The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-17

on n 29th or september, 1000, 10 I'LL
the consequent vacancy. In 1884 JUS
tice Merrimon was elected to fill such
vacancy, but, instead of holding for a
term of eight years, was reelected for
a full term in 1886. Judge McKoy was
elected a Judge of the Superior Court
in 1882 for a full term of eight years,
but he died in the fall of 1885, and
Judge Boykin was appointed to fill the
vacancy. Judge Boykin was elected
in 1886 to fill the unexpired term of
Judge McKoy, which came to an end
in 1890; whereupon he was again
elected by the people at the very time
when the term of his predecessor would
have closed, but for his death. In the
same way Judge Gilmer, of the Supe-
rior Court, was appointed in 1879 to
fill the unexpired term of Judge Kerr,
which began in 1874, was elected in
1880, and again for a full term in 1882.
eight year after the election of his pre-
decessor.
It thus appears that the General AS
sembly gave expression to its cOnstruc
ton of the constitutional amendment
in 1877, just after it took effect ION the
1st of January of that Year, and both
Justices Of the Supreme Court and
Judges of the Superior Court have been
acting when the question has arisen
upon the idea that the legislative view
was correct, while the executive off
GERS, whose duty it has been to send
out election blanks and assist in asCer-
tanning the result, and the judges of
election and canvassers in the county
have never failed to perform their
allotted parts in supervising the re cleo
ton of an incumbent, who had been
first elected before the expiration of
the term of his predecessor. The more
recent cases, in which a specific term
has been mentioned in the commissions
of judicial officers, have never been
called to the attention of the public till
now, nor have they been properly con
sidered executive constructions, since
we cannot conceive how the tenure,
which depends upon the meaning Of
the Constitution, can be affected one
way OF the other by the action Of your
Excellency or n of our predecessors
in unnecessarily incorporating the
length of q term in a commission.
While we rest our opinion upon the
duty and propriety of adhering to this
settled legislative construction, &C
quiesced in until a very recent period
by the people acting in public and
private capacities, we deem it not i'm
proper to call attention to other clauses
in the Constitution and other legisla-
ton indirectly bearing upon and har-
monizing with our views. + 4
After discussing various clauses of
the Constitution, and the construction
that has been put on them by the courts
and legislature, the Judges continue:
These considerations lend additional
strength, if indeed any were necessary
to our conclusion that it was the plain
purpose Of the legislature to construe
section %, of article 4 Of the COnstitu-
ton, was to ensure the election of JUS
tees and Judges of the Supreme and
Superior Courts for full terms only at
regularly recurring intervals of eight
years. Such being the view we have
adopted after mature elaboration, we
deem it unnecessary to enter into an
elaborate discussion of the meaning of
the language used in section %, article
4, of the Constitution.
While we are inclined, according to
Dur Interpretation of the terms en-
in that section, to so c~onstrue
their actual meaning as to harmonic
with our view of the legislative con
3truction, we prefer to concede that
5he very able argument of the Attor-
1ey-G General has raised a doubt in our
minds as to the meaning of the words,
considered from the action of other
branches of the government. Conced-
then that the particular language
the intention of the trainers of
the Constitution uncertain, we prefer
to rest our opinion upon the idea that
our debts should be resolved in favor
of the legislative construction, with
the universal acquiescence in it by the
people, as also upon the ground that
in the effort to fix the terms we are
compelled to consider, as in pari ma
teriG, other provisions Of the Consti-
and bring them into accord with