Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/321

Rh all his functions, till a new appointment be made, as he ſhall alſo in any interval during which the governor ſhall declare himſelf unable to attend to the duties of his office.

The Judiciary powers ſhall be exerciſed by county courts and ſuch other inferior courts as the legiſlature ſhall think proper to continue or to erect, by three ſuperior courts, to wit, a court of admiralty, a general court of common law, and a high court of chancery; and by one ſupreme court, to be called the court of appeals.

The judges of the high court of chancery, general court, and court of admiralty, ſhall be four in number, each to be appointed by joint ballot of both houſes of aſſembly, and to hold their offices during good behaviour. While they continue judges, they ſhall hold no other office or emolument, under this ſtate, or any other ſtate or power whatſoever, except that they may be delegated to congreſs, receiving no additional allowance.

Theſe judges, aſſembled together, ſhall conſtitute the court of appeals whoſe buſineſs ſhall be to receive and determine appeals from the three ſuperior courts but to receive no original cauſes, except in the caſes expreſsly permitted herein.

A majority of the members of either of theſe courts, and not fewer, ſhall be a quorum. But in the court of appeals nine members ſhall be neceſſary to do buſineſs. Any ſmaller numbers however may be authoriſed by the legiſlature to adjourn their reſpective courts.

They ſhall be allowed for the preſent each by the year, payable quarterly out of any money which ſhall be in the public treaſury. Their ſalaries however may be increaſed or