The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-02-27
The Governor and the Commission.

hotel, Indianapolis.
The Governor and the Commission.
Ii the commissioners are to perform any
labor OF judicial character, ne Their the gOUeT-
nor OF the state nor the general assembly could
appoint them. without trsmpling on the con-
sttutiOnGl rights of the electors of the state at
large, who are alone entitled 10 elect such OFF,
cers.-VetO Message. FEB. %.
Says the constitution, art. s. sec. IS:
"When, at any time, vacancy
shall have occurred in the office
Of Judge of any court, the governor shdH fill
sucb racancy by appointment, which shall
expire when a successor shall have been
elected and qualified"
1t has been repeatedly held by the su-
preme court that when a new court is
created by the legislature a vacancy"
exists, which it is the right and duty of
the governor to fill by appointment, and
the judicial history of the state presents
many instances IN which this has been
done. The cases are numberless in which
the governor has filed vacancies caused
by death or resignation.
Gov. HOvEY's memory seems to be as
rusty as his knowledge of the constitution
is limited. The position he assumes in
the veto message is conspicuously mega
tived in his own career. He was himself
appointed by the governor on May s, 1854,
To supply the place on the supreme bench
vacated By the resignation of Judge
RoAcHE. And this. too, under the present
constitution, which he is now so alert to
defend.
The governor again saws:
If the object Of this act is TO hasten adjudica
ton, the interference by the executive or legis-
IatiVe departments, without the consent of the
Judges OF the supreme court, could only tend to
embarrass, prevent and retard them.
Says the constitution, art 7, sec. 4:
The supreme court shall have jurisdiction
N appeals and wTits OF error under
such regulations and restrictions as may be pre-
scribed by law. Ii shall also have such origi-
nal jurisdiction as the general assembly may
confer.
If the supreme court" mentioned in
the constitution were nothing more Of a
governmental agency than is provided for
IN that instrument, it would be a barren
ideality. 1t depends for its vitality and
for every one of its powers on the will of
the law-making body. If the various
statutes ating to it, and now in force,
were ali repealed, the court would stand
practically abolished. Under the consti.
tutional provision last quoted its sphere of
operations and functions, the rights. powers
and duties OF its judges are subject, al
most without exception, to be defined and
regulated by the legislature at its discre-
ton. This is in harmony with and sup
Elemental to the fundamental require
nent of the bin OF rights that justice shall
be administered speedily and without
delay" Almost the whole body OF our
statute law relating to the supreme court
is the result of the exercise of this
supervisory power by the general as
sembly II has repeatedly "inter-
fered' without consulting the judges
who we're for the time on the bench.
1t is this kind of interference that from
time TO time has provided for clerk of
the court and his assistants, for a sheriff
and messenger, for a law library and
librarian, and for reporter of the courts
decisions. All this has been done gin
aid" of the court, and to secure the best
results for the public. Take the case OF
the reporter, as an illustration. For over
thirty years that official has been writing
the head notes Of the decisions, and pre-
pairing the latter for publication. In this
way the judges have been able to devote
70 profitable research the time and labor
that otherwise might have been expended
on work chiefly clerical in its nature.
Was this an interference calculated TO
"embarrass" and "retard" them? And
so, in supplying commissioners, the legis-
lature is simply travelling in this same
path and exercising the same power. In
treating these officials as judges Gov.
HoyEY persists in the fallacy so clearly ex-
posed in the house debate on the vetoed
bill
Representative Curtis clearly stated the
case on the door OF the house, as follows:
The bin does not provide for additional
judges, or judges of a1y character or degree.
IL does not create, nor contemplate, either a
court, or the discharge Of judicial functions by
the commissioners to be selected. The COM
missioners will not be in any sense judicial
body and It's members will not separately nor
IN the aggregate. exercise the powers or
functions OF Judges. The commissioners will
act AID speak only as permitted by rules to be
framed BY the supreme court, and the decisions
of the commissioners can never become judicial
gtterances Of themselves. They must in every