Year: 1874

FOVe lOf TIE Dill, including the OBJ
noxIous items it must fail, and the
government suspend for want oi
funds.


ARTICLE TI.-THE EXECUTIVE.


The only changes of any impor.
tance in this Article are in the first,
fourteenth and fifteenth sections.


The time of electing the State Of
ficers is changed from October to
November, biennially, for the reason
already explained under the fore
going article. Section fourteen re-
quires the General Assembly to pro
vide by law for the case of vacancy
occurring at the same time in the
office Of Governor and Lieutenant
Governor. Under the existing Con
stitution, an actual allegiance of the
Executive is by 10 means an un-
likely event. AS the existing power
of the Lieutenant Governor to ''vote
when the Senate is equally divided, "
has become a subject Of contention,
it is so modified by section fifteen as
to remove any fair ground for jeal-
ousy Of his control hereafter.


ARTICLE Iv.-oUR COURTS.


Chief among the purposes ofwhich
the Convention was called was the
reorganization of the Judiciary.
The accumulation of judicial busin-
ess had blockaded the Courts. From
one to two years was required to
reach the hearing of a cause in the
Common Pleas, and from five to sew
en- years in reaching an end in the
Supreme Court. This is a virtual
denial of fjustice, often working the
bankruptcy of litigants even when
successful. Its causes were obvious.
The practice of second trials dupli-
Gated the labor of the Common Pleas
Judge. The time which ought to
have been devoted to that Court
was diminished by their withdraw
al from one to three months in each
year to review their own decisions
in the District Court; while the few
days or hours allotted TO this Court
in each county renders its decisions
q judicial farce, and caused it to fall
into popular contempt. From q
general want of confidence in this
Court, large proportion of the
causes found there way to the Su-
preme Court, and thus have over
Whelmed it also.


To mature q system that will Sc
cure stability, learning and efici-
.ency in the courts; command public
confidence and respect; relieve ex-
listing, and prevent future blOckades;
and Of such fexibility as to be read
lily adapted to the exigencies of bus
mess, was the aim and effort of the
Convention. This, it was believed,
could be done by creating an inde-
pendent tribunal intermediate be-
tween the Common Pleas and Su-
preme Courts; Iengthening the judi
cial tenure so as to give it greater
stability, and to offer an inducement
for legal tearing to accept it; requir-
ing semi-annual sittings of Circuit
Courts in each county; providing a
commission to depose of the aecumu-
lated business of the SupremeCourt;
and starting the Supreme court upon
q new calendar.


Accordingly, it is proposed that
the State be divided into twelve
Common Pleas districts; that the
forty-six Common Pleas Judges
provided for be distributed to these
districts and the subdivisions there
of according to their necessities;
that the judicial service of each dis
trict be equitably apportioned among
the Judges therein; that quarterly
terms of this Court be held in every
county, and that each Judge be re-
quired to annually perform two
hundred and forty days labor, IN
less the business assiged to him be
sooner disposed of.


1t is further proposed that the
General Assembly shall provide by
law for supplying the place of any
Judge who may be temporarily un-
able to attend to his duties; and in
emergencies a Judge of one district
may be transferred for a time to aid
in another. The force thus provided,
if faithful to It's official trust, and the
people elect competent men, viii be
ample to discharge all the business
brought into the courts, with prompt
ness and deliberation, so that the de-
lay of causes will be prevented, the
attendance of witnesses from term
to term, at ruinous costs, avoided,
and speedy justice done without de-
NAL or delay.


1t is also proposed to divide the
State into seven circuits, in each of
which there shall be q Circuit Court
to consist of three judges, two ol
whom shall be a quorum; and that
semi-annnal terms thereof shall be
held in each county. It shall have
jurisdiction to review and correct
the findings and judgments of the
| Common Pleas and other inferior
courts. With a wide scope Of ter
ritory from which to select competent
Judges, with a power in the Genera
Assembly to diminish or augment
the capacity of this Court according
to necessity, and with a length O.
official term guaranteeing reasonable
stability, it is believed that the Cir
cult Court may become in all re
spect, except in authority, the equal
of the Supreme Court; and com
mand such confidence and respect
as to satisfy most itigants and pre-
went them from further prosecuting
their controversies-thus relieving
them from a great additional expense
and the Supreme Court from an ex
cessive accumulation Of causes. The
Circuit Judges may serve in any


part of the state; and as any two o
them will form a quorum, it viii bt


seen that ten of these courts nigh
be held at the same time if neces
sary.


The Supreme Court remains un
changed, except that the official tern
of the Judges is extended to ter
years. At the first election it is prC
Ivided that no elector shall vote fol
more than three of the five Judges
Iof this Court. This method Of elec


ton was applied in New York in The
choice of the Court Of Appeals, and
lis conceded to have worked well