from the variety Of
controversies which grow out Of the folly
and wiekedness of mankind, that the re-
cords of those precedents must unavoid-
ably swell to q very considerable bull, and
must demaad long and laborious study to
acquire a competent knowledge OF them.
Hence it is that there can be but few men
in the society who will have sufficient
skill in the laws to qualify them for the
station of judges. And making the proper
deductions for the ordinary depravity OF
human nature, the number must be still
smaller of those who unite the requisite
integrity with the requisite knowledge.
These considerations apprise us that the
government can have no great option be-
tween fit characters, and that temporary
duration in office, which would naturally
discourage such characters from quitting
lucrative line of practice to accept seat
on the bench, would have a tendency to
throw the administration OF JUS
tice into hands less able and less
qualified to conduct it with ability and
dignity" Every line of the fore.
going extract from the Federalist,
the production of the pen of John Jay,
who afterwards made the bench of the
Supreme Court of the United States for
ever illustrious by his occupancy of it as
Chief Justice, is as applicable to our
State as to any other, and it has never
been denied or called in question by any
| iurist or statesman, worthy of the name,
who was either cotemporaneous with, or
| has succeeded him.
Fully concurring in these views, your
committee have adopted them as a guide
in fixing upon the tenure Of office OF the
| judges Of the Supreme Court. But your
committee have not thought best TO re-
commend that the tenure should be for
! life as il the case in respect TO the Fed
eral Judiciary They are of the opinion
that a shorter period will best meet our
peculiar condition, and best accord with
the prevailing judgment of our people.
Your committee recommend the period OF
six years as being the proper mean. And
that the appointments shall be so made,
az that the terms of two of the judges
shall expire IN every alternate year, in
| the event thaS provision for biennial
sessions of the Legislature shall be adopt
ed or one in every year if not adopted.
/ Closely connected with this branch
of the subject is the question OF compen-
satiun. Your cammittee think 1t proper
to recommend that the Constitution be 80
amended as to provide that the judges OF
the Supreme Court shall, at stated times,
receive for their services reasonable
com pensation, which shall not be dimin-
ished during their continuance in Office.
! The reason for which is thus, IN substance,
.uccinctly stated in the article in the
Federalst, before referred to: " In the
general course of human nature power
power over his will. And one can never
hope to see realized in practice the com
| plete separation of the Judicial from the
| legislative power, in any system which
leaves the former dependent for pecuniary
resource on the occasional grants of the
latter. The enlightened friends of good
government Ill every state, have seen
cause - Lament the want of precise and
explicit precautions in the State Constitu-
tions on this head
1t is not to be forgotten that Judges are
subject to the infrmities of human ma
ture, after being placed upon the bench,
the same as they were before. An APP
pointment to office changes nothing that
Is inherent in the nature of human be-
ings. A judge ought to be able to treat
| the parties to cause, be they president
or beggars, with the same indifference
with respect to being influenced by them,
that the mathematician does the algebraic
signs with which he works out his problem.
But VIC have no reason to suppose that
judges will be altogether uninfuenced,
under the elective system, by the con-
sciousness that they may be dependent
for reelection upon the caprice of men
to be humored, upon partiality be-
slowed on the great and the influential,
and upon sycophantic fawnings lavished
upon those who strut i'll the lily worn
plumes of brief authority. 1t is true a
man of honor would scorn these prac-
tees but the danger is that in scorning
them he runs the risk of losing his posi-
ton, to make way for one more plant to
such practices.
While your committee have thought it
proper to provide, by an amendment, that
the salary of the judges shall not be di-
unfinished during their continuance in
Office, they have not thought best to fix
the amount by constitutional provision.
The fluctuations in the value Of money
and in the prices of articles of merchan-
disc, render a fixed compensation mad
missible. But your committee feel war
ranted in saying that, in the opinion Of
your committee, the present salary of the
judges is inadequate. 1t is true that in
exceptional instances, as when the Judge
has no family, or possesses large fortune,
it might be called sufficient. But it is
usually the case that the judges are not
composed of persons belonging to these
classes. They are, or should be, when ap-
pointed, in the earlier middle period of
life, before they have been permitted to