The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-01-08
Tho New County Judges.

-
Thc editor Of the Virginia Ld,c journal
nbIv discusses in the January No. OF tha'
valuable monthly question raised In re-
solnsson passed by the House OF Delegates
before ne late recess. The res Luton was
one ius,ructing the Committee on Courts OF
Justice 10 inquire and report TO that BODY
at what time the terms OF Office OF each Oh
the Judges OF the Commonwealth would ex'
pirc. The Journal establishes by quoting
innumersblc authorities and citing pre-
cedents which run on all tours With bis pro-
position tina, every Judge elected In virginia
whether to III vacancy or because OF tue
expiratlou OF a term is elected for iui'
term. His article Is conclusive. We shou'd
like to reproduce 1t in full; but IL Is so long
that we cannot fud room for 1t. we here
resor; 20 IL, however, for the purpose OF
extracting what he says upon the point
which our Pittsylvania correspondent raised
in his article in the Dispatch Of yesterday
namely, that the county judges yet to be
chosen by the Legislature al this session
cannot 20 into office until the LIST day oil
January, 1891.
The Lam journal quotes all the pro-
visions Of the Constitution bearing upon
the ones,ion which II discusses. And mere
IL the first comment upon them:
Now. IL will be observed first, that the
Constitution expressly provides when The
terms OF all the judges shall commence
VIZ. son the lst day Of January next toi-
lowing their appointment" land also Inc
terms OF Office OF each one-viz., Judge OF
the Court Of Appeals, "twelye years
circuit JUDGE, "cight years" and county
or corporation judge, "six years" mere
Is no other time ,chen any judge'S term OF
office can commence, and no other period
for ,ohich one can be elected. named or
eren intinaated in the Constitution. lOur
italics.l
That is clear, concise, and unmistakable.
The Journal of course proceeds to prove
that the act Of Assembly which undertakes
to say that judges shall be elected to ill I'M
expired terms is unconstitutional. J.
this point we are not considering. We de-
sire to know Just now only when the terms
OF Office Of the judges yet to be elected by
the present General Assembly will COM
mence. On page 6, the journal incidental
" remarks that the policy OF the Constitu-
ton requires that
"No matter when one Ia judgc] is elected
his term OF Office shall not begin until the
first day OF January next following"
Again
awhile all OF the judges who were elect
ed in February or March, 1870, began their
terms OF Office on the first day OF January,
1871, 1t is as expressly provided that each
one elected thereafter should COM
mence his term on the first day OF January
following his appointment"
The same question is incidentally dis
cussed in the following:
But. apart from this line Of reasoning,
which NAV he regarded as somewhat mar
row and technical, although it seems to us
perfectly sound, let Us see what results the
resolution OF December 18th, 1872, would
lead 10. Suppose (as was almost certainly
the case, although we haven't the Journals
of the two houses TO fix upon any name)
some county Judge was elected by the last
General Assembly TO fill vacancy after the
first day Of January, 1879. According to
the exDresS terms OF the Constitution, his
term OF office could not beqin until the first
of Jcnudru, 1880, when, il this resolution
must stand as the law, it woEld end on mat
Uery DAY. In other words, the resolution
would make the term Of Office expire on the
very day that the Constitution, SAYS it shall
commence. Or when the
Constitution says that the term OF "all the
Judges" shall begin at a certain time, what
power has the Legislature to say that the
term of any one OF them shall begin when
he is elected, and on some other day?
These extracts fully sustain the position
taken by our correspondent in his article in
yesterdays Dispatch. The county Judges
yet 70 be elected by the General Assembly
during It's present session cannot qualify |
until The lst day Of January, 1881.