3. The Governor shall receive for his services a compensation to be fixed by law, which shall be neither increased nor diminished, during his continuance in office. 4. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; shall communicate to the Legislature, at every session, the condition of the Commonwealth, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he may deem expedient. He shall be Commander-in-chief of the land and naval forces of the State. He shall have power to embody the militia, when in his opinion, the public safety shall require it; to convene the Legislature, on application of a majority of the members of the House of Delegates, or when, in his opinion, the interest of the Commonwealth may require it; to grant reprieves and pardons, except where the prosecution shall have been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct; to conduct, either in person, or in such manner as shall be prescribed by law, all intercourse with other and foreign States; and during the recess of the Legislature, to fill, pro tempore, all vacancies in those offices, which it may be the duty of the Legislature to fill permanently: Provided, That his appointments to such vacancies shall be by commissions to expire at the end of the next succeeding session of the General Assembly. 5. There shall be a Council of State, to consist of three members, any one or more of whom may act. They shall be elected by joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly, and remain in office three years. But of those first elected, one, to be designated by lot, shall remain in office for one year only, and one other to be designated in like manner, shall remain in office for two years only. Vacancies occurring by expiration of the term of service, or otherwise, shall be supplied by elections made in like manner. The Governor shall, before he exercises any discretionary power conferred on him by the Constitution and laws, require the advice of the Council of State, which advice shall be registered in books kept for that purpose, signed by the members present and consenting thereto, and laid before the General Assembly when called for by them. The Council shall appoint their own Clerk, who shall take an oath to keep secret such matters as he shall be ordered by the Board to conceal. The Senior Councillor shall be Lieutenant-Governor, and in case of the death, resignation, inability or absence of the Governor from the seat of Government, shall act as Go vernor. 6. The manner of appointing militia officers shall be provided for by law; but no officer below the rank of a Brigadier General, shall be appointed by the General Assembly. 7. Commissions and grants shall run in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and bear teste by the Governor, with the seal of the Commonwealth annexed. ARTICLE V. 1. The Judicial power shall be vested in a Supreme Court of Appeals, in such Superior Courts as the Legislature may from time to time ordain and establish, and the Judges thereof, in the County Courts, and in Justices of the Peace. The Legislature may also vest such jurisdiction as shall be deemed necessary in Corporation Courts, and in the Magistrates who may belong to the corporate body. The jurisdiction of these tribunals, and of the Judges thereof, shall be regulated by law. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals and of the Superior Courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, or until removed in the manner prescribed in this Constitution; and shall, at the same time, hold no other office, appointment, or public trust; and the acceptance thereof by either of them shall vacate his judicial office. 2. No law abolishing any court shall be construed to deprive a Judge thereof of his office, unless two-thirds of the members of each House present concur in the passing thereof; but the Legislature may assign other Judicial duties to the Judges of courts abolished by any law enacted by less than two-thirds of the members of each House present. 3. The present Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, of the General Court, and of the Superior Courts of Chancery, shall remain in office until the termination of the session of the first Legislature elected under this Constitution, and no longer. 4. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals and of the Superior Courts shall be elected by the joint vote of both Houses of the General Assembly. 5, The Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals and of the Superior Courts shall receive fixed and adequate salaries, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office. 6. Judges may be removed from office by a concurrent vote of both Houses of the General Assembly; but two-thirds of the members present must concur in such vote, and the cause of removal shall be entered on the Journals of each. The Judge against whom the Legislature may be about to proceed, shall receive notice thereof, accompanied with a copy of the causes alleged for his removal, at least twenty days before the day on which either House of the General Assembly shall act thereupon. 7. On the creation of any new county, Justices of the Peace shall be appointed, in the first instance, in such manner as may be prescribed by law. When vacancies shall occur in any county, or it shall, for any cause, be deemed necessary to increase the number, appointments shall be made by the Governor, on the recommendation of the respective County Courts. 8. The Attorney-General shall be appointed by joint vote of the two Houses of the General Assembly, and commissioned by the Governor, and shall hold his office, during the pleasure of the General Assembly. The Clerks of the several courts, when vacancies shall occur, shall be appointed by their respective courts, and the tenure of office, as well of those now in office as of those who may be hereafter appointed, shall be prescribed by law. The Sheriffs and Coroners shall be nominated by the respective County Courts, and when approved by the Governor, shall be commissioned by him. The Justices shall appoint Constables. And all fees of the aforesaid officers, shall be regulated by law. 9. Writs shall run in the name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and bear teste by the Clerks of the several courts. Indictments shall conclude, Against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth. ARTICLE VI. A Treasurer shall be appointed annually by joint vote of both Houses. ARTICLE