SUPREME COURT COMMISSION AMEND

MENT, 1875

Proposed by joint resolution, March 30, 1875. Submitted to electors, October 12, 1875.

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio (three-fifths of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto), that it be and is hereby proposed to the electors of this state to vote, at the next annual October election, upon the approval or rejection of the following amendment, as an addition to article four of the Constitution of the state of Ohio, to wit:

SEC. 22. [21] A commission, which shall consist of five members, shall be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the members of which shall hold office for the term of three years from and after the first day of February, 1876, to dispose of such part of the business then on the dockets of the supreme court as shall, by arrangement between said commission and said court, be transferred to such commission; and said commission shall have like jurisdiction and power in respect to such business as are or may be vested in said court; and the members of said commission shall receive a like compensation for the time. being with the judges of said court. A majority of the members of said commission shall be necessary to form

a quorum or pronounce a decision, and its decision shall be certified, entered, and enforced as the judgments of the supreme court; and at the expiration of the term of said commission all business undisposed of shall by it be certified to the supreme court, and disposed of as if said commission had never existed. The clerk and reporter of said court shall be the clerk and reporter of said commission, and the commission shall have such other attendants, not exceeding in number those provided by law for said court, which attendants said commission may appoint and remove at its pleasure. Any vacancy occurring in said commission shall be filled by appointment of the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, if the senate be in session; and if the senate be not in session, by the governor; but in such last case, such appointment shall expire at the end of the next session of the General Assembly. The General Assembly may, on application of the supreme court, duly entered on the journal of the court and certified, provide by law, whenever two-thirds of such [each] house shall concur therein, from time to time, for the appointment in like manner of a like commission. with like powers, jurisdiction, and duties; provided that the term of any such commission shall not exceed two years, nor shall it be created oftener than once in ten years.

If this amendment shall be adopted by a majority of the electors of the state of Ohio, voting at the next election holden for the election of senators and representatives, it shall become section twenty-two of the fourth article of the Constitution of Ohio.*0

40 Laws of Ohio, vol. Ixxii, 269. — ED.

40

PROPOSED JUDICIAL CONSTITUTIONAL

AMENDMENT, 1877

Proposed by joint resolution of the General Assembly, April 6, 1877. Submitted to the electors, October 9, 1877.

Total vote cast

For amendment

Against amendment

Not adopted.

557,503

54,896

268,478

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio (three-fifths of the members elected to each house concurring therein), that a proposition to amend the Constitution of the state of Ohio, be submitted to the electors of the state, on the second Tuesday of October, A.D. 1877 as follows, to-wit:

That sections one, three, five, six, eight, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and eighteen, of article four, be amended so as to read as follows, and section seven of article four, and sections twelve and thirteen of article eleven be repealed.

ARTICLE IV

SECTION 1. The judicial power of the state shall be vested in a supreme court, in district courts, courts of common pleas, justices of the peace, and such other courts inferior to the supreme court in one or more counties as the general assembly may from time to time establish. The superior courts of Cincinnati and Montgomery County shall continue until otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 3. The court of common pleas shall be holden by one judge, who shall be elected by the voters of the district, and said court shall be open at all times for the transaction of business, Sundays and holidays excepted. Each county now existing, or hereafter formed, shall constitute a separate common pleas district, and each district shall be known by the name of the county composing the district.

SEC. 5. Each district court shall consist of one judge, who shall be elected by the voters of the district. There shall be elected one or more judges in each district, and there shall be held annually, not less than three sessions in each county in the state. The legislature shall divide the state into district court districts, not exceeding twenty in number, and shall assign to each common pleas and district court district, the number of judges required to dispose of the business therein. Each district shall be composed of compact territory, bounded by county lines, and as nearly equal in population as practicable. A concurrence of three-fifths only of all the members elected to both houses shall be required for the first apportionment, or to determine the number of judges required in each district court and common pleas district, under this amendment, but no change shall thereafter be made without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected to both houses. Sections twelve and thirteen of article eleven, are hereby repealed; the repeal to take effect when the legislature makes the apportionment mentioned in this section.

SEC. 6. The district court shall have original jurisdiction with the supreme court, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law.

SEC. 8. The general assembly may provide by law for

a judge pro tempore, to hold any court when the judge thereof is disqualified by sickness or otherwise to hold said court.

SEC. 12. The judges of the district, and courts of common pleas, shall, while in office, reside in the district in which they are elected, and their term of office shall be five years; but the legislature may provide by law that any judge of the common pleas court shall hold that court in any other common pleas district; and that any judge of the district court shall hold that court in any other district for that court than the one in which he resides; and the judges of the common pleas may temporarily exchange districts with each other; and two or more common pleas courts may be held at the same time in the same district, and two or more district courts may be held at the same time in a district of that court.

SEC. 14. The judges of the supreme court, the district courts, and the courts of common pleas shall, at stated times, receive for their services such compensation as may be provided by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during their term of office, but they shall receive no fees or perquisites, nor hold any other office of trust or profit under the authority of any state, or of the United States. All votes for either of them for any elective office, except a judicial office, under the authority of this state, given by the general assembly, or the people, shall be void.

SEC. 15. The general assembly may increase or diminish the number of judges of the supreme court, the number of districts of the district courts, the number of judges in any common pleas or district court district, change any district court district, establish other courts, abolish the probate court in any county, or any other