The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-06-17
The Terms Of the Circuit Court-The
Pay Of the County Judges.
HILLsyILLE, Va, June II, 1873
,e El;tors of The Disp1tch

To the Editors of the Dispatch:
The Wing of the 9th instant contains let
ter from Colonel Gray, of Fluyanna, in re-
gard to an error in the act passed at the last
session OF the General Assembly entitled
can act to amend and reenact sections five
and seven of an act to regulate and define the
jurisdiction of. the county and circuit courts,
to prescribe the number Of terms of the cir.
cult courts, and to fix the pay Of county
Judges" in which the statement is made that
the effect of said error is "to repeal the law
requiring three regular terms of the circuit
courts, and also that fixing the salary of the
county Judges and as the ninth section Of
the former act repeats section five of chapter
ninety-four of the acts of 1S69-'70, under
which they now receive their pay, unless
something can be done to correct this mad
vertence, there will be no law providing for
their compensation whatever" And the
editor of the Wing propounds two questions:
First, Where is now the authority for three
terms annually, after the 1st Of August, OF
the circuit courts? And, second, Where is
the provision for the pay OF the county
judges? .t
Now, admitting, for the sake of argument,
that the error has the full force claimed by
by Colonel Gray and the Whsg-viz., TO re-
peal the 9th and 7th sections as they stand IN
the original act, providing for the number
of terms of the circuit courts, and fixing the
pay of county judges am of opinion that
no great Inconvenience could result from II.
A separate and distinct act-to wit, chapter
'354, page 345, act of 1872-'73-authorizes the
circuit judges to fix the times for holding
their courts so that they can certainly Tx
the time for holding one regular term during
the remainder of this year after the act goes
into effect, and il another term is desirable
they have the same authority they have al
ways possessed to designate special terms.
No fears, then, need be entertained that the
circuit courts cannot hold terms enough be-
tween the first day of August next and the
first of January, 1874, to dispatch the bust"
ness before them.
As to the pay of the county judges, the
law prescribing their present pay is repealed
only from and after the LIST day OF January,
1874, and until That time they will, OF
course, be paid under the present law.
From that time forward, under the bypo-
thesis from which we are reasoning, there Ii
no law fixing their pay; but the Legislature
will meet again on that very day, and the
law prescribing their pay being then re-
pealed, they will have no constitutional OBJ
struction in the way of reducing their sala-
ries to any amount deemed proper.
Ny object so far has been not to refute
any position taken hy Colonel Gray or the
WING, but admitting all that they claim, to
show how any danger or inconvenience to
the public or to individuals may be avoided.
But really am of opinion that no court IN
the Commonwealth would give validity to
the decision which seems to be arrived at
nv Colonel Gray and the Wing. The we'll
known rule for constituting statutes is that
they must be construed so as to carry out
the true meaning and intent of the enacting
body and in this case 1t is so plain that the
true intention was to amend the 9Th and Sch,
and not the 9th and 7th sections, that any
court of justice would decide that such was
the effect of the amendatory act. a
., l know Colonel Gray is an able lawyer,
and do not suppose his letter was written
for publication. he evidently referred TO
the apparent effect of the amendatory act,
and not to its true judicial effect.
The existence Of the error Is another
warning against hasty legislation, and re-
buke to the habit which is getting TO De iar
too common III both branches OF the Legis-
lature of passing bills without referring
them to committee, where they can be crit
ically examined. - W.