Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-04

Legislature power to remove for any caus
whatever. He didn't think there was an,
need of specifications.
Dir. Fentress spoke in favor of amend
ing; Mr.. Bate and Mr. Heiskill against
after which the latter moved to lay boil
amendments on the table The motion
to lay on the table failed by vote of A.
to 81.
Mr. Heiskell moved to strike out tn,
whole section.
Mr.. Fentress proposed to amend so tina
a Judge or Attorney General could be re
moved from office for continued neglec
of duty or incompetency.
| MIR. House, of Montgomery, thought
they were trying to provide against al
imaginary evil. For the last forty years
not a single Judge had been removed
from office in Tennessee. He could moi
conceive that Judge would ever be re-
moved from Office because he had decided
an act of the Legislature unconstitutional.
MIR. Williamson was willing to trust to
the Legislature to pass general law on
the subject.
| Mr.. Brooks thought drunkenness was
i cAAnOASAiI NduSC III lClliOh al Vi o-ii
man from office.
| After some other discussion the amend
ment of Mr.. Fcntress, of Hardeman, was
adopted in lieu Of that of Mr.. Gibson. Mr.
Stephens amendment was lost by tie
vote
Pending a vote on the section as amend
ed, the Convention took recess till $50 P. NJ.
Afternoon Session,
Mr.. Burton offered the following, which
was adopted under a suspension Of the
rules;
Resolved, That a committee of three
be appointed TO wait on Mrs. Polk, the
widow of President James K. Polk, and
ascertain when it would suit her con-
Venience to receive visit of respect from
this body.
When the Convention adjourned it was
pending vote to adopt or reject section
6, as amended This vote was taken,
resulting in its adoption by vote of 80
to &c.
This vote was recOnsidered, and Mr..
Turner offered the following amendment
to section g.: Add at the end of line
eighth, sProvided, the causes of his re-
mOval shall be such as are prescribed by
general law of the land, passed by
Legislature prior to the one taking action
thereon.
Mr.. Turner thought it right that when
person was charged of anything, the
charge should be specified.
Mr.. Thompson, of Davidson, was Op-
posed to the section entire, and was in
favor of striking it out.
Mr.. Gordon stated that the object of in
cooperating the section of the COnstitu-
ton of 1884 was to provide a short way
of reaching Judges and expelling them
from Office, instead of being compelled
to go through the tedious process of i'm
parchment.
Mr.. King said the amendment was cal
culated to arrogate to the Legislature near
ly all the power. They made the laws,
and under the amendment could cOnstrue
the law and pronounce sentence. This
struck at the fundamental idea of the
Government, that there should be three
branches, the executive, legislative and
judicial, to act as checks on each other.
Mr.. Fentress proposed to amend by in
serting in the first line, after the word
Estate" 'For official corruption, OF for
continued neglect of duty, or incapacity
of any kind, TO perform the duties of his
Office.
Mr. Gibson made a motion to commit
the whole subject to special committee.
Lost.
The Convention then voted down the
amendments of Mr.. Fentress and Mr..
Turner, and adopted the section as re-
ported by the committee with slight
verbal change.
Section was now read as follows:
Sec. 7. The Judges of the Supreme or
inferior Courts shall at stated times receive
a compensation for their services, TO be
asccrtained by law, which shall not be in
creased or diminished during the time for
for which they arc elected. They shall
not be allowed any fees or perquisites of
office, nor hold any other office of trust
or profit under this State or the United
States.
Mr. House, of Montgomery, offered an
amendment fixing the salaries of Supreme
Judges at $4,000, and Circuit and Chan
Gerry Judges So, 900 per year.
Mr.. House proposed to fix a minimum
salary at which they could get good men.
Cheap judges were dear at almost any
price.
Mr.. Banks was strongly opposed to any
increase of salary.
The amendment was laid on the table,
after which section seven was adopted
Section was read as follows:
Sec. s. The jurisdiction Of tie Circuit,
G5aHcery and other inferior courts, staA
be asRosO esta6hShed By IAN, until cAaRged
By the Legislature.
Mr.: Taylor proposed TO amend by add
ing at the end of the section the words
and their organization shall be uniform
throughout the State" The amendment
was Withdrawn, after which the section
was adopted.
Section was read as follows:
Sec. 8. Judges shall not charge jurics
with respect to matters of fact, but may
state the testimony and declare the law.
Mr.. Gibson proposed to amend by add
ing E'and no Judge shall be eligible to fill
any political office during the period for
which he shall have been elected or ap-
pointed.
Mr.. Gibson withdrew the amendment
upon the ruling of the chair that it was
not german.
Section 10 was read as follows:
Sec. 10. The Judges or Justices of the
inferior courts of law, shall have power
in all civil cases, to issue Writs of certiOra-
ri to remove any cause, or the transcript
of the record thereof, from any inferior
jurisdiction, into such court, on sufficient
fOI I,tvC oath onh affirmation
Mr.. Hill, of Gibson, offered the fol
lowing in lieu, which was adopted:
Sec - The Judges, ChancellOrs, or
Justices of the inferior courts of law and
equity, shall have power in all civil cases
to issue writs of certiOrari to remove any
cause or the transcript of the record
thereof, from any inferior jurisdiction
into such courts of law, on sufficient
cause, supported by oath or affirmation.
The section as amended was then
adopted.
Section IL was then read, as follows,
and adopted:
Sec. il. No Judge of the Supreme or
inferior courts shall preside on the trial of
any cause in the event of which he may
| be interested, or where either of the
parties shall be connected with him by
affinity or consanguinity, within such de-
grees as may be prescribed by law, or
| in which he may have been of counsel, or
in which he may have presided in any in
ferior court, except by consent of all the
parties. IN case any of the Judges of
the Supreme Court shall thus be disquali-
fed from presiding on the trial of any
cause or causes, the Court, or the Judges
thereof, shall certify the same to the Gov