Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-15
SUPREME COURT DECISIONS.
December Term = Nashville,
sa 1870.
Joseph B. Heiskeli, Atforney-GeE.
eral and Reporter.

1870.
Joseph II. Heiskeli, Atforney-Geza.
eral and Reporter.
est 80 e te
/ No. 2a3. rossg
| The, Pope, Jos W. Glenn, Huges Arnold, Jus
tees, etc ct ais. vs.. Fogster Fhfer, Josiah vii
liarns and Thos. Jones, Constr, etc.
This bill is filed by compliments, the
threefrst of whom composedthe Quorum
Court of White county at the time, and
other citizens of said county, TO restrain
by Injunction the defendants from orgs-
| MIXING as a Board of Commissioners, OF
Commissioner Court, for the county Of
| White: and to have law that was passed
by the Legislature on the 18th of March,
| 1868, entitled can act to create BOARD
| of Commissioners for the county of Mad
| ison, - the provisions of which were ex
tended, by the 18th section of said act,
to the county of White, declared uncon
stitutionsl; and then to perpetually enjoir
the Commissioners appointed from acting
| as such BOARD under said act.
This act, it is insisted, is in violation Of
the Constitution of. Tennessee, and 6
number of grounds are assigned in the
bill upon which its validity is attacked
1t has been argued with great zeal anG
marked ability by counsel on both sides;
and as it is question on which there has
been difference of opinion, and which
has given rise to much feeling and angry
discussion, we propose to examine it a
| fully as the facilities at hand for such
| investigation will permit, and endeavol
| to place our conclusions on the basis OIL
sound reason, principle and authority.
Without at present citing the various
provisions of this act of the Legislature
of our State, we may assume that it pro
poses to supplant and abolish that ancient
institution of the State, known as tht
Quarterly Court, and place in its stead {
| Board of three Commissioners, appointed
by the Governor, comforting upon the
Commissioners the powers of the Quar-
terly Courts, together with some add
| tional powers, perhaps not possessed by
said court under the laws in existence al
the time of the passage of this act by
the Legislature.
The first question presented for OuI
consideration is whether the Legislature
had the constitutional power to do this
| And the next is, whether it could be
done by the mode attempted; that is, by
an exceptional enactment, applicable Il
one or more counties, and not by gen.
eral law, applicable alike to all the coun
ties of the State, or operating equally and
alike over the whole Territory of Tennes
see-in other words, is this the law OF
the land, within the meaning Of the Con
stitution?
On the first question there is some diff
Guilty in arriving at satisfactory conclu
sion. The County Court, or Quarterly
Court, or Court of Pleas and Quarter
Sessions, was part and parcel of the or
! ganized machinery of our State govern
ment at the adoption of the Constitution
of 1884, and had been of the State Of
North Carolina before the adoption and
formation of our original Constitution Of
government of 1896. BY the COnstitu.
lioa Of 1896, article 6, it is provided,
"There shall be appointed in each county,
by the County Court, one Sheriff, one
Coroner, one Trustee, and sufficient
number of Consta5les, who shall hold the
offices for two years. They shall alsc
have power to appoint one Register ant
Ranger for the county, who shall hold
their offices during good behaviour" o.
article 8, sec. -, it is provided, that
"Justices of the Peace shall be appointed
for each county," and their number was
limited to two for each captains company
except for the company that includes the
county town, and in this they should mo-
exceed three. Yet we fiud in this C5nsti
tuition no provision establishing such |
court. 1t is simply recognized and trea'eC
as one of the existing ins itutions of tn
State, well known, and therefore, refer
red to simply as the ''COunty Court"
This institution continued among U:
down to the time of the formation of III,
Constitution of 1884; and so far as W,
can learn from the history Of that period
no complaint had ever been made of it
no wish had been expressed by an
one 10 get clear Of it, o
TO alter or abolish the system G
arrangements of which il was part
nor to substitute any thing in its stead
We cannot learn that the convention o
1884 had any purpose t. abolish it, o.
had any proposition submitted to it
looking to such an end. We may safelI
affirm that, if such proposition had BEEF
presented, it would have been prompt!
rejected. That convention had IN
much of the best talent of the State
and lawyers, whose learning and thorough
acquaintance with the machinery of on
State government, has not been eXcellet
by any who have lived in our State.
In arriving al q correct conclusion as t,
what the constitution intended to estab
lish and what to abolish, or its true inten
and meaning on questions, such as ar
involved in this case, in the language O
Judge DEMO, in delivering the opinion o
a majority Of the Court of Appeals il
the case of The people VS.. Draper, i
| n. Y. Rep, 537, ''we must keep in min,
that the constitution was not framed TO
a people entering into a political societ!
for the first time, but for a cOmmunit,
already organized and furnished wit
legal and political institutions adapted t
all, or nearly all, the purposes of civi
government; and that it was not intende
TO abolish these Institutions, except s
far as they were repugnant to the cOnsti
tuition then framed"
We may assume the proposition to b
a correct one, that the intent and meaniu
of the constitution, when arrived at i
accordance with established principles o
construction, is the supreme law of tn
land to our legislation; and that the Legis
lature has plenary legislative-tha
is the law making power exceI
in 50 far as they are restrained b.
the Constitution of the State, or of tn
United States. The prohibition 10 exel
else particular power, or make pal
ticular enactment, need not be expressed
however, but may be implied. And tha
such sn implication would fairly arts
when we can see from The constitution
that certain arrangements therein provi
a.