Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-05


Campbell. Carter, Cummings, Deaderick,
Fentress. Fulkerson, Gardner, Garner,
Gordon, Henderson, House of William
son. House of Davidson, Robertson and
Montgomery, Jones of Giles, Kennedy,
Kirkpatrick, Kyle, McDougal, Morris,
Meeks. Netherland, Nicholson, Porter of
Henry, Shelton, Staley, Taylor, Thomp-
son of Davidson, Mr.. President Brown j
-29.
Section IA was adopted as follows:
Sec. IA. No fine shall be laid on any
citizen of this State that shall exceed fifty
dollars. unless it shall be assessed by a
iury of his peers, swho shall assess the
fine at the time they find the fact, if they
think the fine should be more than fifty
dollars.
Section Is was read as follows:
Sec. Is. The different counties of this
State shall be laid off, as the General AS
sembly may direct, into districts of con-
yenient size, SO that the whole number in
each county shall not bemore than twenty
five, or four for every one hundred square
miles. There shall be two Justices of the
Peace and one Constable elected in each
district, by the qualified voters therein,
except districts including county towns,
which shall elect three Justices and two
Constables. The jurisdiction of said Off
GERS shall be coextensive with the county.
Justices of the Peace shall be elected for
the term of six, and Constables for the
term of two years. Upon the removal of
either of said officers from the district in
which he was elected, his Office shall be-
come vacant from the time of such re-
movaI. Justices of the Peace shall be /
commissioned by the Governor. The
Legislature shall have power to provide |
for the appointment of an additional
number of Justices of the Peace in in |
corporated towns.
Mr.. Burkett proposed to amend by |
making the number of Justices elected in |
each district one instead of tIOO, except |
in districts including county towns, where |
he proposed t'0o instead of three. The
amendment was rejected by vote of 50
to II.
Section Is was adopted.
Mr.. Burton offered the following amend
ment to section 10: THE said Clerks of |
the Supreme and Chancery Courts shall |
receive for, their compensation the fees
allowed them by law until their receipts
amount to the sum of $1,000, but the
Legislature shall provide by law that half
of all fees received by said clerks, over
and above said sum of s., 500, shall be !
paid into the treasury of the State"
Mr.. Burton said it was generally under |
stood that some of the Chancery Court
clerks received a gross compensation of
from SIS, 900 to $4,000. lie thought |
this was too much.
After some discussion the amendment |
was withdrawn.
Mr.. Kennedy Offered the following
amendment to section 10: eff, at any
election for Chancery Court Clerk, no can
didate shall receive a majority of all the
votes cast, then the Chancellor shall ap
point the clerk" Rejected.
The Convention took recess until 2:30
p. VI.
Afternoon Session.
Mr.. Gibson Offered the following as an
independent section to Article vi.
Sec. =. The Legislature shall from
time to time, by general law, divide the
State into judicial circuits and chancery
districts or divisions, so that the number
of circuits shall not exceed one from every
60, 600 inhabitants, and the number of
chancery districts or divisions shall not
exceed one for every IS, 900 inhabitants;
provided, that territory and population
shall be so equalized as to equalize the Ia
bors of the several judges, and of the sew
eral ChanceIlOrs as nearly as possible.
And no circuit, district or division shall
be created Otherwise than by a general
law recircuiting or redistrcting the entire
State
Mr.. Porter, of Haywood, moved to
lay on the table. Carried by vote of
~ to 49,
Mr.. Gibson also offered the following
section: All officers authorized by this
Constitution, or by the Legislature, shall
hold their offices until their successors
shall be elected or appointed and quail
ficd.s And whenever a vacancy occurs in
any office, the officers elected OrappOinted
to fill the vacancy shall hold office only
for the unexpired term of his predecessor,
and until his successor is elected or ap-
pointed and qualified.
This section, on motion of Mr.. William
son, was referred to the Committee on
Elections
SCHEDULE.
The Convention next took up the sched-
ule Section first, as reported by the comi
mittee, was read, as follows;
Section |. That no inconvenience may
arise from change of tina Constitution, it
is declared that all the civil officers, ex-
cept the Attorney General and Reporter
for the State and the Judges of the several
courts, shall hold their offices until the ex-
piratiOn of their present term of service.
SO much of this Constitution as pro-
vides for the appointment of the perma-
Lent Judges of the Supreme Court, shall
not GO into operation until the first day OF
November, 1871.
Immediately after the ratification OF
this Constitution, the Governor shall
nominate, and by and with the advice and
| consent of the Senate, shall appoint four
additional Judges, who, together with the
! Judges of the present Supreme Court,
| shall constitute the Supreme Court until
the first of November, 1871, and until
the appointment and qualification OF the
Supreme Court provided for in this Con
| stitution
The compensation Of each of said four
| additional Judges shall be five thousand
| dollars annually -
Said Judges may sit in two sections,
and hear and determine causes at the
same time; but they shall not so sit in
| different grand divisions at the same time.
An Attorney General for the State shall
be appointed after the appointment and
| qualification of the four Judges of the
| Supreme Court herein provided for.
The present Judges of the Circuit
Chancery and other inferior courts, shall
| hold their offices until their successors are
elected under this schedule.
| The elections for Judges of said infe-
rior courts, shall be held on the - day
Of --, 1870, by the Sheriffs of the sew
cral counties, in the manner prescribed
by the Code.
Mr.. Seay proposed to amend the first
paragraph by inserting after the word
estate in the second line the words
"Attorneys" for the State for the sew
eral Circuits of Districts" and after the
words 'sCOurts," in the same line, insert
the words ''and Justices of the Peace. ]"
Mr.. Key offered the following in lieu
of the amendment and the first paragraph:
'eThat no inconvenience may arise from a
change of the Constitution it is declared
that all civil officers shall hold their offices
until the LIST day of November, 1871,
uuless their term of service previously
expire
Mr.. Key said this was thing about
which he had thought a good deal He
was opposed to unseemly haste in turning
men out of office. Let them either turn
all out of office at once without exception