thereof; and when two or more judges are clected at the same time in any judicial district, they shall decide by lot which shall be president judge; but when the president judge of a court shall be reelected he shall continue to be president judge of that court. Associate judges not learned in the law, elected after the adoption of this Constitution, shall be commissioned to hold their offices for the term of five years from the first day of January next after their election. SECT. 17. The General Assembly, at the first session after the adoption of this Constitution, shall fix and determine the compensation of the judges of the Supreme Court and of the judges of the several judicial districts of the Commonwealth; and the provisions of the fifteenth section of the article on Legislation shall not be deemed inconsistent herewith. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be held to reduce the compensation now paid to any law judge of this Commonwealth now in commission. SECT. 18. The courts of common pleas in the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny, sha.l be composed of the present judges of the district court and court of common pleas of said counties until their offices shall severally end, and of such other judges as may from time to time be selected. For the purpose of first organization in Philadelphia, the judges of the court number one, shall be Judges Allison, Pierce and Paxson; of the court number two, Judges Hare, Mitchell and one other judge, to be elected; of the court number three, Judges Ludlow, Finletter and Lynd; and of the court number four, Judges Thayer, Briggs and one other judge, to be elected. The judge first named shall be the president judge of said courts respectively, and thereafter the president judge shall be the judge oldest in commission; but any president judge re-elected in the same court or district shall continue to be president judge thereof. The additional judges for courts numbers two and four, shall be voted for and elected at the first general election after the adoption of this Constitution, in the same manner as the two additional judges of the Supreme Court, and they shall decide by lot to which court they shall belong. Their term of office shall commence on the first Monday of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. SECT. 19. In the county of Allegheny, for the purpose of first organization under this Constitution, the judges of the court of common pleas, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be the judges of the court number one, and the judges of the district court, at the same date, shall be the judges of the common pleas number two The president judges of the common pleas and district court shall be president judge of said courts numbers one and two, respectively, until their offices shall end; and thereafter the judge oldest in commission shall be president judge; but any president judge re-elected in the same court or district shall continue to be president judge thereof. SECT. 20. The organization of the courts of comnon pleas under this Constitution for the counties of Philadelphia and Allegheny shall take effect on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and existing courts in said counties shall continue with their present powers and jurisdiction until that date, but no new suits shall be instituted in the courts of misi prius after the adoption of this Constitution. SECT. 21. The causes and proceedings pending in the court of nisi prius, court of common pleas, and district court in Philadelphia shall be tried and disposed of in the court of common pleas. The records and dockets of said courts shall be transferred to the prothonotary's office of said county. SECT. 22. The causes and proceedings pending in the court of common pleas in the county of Allegheny shall be tried and disposed of in the court number one; and the causes and proceedings pending in the district court shall be tried and disposed of in the court number two. SECT. 23. The prothonotary of the court of common pleas of Philadelphia shall be first appointed by the judges of said court on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, and the present prothonotary of the district court in said county shall be the prothonotary of the said court of common pleas until said date when his commission shall expire, and the present clerk of the court of oyer and terminer and quarter sessions of the peace in Philadelphia, shall be the clerk of such court until the expiration of his present commission on the first Monday of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. SECT. 24. In cities containing over fifty thousand inhabitants, except Philadelphia, all aldermen in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall continue in office until the expiration of their commissions; and at the election for city and ward officers in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, one alderman shall be elected in each ward as provided in this Constitution. SECT. 25. In Philadelphia, magistrates in lieu of aldermen shall be chosen, as required in this Constitution, at the election in said city for city and ward officers in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five; their term of office shall commence on the first Monday of April succeeding their election. The terms of office of aldermen in said city holding, or entitled to, commissions at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall not be affected thereby. SECT. 26. All persons in office in this Commonwealth at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, and at the first election under it, shall hold their respective offices until the term for which they have been elected or appointed shall expire, and until their successors shall be duly qualified, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution. SECT. 27. The seventh article of this Constitution prescribing an oath of office shall take effect on and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. SECT. 28. The terms of office of county commissioners and county auditors, chosen prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five,which shall not have expired before the first Monday of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, shall expire on that day. SECT. 29. All State, county, city, ward, borough and township officers in office at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, whose compensation is not provided for by salaries alone, shall continue to receive the compensation allowed them by law until the expiration of their respective terms of office. SECT. 30. All State and judicial officers heretofore elected, sworn, affirmed or in office when this Constitution shall take effect, shall severally, within one month after such adoption, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation to support this Constitution. SECT. 31. The General Assembly at its first session, or as soon as may be, after the adoption of this Constitution, shall pass such laws as may be necessary to carry the same into full force and effect. SECT. 32. The ordinance passed by this Convention, entitled "An ordinance for submitting the amended Constitution of Pennsylvania to a vote of the electors thereof," shall be held to be valid for all the purposes thereof. SECT. 33. The words "county commissioners," wherever used in this Constitution and in any ordinance accompanying the same, shall be held to include the commissioners for the city of Philadelphia. Adopted at Philadelphia, on the third day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-three. JOHN H. WALKER, Attest: D. L. IMBRIE. Chief Clerk. |