The Penn's Grove record., 1893-07-21

", section III 1.-THE general assembly
shall be composed of members annually
elected by tie legal voters of the coun-
ties, respectively, who shall be appor-
toned among the said counties, as near
" as may be according to the number
of their inhabitants. The apportion-
ment shall continue until the next CEN
sus and in apportionment of members
of the general assembly shall be made
by the legislature at its first session af-
ter the next and every subsequent
enumeration or census, and when made
shall remain unaltered until another
enumeration shall have been taken; pro-
yided, that each county shall at all
times he entitled to Il member; and
the whole number of members shall
never exceed sixty
at the time of the adoption of the
state constitution the present system oil
legislative districts was unknown.
Each county elected its quota of men,
bers for the county at large. The break
inc I'm of the counties into smaller dis
tricts for the purpose of securing closer
local representation was not done until
1872, when a dislricting scheme was de-
vised for political purposes. There was
no particular complaint then against it,
because an effort was made to make the
division equal and lust,
The Meas before tile Justices Depue,
Iinnincott and Reed we're made by able
men r.. Wayne Parker. for the peti.
tioners gave a lengthy history of cleo
t;on hv cnuniies He said the w of
the ITnited States tn district the
trv had meyer been determined by any
court In uo other State but this had
dist,icsinn ever been ATTEMPTED by the
7 eoisIatrre except where the Constitu.
tion nrovided for it. Mr.. Parker quot.
oil from the Constitution of several
States to support this point. He de.
cl.rad tha, the qerrymapder of 1891
was not made aceordiug to population,
hut ,I,at if was a poIitical device.
John r Emery commended that the
,-orrymopde, was ~eouivalent TO a change
in mo Constitution of the State and
.ouId only no made in the manner pro-
idol hv low
,uonI ,NoDermott for the defend
outs insisted that the right of the Leg.
isl.,ure to district the State had exist
Cd fo, FORTY Years In view of the fact
th.t the wording of the section of the
500 Cors,itrt;np under which it ia
hold that the law ia unconstitutional.
&c identical with The Federal Constitu-
,;on. If 10 tantanount tn saving that
tho 1Iorso of REPRESENTATIVE shall be
cononosod Of mamhers elected by the lie.
ooI I,oters Of this state MFR. McDer.
49, haIa that yhs, ,ha ,;uht of the
TorisIatrra IN district ,he State was
ottooko, in 1879 ,ha same question was
d~;rootiy iryolvea considered and decjd
oil his is 60 he held. hen the court
lad rorr r,t,s IN consider. Mr.. Nc.
Daru,o,t he,d hat the ouestion of ap-
nortionment of the Assembly districts
was n noIiticaI n and not subject to
;udical review.
.rrha act Of 1891 he said. "cannot
he set aside unless il violates the Con-
~stitntiop referring to apportioning the
members of Assembly amopg the coun.
tics According to population Essex
is Owen eleven members. 1t cannot be
denrived Of Them. 1t was the duty OF
the IepisIature to award them, and the
cou,ts cannot take them away.n
FIX. .Judpe Frederick w, Stevens, in a
short argnment. dvelt upon the consti.
t~utional phases of the matter, and de-
clare5 that there was nothing in the
| Constitution which declared that The
annortionment should be equal.
Cort,.rdt Parker held that the Con.
stitut;or distinctly said that a legal yot.
err eh,uld have the RIGHT 10 vote fol- all
| officers and the Legislature was striving
to fake away that right. IL was the
of tLo roorle NJ, Parker declared that
- VOC mot IN the noser of This court
NO, tho Court of Errors tn let uncop.
~s,;trtionaI acts ~legalize themselves.
1he state constitution does seem de.
,oo,;ro Inv not rsnnirino the Assembly
districts to be arranged equal rs can be
~ ,u.o Tbo