reside within the district for which they shall be respectively elected. Chancery Powers of Common Pleas Courts. Section 20. The several courts of common pleas, besides the powers herein conferred, shall have and exercise within their respective districts, subject to such changes as may be made by law, such chancery powers as are now vested by law in the several courts of common pleas of this Commonwealth, or as may hereafter be conferred upon them by law. Supreme Court Extra Judicial Duties-Court of Nisi Prius Abolished. Section 21. No duties shall be imposed by law upon the Supreme Court or any of the judges thereof except such as are judicial, nor shall any of the judges thereof exercise any power of appointment except as herein provided. The court of nisi prius is hereby abolished, and no court of original jurisdiction to be presided over by any one or more of the judges of the Supreme Court shall be established. Orphans' Courts-Auditing of Accounts-Registers' Courts Abolished. Section 22. In every county wherein the population shall exceed one hundred and fifty thousand the General Assembly shall, and in any other county may, establish a separate orphans' court to consist of one or more judges who shall be learned in the law, which court shall exercise all the jurisdiction and powers now vested in or which may hereafter be conferred upon the orphans' courts, and thereupon the jurisdiction of the judges of the court of common pleas within such county, in orphans' court proceedings, shall cease and determine. In any county in which a separate orphans' court shall be established, the register of wills shall be clerk of such court and subject to its directions in all matters pertaining to his office; he may appoint assistant clerks, but only with the consent and approval of said court. All accounts filed with him as register or as clerk of the said separate orphans' court shall be audited by the court without expense to parties, except where all parties in interest in a pending proceeding shall nominate an auditor whom the court may, in its discretion, appoint. In every county orphans' courts shall possess all the powers and jurisdiction of a registers' court, and separate registers' courts are hereby abolished. Style of Process. Section 23. The style of all process shall be "The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." All prosecutions shall be carried on in the name and by the authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and conclude "against the peace and dignity of the same." Right of Appeal in Criminal Cases. Section 24. In all cases of felonious homicide, and in such other criminal cases as may be provided for by law, the accused after conviction and sentence may remove the indictment, record and all proceedings to the Supreme Court for review. Vacancies in Court-How Filled. Section 25. Any vacancy happening by death, resignation or otherwise, in any court of record, shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, to continue till the first Monday of January next succeeding the first general election which shall occur three or more months after the happening of such vacancy. Laws Relating to Courts to be Uniform-Special Courts Forbidden. Section 26. All laws relating to courts shall be general and of uniform operation, and the organization, jurisdiction and powers of all courts of the same class or grade, so far as regulated by law, and the force and effect of the process and judgments of such courts, shall be uniform; and the General Assembly is hereby prohibited from creating other courts to exercise the powers vested by this Constitution in the judges of the courts of common pleas and orphans' courts. Submission of Issues of Fact. Section 27. The parties, by agreement filed, may in any civil case dispense with trial by jury, and submit the decision of such case to the court having jurisdiction thereof, and such court shall hear and determine the same; and the judgment thereon shall be subject to writ of error as in other cases. chancery jurisdiction in, federal court of, 128 state court of, 126 vice admiralty court es- Andros, Governor, 23, 164, 216 from Dutch courts, 7 to privy council, 71, 82, 84 Arbitration, 15, 48 Assheton, Robert, 113, 175, Assizes, court of, 16, 29, 163 Attorneys-at-law: early bar, 110-115 subsequent to Revolution, Bar (see Attorneys-at-law) Brackenridge, Judge H. H., Bradford, Judge William, 131 Carr, Sir Robert, 9, 11 of privileges of 1701, 73, to William Penn, 41 Circuit courts, 135, 138 Codes, colonial tendency Commission to revise the civil appointment, 155 report on equity juris- on orphans' court, 235 103 Decedents' debts, sale of land Dickinson, John, 117, 120, 129, Disorder, complaints against, District court of Philadelphia, acts of 1700 and 1705, 100 under Duke of York's Doan, Aaron, outlawry of, 130 Duke of York (James II): proprietorship of, 9 citation of cases forbidden, 150 conquest of New Nether- statutes in force, 13, 14, Equity jurisprudence: colonial difficulties, 159 201 confined to Supreme constitution of 1776, 192 181 petitions against, 184 provincial council, 1661 missioners in 1835, 196 rules of Supreme Court, Welsh courts as a pre- Erie and Bradford counties: Evans, Governor, 80 Finne, Long, 31 Fletcher, Benjamin, 50, 222 |