The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-01-21

WEtyNASOA
~. v;ro;nia Lao Journal for January
-. ,r., hcen received. 1t Is COCO
usually good-No. The decision " :,
r1nued states supreme Court IN tue case y.
Snse ps. Bcamregard ct al IS an ''npo'.s"
-. Also. the decision OF the N'rE'n's
Conrt Of Appeals In Gerst Us. Jones q 20.
We we're some days ago favored by inc
..,,sor with advanced sheets OF one aft'e'e'
whtch We noticed; and as II mas pe."
emerged that we m,s,ook and therefore n's-
.,.,eJ the opinion OF the Lao journal as
20 when the judges Just elected ny 'he "eu,
era, Assembly will 90 into ONCE we wiz
reproduce some Of those portions Oh '"'
article on which our statement oil the Jour
mars opinion Yves based.
The Lam journals main point Is that 'he
terms Of the county judges Just elected VIII
not begin until January !, 1881. In us
cussing this point II uses the following IAN
guage:
"Therc IL no other tine when any judges
term OF Office can commence"
But II adds:
"And no other period for which one can
be elected (is] named or even intimaled In
the Constitution"
That seems 10 us to draw distinction
between "term" and "period"; as II the
Journal had said that every Judge chosen
for full term Is chosen for that term and
that only. The period cannot be heightened
nor shortened.
The Lao Journal further says;
Indeed, the general policy OF the Consti-
tuition seems to us as plainly at war with
that Of the resolution OF the Legt .lature as
the terms of the former are TO tn ose OF the
latter. The policy Of the resolution being
10 REQUIRE the terms OF all lud ges OF the
same class 10 expire on the saT ne day, ana
that OF the Constitution requiJ ing that no
matter when one Is elected his Term Of office
shall not begin until the " first day OF jan
usry next following" whif IN when an
nexed to the fired tern. named, e1
necesSitote rel makes tb e terms ex-
pire at different perit IDS on the
LIST OF January; and WI lie all OF the
Judges who were elected in February or
March. 1870, began their te rms OF Office on
the LIST Of January, 1871, t is as expressly
provided that each one elected thereafter
&" all the judges" Is the language ssed by
the Constitution shout d commence his
term on the "lst OF Jar uary following his
appointment" thus ii, ing upon noto-
rious, definite day TO be gin the term, and q
fixed and definite term OF Office.
A "fxed term" IL .allcized by the au-
thor dots not mean a term OF six years
and nine months. Tor do the words ga
notorious. definite d ay to begin the term,
aud a fixed and d. finite term OF Office
carry that meaning.
What is the const itutional term? We an
swer, six years not six years and nine
months.
Again: The J6 ,urndl says:
Having shoV N then, as we think, thai
there Is nothing in the terms, context, OF
policy Of the &c institution indicating dlf
ferent constru elton Of the word vacancy
than that giyef il at common law; but, on
the contrary, IpreSs provisions liking the
terms Of Ofiic OF the judges at so many
wears, and 6y ing the time when each one
shall CONNER ice bis term, it must be mani
fest that ev cry vacancy in the office OF a
fudge throws back upon the Legislature
the right to fill the office, and when so
filed, the Y,erson elected will have the right
to hold FOL: the constitutional term"
Agaia: The journal says:
"Wferi the Constitution says that the
term Of al the Judges shall begin at a GER
tain time, what power has the Legislature
TO saw that the term of any one OF them
shall begin ,ohenhe is elected and on some
other,dayf"
Wethink that the reader will agree that
II we have Inexperienced the JonrnaPS
meaning, we had good reason for so doing
II the Legislature has no power to say tha'
the term OF any one OF the judges shall
begin d" .,chen he is elected" nobody has thai
power. We hold it to be self-evdent pro-
position that no officer. whether executive
or judicial. can take Office before bis tern
begins. The journal proves that the term
Of the new county judges will not begin
until next January. Unless our logic is al
fault, 1t necessarily follows that the new
county Judges cannot take office now.
We had taken leave OF the subject OF this
article, and intended to say no more about
1T. The reader must find our apology fol
again taking it up in our desire to show
that we had good reasons for claiming that
the Law journal agreed with us.