VII. The Executive Department of the Government shall remain as at present organized, and the Governor and Privy Councillors shall continue in office, until a Governor elected, under this Constitution, shall come into office; and all other persons in office when this Constitution shall be adopted, except as is herein otherwise expressly directed, shall continue in office, till successors shall be appointed, or the law shall otherwise provide; and all the Courts of Justice now existing shall continue with their present jurisdiction, until and except so far as, the Judicial system may or shall be hereafter otherwise organized by the Legislature. Done in Convention in the City of Richmond, on the fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty, and in the fiftyfourth year of the Independence of the United States of America. D. BRIGGS, PHILIP P. BARBOUR, SCHEDULE. Ordered, that the roll containing the draught of the Amended Constitution adopted by this Convention, and by it submitted to the people of this Commonwealth, for their ratification or rejection, be enclosed by the Secretary in a case proper for its preservation, and deposited among the archives of the Council of State. Ordered, that the Secretary do cause the Journal of the proceedings of this Convention, to be fairly entered in a well bound book, and after the same shall have been signed by the President, and attested by the Secretary, that he deposit the same, together with all the original documents in the possession of the Convention, and connected with its proceedings, among the archives of the Council of State; and further, that he cause ten printed copies of the said Journal to be well bound, and deposited in the Public Library. Ordered, that the President of the Convention, do certify a true copy of the Amended Constitution to the General Assembly now in session; and that the General Assembly be and they are hereby requested to make any additional provisions by law, which may be necessary and proper for submitting the same to the voters thereby qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly at the next April elections, and for organizing the Government under the Amended Constitution, it case it shall be approved and ratified by such voters. APPENDIX. (No. 1.) Substance of Governor GILES's Address to the Executive Committee, on Saturday, October the 17th, 1829. (Made at its request.) Referred to in page 257 of these Debates. MR. GILES introduced the address, by begging the Committee to be assured, that he felt a high sense of the honor conferred upon him, by a call to present to the Committee his views of the interesting subjects then under its consideration; and that while it would give him sincere pleasure to comply with the call, he had not the vanity to presume, that any thing he could say would influence the opinion or vote of any member of the Committee. But, he could not avoid expressing the high satisfaction he felt at the spirit of liberality, harmony and concession, which had marked the proceedings of that Committee from their commencement to the present time. Nor could he help expressing at the same time, the deep concern and regret he felt at the equality of votes, or near approach to it, which had been given upon several of the most interesting subjects, as well by this as by the other Committees of the Convention. He could not, however, entirely suppress the hope, that by persevering in the same friendly and liberal comparison of opinions, which had heretofore been manifested in the Committee, a nearer approach to unanimity might hereafter be had, or at least, greater majorities might be found for adopting some one course of measures. Mr. G. then observed, that in executing the task he had undertaken, he proposed to present to the Committee nothing more than an outline compendious view of the whole subjects before them, as well as of the particular one more immediately under consideration. Relying upon the intelligence of every member of the Committee, he proposed to adventure but little into minute demonstration or argument, and hoped that each member would fill up for himself, from his own reflections, the vacuums which must necessarily attend a mere outline view of this, as well as every other subject. Mr. G. then said, he was himself deeply impressed, and he was confident every other member of the Committee was equally so, with the great importance of the objects for which they were called together, and of the powers with which they were invested to effectuate these objects. The one was nothing less than the formation of a social compact or written Constitution for the whole people of Virginia-the other, nothing less than the whole sovereign rights and powers of the same people. These involve trusts and duties of high and paramount impression, and demand the best efforts of our best deliberations to carry them into effect in such a manner as to answer the just expectations of our constituents and of the world. The object of every social compact or written Constitution, is to establish a practical Government, and to prescribe rules for its observance, thereby limiting its powers within a prescribed sphere of action. Fundamental laws must necessarily be general in their character, otherwise they would swell into a formidable code of legislative enactments. These general laws are intended as guides to the practical Government established by them, and are to such practical Government what that Government is to the individual citizens. The social compact or written Constitution prescribes rules of conduct for the observance of the practical Government. The practical Government prescribes rules of conduct for the observance of its individual citizens. All Governments profess to have the same objects in view in their formation—the safety of the people from all violence without or within-the protection of person-and the protection of property. These last are effected by an equal administration of justice to all. All these great objects can only be effected, by drawing from nature great general principles, applicable to the science of politics, for the formation of a practical Government, which, from its own intrinsic operation, shall produce good moral tendencies on the community over which it is established. Two general modes only have heretofore been devised for the formation of Governments, with the exceptions of a few Republics of very limited extent of territory and population. The one |