The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-07-29
SOME BADLY NEEDED REFORMS
IN OUR STATE CONSTITUTION
Questions That Will Be Discussed at the Conven
tion-Provision Against Hasty Legislation
Method of Selection of the Judiciary.
Fewer Officers Necessary.
written for The Times.)
SERIES III.

SERIES III.
Every man IS presumed to know the
law AS violent as this legnl presump-
ton IS. its violence is intensified In yir.
E.nia by the fact that all of our statute
laws with few exceptions go into effect
Immediately upon their passage and often
many months before they are accessible
TO the public. In other words. the ci;!-
zen n Virginia IS he'd TO obedience OF
laws the existence OF which he does no:
and cInnot with ali diligence know. There
are instances where courts in ignorance of
recent unpublished changes in the sta
tute law have decided, cases enormously
and put !ffisants 10 the expense Of APP
peals. The Legislature begins in Decem-
Der to pass laws TO take effect imm ed:ate-
1y- II is often not until June TINT these
facts are published. There are few States
besides Virginia that have not in Their
Constitutions guarded against this evil.
The purport Of The usual provision IS that
no act shall take effect until ninety days
after the adjournment Of the Leg SIN
tuTe. except in case of emergency,
which emergency shall be expressed IN the
preamble of the act. and be established by
vote Of two-tflirds of the members elect
ed to each house.
NsAS siiid dIsp ~ plOSIUS against t-lS
evils Of special legislation Many consIi-
tutions provide TINT local or special laws
Shall not be passed on any subject which
can be provided for by general law, I'M
less notice Of the intention TO apply there
for shall be published in the locality where
the matter or thing 10 be affected may
be situated. Our Acts of Assembly are
encountered with mass of unnecessary
local lnws. Usually a representative, by
q e$o - :.
or Senate that a measure is purely local.
can have It passed without question. Thus,
the representative from a county becomes
Its sole lawmaker, another had custom
growing out of Legislative courtesy"
Many constitutions prohibit local or spe-
cial laws regulating county and city af-
fairs. leaving all cities and counties to be
governed by general laws. No local
law can be passed for the protection Of
fish anu game. No special charter of in
corporation can be granted. all corpora
tons being chartered under a general
law and all of the same class having pre-
c:sely the same privileges and being sub
ject to the same limitations Thus legis-
latures IN other States are relieved of
many private and local matters which take
up so much of the time Of our lawmakers.
in several States. the Boards of Super
risors Of the counties allowed to enact
local lnws certain specified subjects.
HASTY LEGISLATION.
To prevent hasty legislation, 4 large
number of States forbid the Introduction
OF any new bill after a certain period has
elapsed from the beginning OF the ses-
sion. which period ranges in different
States from % to 60 days. In other States,
new bills cannot be introduced within a
certn!n number of days of the period set
for adjournment. A number of consiitu-
lions require all bills to be printed and pub
lished before they can be considered by
either house II is quite usual to pro-
vide that no bill can be passed except by
majority Of the members elected to each
house, and the yeas and nays must be
necosded OF the final passage of every
bill.
Riders" upon appropriation bills is one
OF the evils that our Constitution fails to
guard against. Appropriations for spe-
cial purposes are often placed in the same
bill with general appropriations for the
support of the government, and the Cover
nor. not having power to veto one item
of the bill without vetoing the whole. is
compelled either TO give his assent to
objectionable appropriations or in vetoing
them TO veto measures of public neces-
stty. In a large number of States the
Governor has power 10 veto any single
item IN an appropriation bill
In the Virginia Constitutional Convention
IF 1929 Chief Justice Marshall said: THE
judicial department comes home in It's
Effects to every mans fireside- 1t passes
on his property. his life. his reputation, his
all. Is II not in the last degree important
that he should be rendered perfectly and
completely independent. with nothing TO
influence or control him but God and his
conscience2 ! have always thought from
my earliest youth till now that the great
EST scorrge an angry Heaven ever inflicted
ttyn csr ,1i,. i,ppa ant
corrupt or a dependent judiciary To
guard against the possibility of such
judiciary has been u task TO which each
State has set itself, and it s interesting to
note the different methods adopted to
Accomplish the same result
In the early history of the country
Judges were usually appointed by the Cow
ernor OF elected by the Legislature. New
York. Pennsylvania. and Virginia were the
first among the older States 10 elect their
Judges by the people: and this plan is
now followed in thirty-one States-viZ.,
Alabama. Arkansas. California. Georgia.
illinois, Indiana. Iowa. Kansas. Kentucky.
Maryland. Michigan. Minnesota. Missouri.
Nebraska. Nevada. New York North
Carolina Ohio, Oregon. Pennsylvania.
Tennessee. Texas. West Virginia. IHiscon-
Bin. Idaho. Montana. North Dakota, South
Dakota, Utah Washington, and Wyoming.
Five other States-viZ., Colorado. Florida,
Louisiana Connecticut. aid Vermont
have adopted the popular plan only par
tally. selecting some judges by the people
and the others through the Governor or
the Legislature. Virginias plan in select
Ing her Judges by the Legislature Is in
vogue Only in South Carolina and Rhode
Island while Connecticut and Vermont
select portion by the Legislature and
others by the people Under the recent
Delaware Constitution the Governor alone
appoints the judges. while in Maine. Mas
sachusetts New Hampshire, MISSISSIPPI
and New Jersey the Governor appoints
W, +be consent of the Senate. or 'Coun-
riI.'. The people of Mississippi recently
naoptea an amendment to their Consitu-
ton requiring. judges to be elected by the
people. but their Supreme Court has just