The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-03-15
Tha County Courts.

&. s.. t# egs,
nv an adroit movement the enemies Q
4he county courts have succeeded IL degfso
ING those courts by diminishing the con,
Ansation OF theirjudges and curta'linS tnei
Jurisdiction.
Tha strength to pass the bill was Oh
tanned by a concession to Radicals IN aaa
inc clause requiring the county cour
Judges to appoint judges OF election
frcnI both the Conservative and Radica
par,Ics. The expedient succeeded. and tn
hill has passed both Houses. The ques
ton of breaking down the county courts
therefore, rests with the Governor. The oil
before him depriyes the county court judge
of all Jurisdiction except in cases of misde
meanor, matters Of probate, actions Of un
lawful detainer. and appeals from tile deci
sions Of justices. It gives judge S2V'
salary and $50 additional for every thou
sand over ten thousand inhabitants II
his county. For further comfort 10 Ill:
lucrative position he is allowed 10 Prac
tice In the higher courts. as If lawyer WIG
would accept such an office with such com
pensaton could practice in higher court
or could get case in such court if he were
to advertise bis readiness to practice In II.
The Constitution requires that county
court judges shall he " lcarned i'll the law
and the Legislature defeats the Constitution
by so reducing the compensation OF the Office
that no man "iearned in the law" will accept
il. And thus the really popular court-tht
tribunal which should be the ready di>rosel
of cases requiring prompt action, and th'
efficient conservutor of ncigborhood peace
and sccurity-is dwar(ed and weakened III
force and energy and made contemplate
in the eyes of the people, whose welfare de-
ponds so much upon it.
We have discussed this question hereto
fore, and we will repeat few Of our ar9u'
ments. When the Constitution provides that
a Judge shall te learned in tie law" ii
means that he shall be good lawycr-ho
more, no less. What good lawycr--wha'
lawyer Of even respectable talents-can be
had for the pay which the new bill allows.
Again: The Constitution expressly pro-
vides that the amount OF the judges s@'a-
ries ".shall not be diminished during their
term of Office" What does this larguage
mean? 1t means that, having entrusted to
the General Assembly the power Of clecting
Judges, the trainers of Tie Constitution de.
terlnined to prohibit that body from lcgsia.
ting Independent judges, C: judges objection
able to that body, out of Office, either by
diminishing their salaries or otherwise. The
natural resort Of the Legislature would &c to
q reduction of the salaries of the judges they
dislked, and so the Constitution expressly
forbids such reduction. This prohibition
would have been carried still further
if the trainers OF the Constitution
had dreamed that Virginia Legislature
would ever he elected which would by Il
mere eyasion--by taking advantage Of cir
cumstances, by clipping the constitutional
words short oil, Ivy becoming coptatores Ter
borum-in brief, by doing at the end of
the term what it was supposed would
never be done, if ii were prohibited to be
done during the term of office. We regard
such legislation as Of piece with that of
Congress which last year called a" riot" Il
rebellion" and so found n constitutional
warrant tor the enforcement act.
We add that the prohibition we have
quoted meats that the mode Of getting rid Of
incompetent or corrupt judges prescribed in
section % of article VI shall be strictly fol-
lowed, and that competent, faithful, and
pure judges shall not be pushed out Of office
by any evasive measure.
If the Legislature may pass law provid-
ing that after the 1st OF January, 1874, county
Judges shall receive n mere piltancc for
their services, that body has the power to
change the Constitution, for nothing is more
certain than that men learned in the law are
not going to sit for the pay which the new
bill allows. If the General Assembly can
not-as ii kno,cs st cGnnot-get such men to
accept the Office, ii ,could be reduced 10 the
alternative Of haotng to violate The Cousti-
tuition 6y electtrg men no! learned IN The tar,
or hoving to violate it dy electtng none.
- - Once more: Section p Of Article VI pro.
vides that judges "shall continue to dis.
"charge the duties of their offices after theii
"terms Of service have expired until theil
successors have qualified" Therefore, tt
compel these judges to resign their offices ir
1874 before tie new ones shall have qualified
will be just as truly violation of tin
spirit of the Constitution as it woult
be to legislate them out OF Office now
Indeed, the bill may leglslate them all out o
office. We would not be surprised /
they were all. or nearly oil, to resign at once
Suppose, on the other hand, that even bal
dozen Judges shall be compelled to dis
charge the duties of the office for six month
of next year owing to the failure Of the new
judges ESQ called, heaven save the mark,
to qualify. Il is almost certain that OWN,
to deaths, or designations, or destinations
among the new judges, al least some of the
old ones will have to continue in Office
Their term will thus lie extended
by the Constitution itself. Can Tho
Legislature reduce their pay? VIZ
say it cannot, ind that the law which under
n takes to do so is clearly unconstitutional
When tue Constitution says that their pay
shall not be diminished during their term OIL
office it means, unquestionably, that it shal
not be diminished so long as they continue
to act as judges under their originalappoint
ment or election. THIS provision does il
fact extend Indefinitely the term of office O
t,,I IA,