Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/323

Rh by no other, and they ſhall be triers of the fact as well as judges of the law.

The juſtices or judges of the inferior courts already erected, or hereafter to be erected, ſhall be appointed by the governor, on advice of the council of ſtate, and ſhall hold their offices during good behaviour, or the exiſtance of their court. For breach of the good behaviour, they ſhall be tried according to the laws of the land, before the court of appeals, who ſhall be judges of the fact as well as of the law. The only ſentence they ſhall have authority to paſs, ſhall be that of deprivation and future incapacity of office, and two thirds of the members preſent muſt concur in this ſentence.

All courts ſhall appoint their own clerks, who ſhall hold their offices during good behaviour, or the exiſtence of their court: they ſhall alſo appoint all other their attending officers to continue during their pleaſure. Clerks appointed by the ſupreme or the ſuperior courts ſhall be removeable by their reſpective courts. Thoſe to be appointed by other courts ſhall have been previouſly examined, and certified to be duly qualified, by ſome two members of the general court, and ſhall be removeable for breach of the good behaviour by the court of appeals only, who ſhall be judges of the fact as well as of the law. Two thirds of the members preſent muſt concur in the ſentence.

The juſtices or judges of the inferior courts may be members of the legiſlature.

The judgment of no inferior court ſhall be final, in any civil caſe, of greater value than 50 buſhels of wheat, as laſt rated in the general court for ſettling the allowance to the members of the