The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-12-14
THE CIRCUIT JUDGES.

The revolutionary body of bogus states
men (?), which is presided over by E. w.
NJ. Mackey, have requested the Attorney
General to furnish them his written opin-
ion as to the legality of the election of
Circuit Judges blythe last Legislature.
The evident intention of this body is to
reject the last election, and proceed to
place in Office set ofimbeciles orknayes,
who will prove more subservient for
party trickery and r.iscality than some of
the present judges have done This at
tempt is based upon purely legal quib-
bic as to the form of the last election,
which is at present under review by the
Supreme Court of this State, and is not
The subject of review. The Constitution
otSouth Carolina, Art. w Sec. l3, pro-
vides thatv"the State shall,be divided into
convenient circuits, and for each circuit
judge shall be elected by joint ballot of
the General Assembly, who shall hold
his Office for a term of four years, and
during his continuance in Office he shall
reside in the circuit of which he is judge"
There has never been any election con-
Quoted strictly according to the require
ments of this section. in that the vote for
Judges has always been taken by call of
the roll of members. which had, previous
to the Reed-Whipper contest, been con-
sidered ballot by every one, and al
though the point has been raised before
the Supreme Court, no adjudication upon
it has vet been had. There have been
three stated elections for judges under
the new constitution, and several cleo
tions to fill vacancies, which were inva-
riably conducted riua uoce. There is no
doubt that the manner of election was
informal, but does that make the election
itself void when it was acquiesced in by
all the electors and the candidates them
selves, and has been the uniform practice
for eight years? -
But this is not all. The constitution
in speaking of the legislative department
Of our government, provides in Art. II
Sec. "a. "In all elections by the General
Assembly, or either House thereof, the
members shall cote viua voce. and their
votes thus given shall be entered upon
the journal of the House to which they
respectively belong" The provisions Of
this section cannot be construed without
violence to its verbage to be in harmony
with the section before referred to, for
the first section says the circuit judges
shall be elected "by joint ballot of the
General Assembly" while the last quoted
section provides that call elections by the
General Assembly" shall be "riva uoce. :"
1t is therefore impossible to fulfill the re-
quirementS Of both these sections. Now
this conflict of constitutional law is a
matter for the decision of the Supreme
Court. The Legislature if legally or
ganized cannot undertake to pass upon
it. The Legislative branch of the govern
ment cannot construe the law, but must
act as the aw-giving power, leaving the
construction to be placed upon any
doubtful point to the Courts. The Legis-
lature might pass an amendment to the
constitution, and, if adopted by the peo-
pie, it would bind future bodies, but it
cannot review the acts of q former Legis-
laturc which were in their nature final.
If be granted that the Legislature can
construe the law and act upon its con-.
struction, we claim that the Legislatures
for the past eight years have construed
these sections of the constitution, and the
present Legislature, if legal, could not
repudiatc that construction so far as it
relates to the past, for if so the next Leg
islature might differ in its construction
from the present one, and thus there
might be continual conflict between
successive Legislatures. The constitu-
ton never intended for the Legislators to
be judges also. ...
This attempt to strike down the judi
ciary is lick at the last safeguard ofour
liberties, for the purpose Of supplanting
the judges who have been bold enough to
oppose the extreme measures of unprin-
cipled politicians. 1t will not succeed,
and we will yet have the judiciary of
South Carolina to guard the liberties,
the lives and the property of our citizens.