Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1885-06-12
Ibe Cat,faster 1ntelliaeufer.
LANCASTER. JUNE l2, 1885.
A withheld Judgment.

The supreme court of Pennsylvania has
adjourned for the summer without final de-
termination Of the question as to the Judi
cial district of Butler and Lawrence coun-
ties. 1t will be remembered that Butler
was made the constitutionally separate +"
district by the judicial apportionment of
1888, with Lawrence attached" and
to the district thus formed were al
lotted two judges. In the elections
that followed this apportionment Greer,
Rep, and Bredin, Dem, had plurality of
the votes in Butler, but were beaten in the
consolidated vote of the whole district by
Hazen, Rep, and McMichael, Dem, of
Lawrence, who got the certificates of
election and their title was confirmed by
the judgment of tie lower tribunal which
was summoned to hear the case They are
acting judges of the district, and the
singular result is presented of Lawrence,
the I" attached" county, supplying two law
and two lay judges for the district, while
Butler, the separate " district, author
lied by the constitution and created by the
statute, furnishes none.
Messrs. Greer and Bredin appealed their
cases to the supreme court, maintaining
that as Butler was the " district" its vote
and its vote alone should elect the judges
on the other side it was argued that the
Judges of district should be elected by the
voice of all its voters. The supreme court
it is understood, was evenly balanced in its
view of the case Judge Green, being alb
nd hn ln n,,t
n0tvotRg on the Judgment. So the mat
ter stands $Shere-ft did before the judg
ment of the lower court-which was only
a majority judgment and not unanimous
is sustained in negative sort of a way
and while Judge Hazen and AIeSSi ichae
remain de tacto judges Of Tie district, thei
title is clouded by the fact that one judg
out SftthhGG the three first convened to hear tn
case below, and three out of six suprep
court judges hold adversely to it and q
the opinion that Bredin and Greer 3er
rightfully elected. Manifestly the lega
title of those who sit on the bench to tr
titles to property and rights of life an
liberty ought to be clear and unquestioned
The decision of disputed judicial election
ought to be prompt 1t must be as uncom
Portable to the sitting judges as it is unjus
to the contestants to have their case thu
hung up, at the convenience Of the su
preme court judges. Surely the issue is on
of such supreme Importance that it ougf
to have gone to the top of the list, and hay
had the benefit of re-hearing before fu
bench
1t is only justice to Judge Bredin to sa
that some comments in these columns upo
this famous controversy were liable to til
misconstruction that he and other Butle
countyDemOcratswerepartly responsible fc
the atrocious apportionment which yoke
them with Lawrence and which has led
all this trouble. The contrary is the fac
1t was the Republican politicians of Bu
Ter, especially Greer, who had the distric
thus formed, in order to secure the benef
Of Lawrence county's big Republican vott
In his defeat Greer will get no Democrat
sympathy but even he is entitled to
hearing and decision of his claim Will
Judge Bredin, whose case has been pre-
sented to the supreme court with grea
cogency and completeness, has, from ever
point of view, just reason to complain tina
he is deprived of the benefit of a judgmen
which, if even adverse, could not do NOR
than keep him out of a seat from which h
is now excluded.