The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-01-16
The Facts.

The Facts.
II the Supreme Court 0! Appears s"''
dec,ac when the case comes before " .sa'
the county Judges iust elected csnpo. ',~e
.xee before January 1, 1881. IL VIII DC pc'
enc. Tho Constitution compets such de-
s,s,or. for arguments based upon ineonve-
n,cncc, and upon the Intention Oh 'ae ''a
ucrs q the Constitution, aud upon every
thing else than the words OF that insuu.
r,eut. vii, be brought to bear In favor OF
,he assumption that the county Judges Just
.,..,.a can take Office ut once. Let us re
view the case.
Tn 1873 the Legislature elected county
,,aees IN the spting--pine months bete'e
the term OF those then In osiec expheo' "n"
desptc the fact that new Legislature vas
IN ne elected in November OF that ear a"u
wou,d assemble the 1st day OF the next
January-the day the new county i'ases
were TO take Office Why was this doae Dy
Nr. CoourLL and bis assnciatesg Because
n was universally conceded that IL the
county Judges were not elected una' 1874
they could not take Office until January /,
1875. Upon no other ground can the cleo
ton Of the county judges by the Legisla'
turc Of 1873 be justified.
What /, the provision OF the Constitution
nnon which action Of the Legislature OF
1873 was based? We quote 1t again:
IN "Tbeir terms 81 Office shah commence
on the lst day OF January next following
their appointment; and (2) they shaIi ois-
charge the duties OF their respective offices
=. A., M I'M M and nlIaIitlcl-
ton under this Constitution 'ntll thelf
terms begin"
This language means the same as IL 1t
were ia the words following:
"Tbeir terms OF Office shall commence on
the ist day OF January next following tDeir
appointment, except that the Judges nfs'
elected under this Constitution snaii 90 ineo
Office at once, aud continue in office Tor SIX
years after the said lst Of January"
Briefly stated tue meaning OF the proyi'
sion Is that the term Of no Judge elected for
six years except those first elected under
the present Constitution can begin before
the LIST day Of January next following his
appointment. Can this construction be
avoided? II so, hows
The only remaining point is, Can Judge
take Office before bis term begins! Can any
officer take office before his term begins
To state the question is TO answer 1t. IL Is
worse than nonsense TO contend that these
questions can be answered in the aflrna'
tive. Why could not the judges elected in
1873 qualify at once and enter upon the
discharge OF the duties OF their new
Office? Because they could not take
Office before their terms commenced. Tue
fact that there were county Judges al
ready In Office whose terms had not expired
made no difference at all. If those judge
had all resigned or died, the new ones could
not have taken their places. why! lie
cause the term OF Office Of the new ones hat
not begun. They were not elected either tt
fill vacancies or to serve out dneXpireC
terms, and therefore could moi take Office
except for full term. nor until the time ar
rived for that term TO begin.
Were the county judges elected last
week elected to ill Il vacancy, or to serve
out an unexpired term? No. Nobody vii
pretend that they were. They were elected
for full term, which, according to
the plain language OF the Constitution
will not begin until "the first day OF jan
uary next following their appointment
These unmisiakable words have got to be
explained away before those judges can
take office. The men who argue the ques'
ton on the other side, and admit that The
regular term Of the new county judges VIII
not begin until next January, give away
their whole case. II there is any hole
through which the new judges can slip into
Office at once, it must be found in some
construction Of the Constitution which viii
claim that the term OF the new judges be-
gan before they were elected, although the
Constitution expressly says that it shall be-
gin on the first day OF January next follow.
ing their appointment.