The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1914-07-23

vidcs that judges Of probate shall be
elected by the frecmen Of their respec.
tive probate districts
4 The seventh is Article rs. which
provides that justices or the peac,
shall be elected by the freemen Of
their respective towns, and apportion.
them according to population,
/ The eighth is Article 20. which pre-.
seribes when and in what manner
these several county and probate Off
GERS and justices OF the peace shall b.
elected
The ninth is Article "a, which sub.
stitutes biennial il place Of annual
sessions of the general assembly.
The tenth is Article 26, which VIC
will consider later
The eleventh is Article adopted in
March of last year, which substitutes
the title Of "justice" for Judge" OF
the supreme court.
These are all the amendments bear
ing on the clause of the original Sec
ton 3 quoted at the outset. When
fused into that clause do they com
petely obliterate it or do they leave
something that should be preserved
1t will be noted that none of the
amendments quoted deal with the
election of judges or justices Of the
supreme court. Disregarding, for the
moment, Article 26, to be considered
later, the revisors had ample warrant
in framing out of the remnant of the
quoted clause in Section 9, untouched
by subsequent amendments and there
fore continued, the new Section 43,
which reads as follows
The Joint Assembly may biennial
ly on their first session after their
election (or oftener if need be- elect
Justices of the Supreme Court and
Judges of the several County Courts
Except Assistant Judges of the Coun-
ty Court and also may elect Major
Generals and Brigadier- Generals, from
time to time, as often as there shall
be occasion"
Now let us consider what effect Ar
ticle 26 had on this. 1t reads THE
judges of the supreme court shall be
elected biennially and their term of
Office shall be two years" Did this
amendment completely nullify the
other, or was it merely supplemental ?
Would the revisors have been justi-
fled in throwing out entirely all that
remained of the old section, and would
the constitution be complete with Ar
ticle 26 alone?
Article 26 prescribes how often the
judges of the supreme court shall be
elected and how long their terms shall
be. 1t does not prescribe when they
shall be elected or by whom. The rem
nant of Section 8, preserved in Sec
ton 43 by the revisors, supplies just
what is lacking and what, if omitted,
las indeed there was no warrant for
doing) would have left these absolute
ly essential features of the election of
justices unprovided for. The questions
of whether the justices should be
elected by the general assembly or by
the people or how, and at what time
in the biennial period, would have
been beyond determination had the re-
visors Of Chapter ii taken the re-
sponsibility Of assuming that the ORR
ginal clause was completely superseded
by Article 26. No other portion of the
constitution or of the amendments
has any bearing upon it to be consid-
cred as conclusive.
Accordingly, the revisors did the
only thing they could do and the
thing they had absolute warrant for
doing. They preserved the remnant
of the original clause in the form of
Section as and of course followed it |
with Article 81 embodied in Section |
"A, the two being essential parts of
the machinery for the election of the
court members.
As to whether there is not some con-
iict between the two sections as they
stand, with respect to the time when
he assembly shall or may elect, opin-
on will differ. We assume the re-
'isors would not have felt justified,
lnder the peculiar circumstances, in
ewriting either section, if any ques-
ion as to their inharmony arose. They
oubtless saw the urgency of the
giving the general assem-
'ly permission to elect oftener than
nee during its biennial session ''if
iced be-" The settled policy Of the .
tate is that its higher court judges
hall be chosen by the legislature,
he representatives of the people.
suppose that after having elected and
While the legislature were still in SEES
ion vacancy in the bench should oc- !.
VI. Would it not be travesty for the
lace to be filled by appointment with