The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-03-27
THURSDAY EVEN'G, MARCH 81
Question of Commissioning Judges.


long and laborious attempt to show that the
present General Assembly has no right to elect
The county judges. We beg The Journal to tell
us to-day who is to commission the Judges to be
elected or who ought to be elected, next Decem-
bert 1t says Governor Walker cannot, and 1T
also says they must go into office on the first OF
January next No lodging, neighbor. Own up, |
If you are caught.-Dispatch.
1t comes with rather bad grace from
The Dispatch to intimate that The JOUR-
NAL sleeps on its editorial replies, when
1t took that paper from Saturday to Tues
day to reply to our first editorial on the
subject of controversy between us. But we
will answer at once, without waiting for its
to-morrow's reply, the interrogatory it here
proposes. The county court judges who
sought to be elected next December" 1--WE
quote approvingly from The Dispatch
should be commissioned by the Governor
to be elected next November, and their
commissions should date as Of the first
day of January, 1874. The Dis
patch fances that there would be
some difficulty in the way of this,
as the Governor does not enter upon
his official duties until that day, and
commissions could not well be printed and
issued on the same day, or on the fraction of
day Transporting after his Inauguration or
qualification and before the commissions
could be signed. But, practically, there is
no difficulty in the way of this being done,
any more than there is in commissioning
large number. of other state officers whose
official terms commence on the first day of
January at each succeeding change Of state
administration.
We do not know what the custom has
been in the Executive office of this state,
nor have we taken the pains to inquire;
but we do know what it should be, and
what it is in most of the other states. The
objection to their being commissioned by
Governor Walker, whose term Of Office
expires before theirs begins, is not merely
technical one it goes to the very gist OF
constitutional objection. His official life
does not even touch theirs, and he can
no more commission a judge whose term
of Office commences after his has
ceased, than he can 60 back and commits
sion one before his official life commenced.
There is a determinate period to his official
life f; it is four years and no more. That
Of Governor Walker expires on the thirty
first day of December, 1878, and if he can
issue commission to take effect on the
first day of January, 1874, he could have
issued one to take effect on the day before
his official term comnenced-a preposter-
Gus proposition.
But we have said there was practically
no difficulty in the way of commissioning an
officer on the first day of January, any
more than there is of commissioning him on
the thirty-frst of December. The county
court judges are appointed in December,
and the Secretary of State can have,
and should have, their commissions printed
in the name of the Governor elect, and
filled out ready for signing and ensealing or
the first day of January, as soon as the
new Governor shall have qualified by off
cial oath and this we undertake to say il
the practice in all other states so far as We
know. For instance, suppose that the mex
Governor should appoint in this state, az
in the state of New York, on the first day
of his official term, an Adjutant- General
Quartermaster-Gen Paymaster- Gene
raj, Surgeon-General, etc., as his military
staff, for the term of four years from the frs
day of January, 1874 |; what earthly diff
cllty would their be in the way o
commissioning them on that day, or as O
that day ? 1t is known at an early day
in November who the Governor elect is
or, at all events, it is known within on
week after the meeting of the General AS
sembly on the first Wednesday in Decem
Der; and, this known, it becomes the duty
Of the Secretary of State to have all nee
essary official blanks printed in ad
vance, in the name of the new
Governor, whose official term commence
on the first of January following. This il
done by courtesy, if not implicitly as
constitutional duty, in every state in tn
Union we know, in fact, no exception
And if these, and any number of other of
fcers, can be commissioned on that day, O.
as Of that day, why not the county cour
judges?
The Dispatch attempts to hurl at us ne
ductio ad obsgdum, but only to involve
itself in greater absurdity by so doing. w
answer back, that if Governor Walker il
the proper person to commission any on
officer whose official term commences OIL
the first of January, 1874, then he shoulc
commission all officers whose terms com
mence on that day, even to the official ap
pointments made by his successor
The Dispatch attempts to ge
off by saying that the commissions of th
county court judges amount to little NOR
than certificates of election but this is no
so. The constitution requires that the
shall be commissioned by the Governor,
and their commissions are their authorit
their full investiture of power. Thei
election is in the nature of legislatiy
nomination; their commissions are thei
complete authority to act.
Asto the second inquiry raised by Tn
Dispatch, about the election of circuit coui
judges in 1877, we will attend to tina