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Show ANMWII ll TO l.KCJAI. U KHTION. Tho following ('oiiinitinii'.iitiiui ly "Jux" (Inimiul.s iiiiiro tliun u ImMy riiuilini; tlirotili, uml wo niniiiicnil i! utti'iitivo perusal to tho jmli'iinry tinil tlio bur. Salt Lake Citv, April 7, 1S71. KJilnrs Jhrald. tiiTini; in your p:iper ol'to-duy wiino K'gul (tio.stioiis culling lor unsworn, and liuviiiK a littlo IriMiiu liino, L think it not improper to respond to one, nt lent, of your (jiiestioiis. Tlio Oi'Kiiiiiu Aet heini; "An net to establish a Territorial ( iovernuient lor Until, approved Sept. 'J, lsjo" wbieh is our ('(institution, provides, in seetion 0, "That the judicial power of said Territory shall bu vested in a Supreing Court, District Courts, l'ro-bato l'ro-bato Courts aud ill Justices of the I'caco. 'i'ho Supremo Court shall con sist of a Chief Justice and two Associate Asso-ciate Justices, any two of whom shall eonstituto a quorum, and who shall hold a term at tho seat of government of said Territory annually. Tho said Territory shall bo divided into three judicial districts, and a District Dis-trict Court shall bo held in each of said districts by one of tho Justices of the Supremo Court, at such tinio and place as may bo prescribed by law; and tho judges shall, after their appointments ap-pointments respectively, resido in the districts which shall be assigned them." Tho following aro tho provisions of section 16 of tlio samo act: ''That temporarily, and until otherwiso provided pro-vided by law, tho Governor of said Territory may deline tho judicial districts dis-tricts of said Territory and assign the Judges who may bo appointed lor said Territory to tho several districts, and also appoint tho times and places l'or holding courU in the several counties coun-ties or subdivisions in each of said judicial districts, by proclamation to be issued by him; but tho Legislative Assembly at their first or any subsequent subse-quent sessioQ may organize, alter, or modify such judicial districts, and assign as-sign the Jiulyes aud alter the times and places of holding tho courts, as to them shall seem prorer and convenient." conveni-ent." So far as tho letter of the law may be taken as the intention of the Legislators Legis-lators who enacted this Constitution under which we in Utah live, and the letter is so plain that he who runs may easily divine the spirit of the law it is clear to me that they intended to enact, that before any one of the three judges provided lor (see Sec. 11,) shall be competent to act as such, he shall Be nominated by the President of the United States, with the consent of ! the isenate ; and he shall I Be assigned to one of the three districts dis-tricts provided for, in one of the two modes mentioned in Sec. 10, to wit: At the organization of the Territory, and before the Legislative assembly shall have taken action on the subject, the Governor possessed the power to 'define the districts and to assign the 'Judges, by proclamation; hut after the assembly shall have assumed its .prerogative by defining the boundaries bounda-ries uf the districts and assigning the Judges thereto, there seems (in the i Organic Act) to be no authority vested jin the Governor to interfere in the j matter. I Such being the case, and it being , thereby possible for the Territory to have judges sent here by the President Presi-dent at a time when the Legislative I Assembly was not in session, therefore j leaving the judges unassigned and in (consequence no terms of "court could j be held, to obviate this difficulty ; Congress adopted an act which reads as (follows, and was approved July 27, 1SGS: j "Be it enacted, etc., that the Governor Gov-ernor of Utah Territory shall assign : the District Judges of said Territory i to their respective districts, and appoint ap-point a time and place of holding couit in each of said districts, not exceeding two terms in each district in any one year." There seems to be no repealling repeal-ling clause to this act, therefore, so far as the same does not conflict with the : provisions of the Organic Act, they j must both stand; consequently, when a judge of either district vacates his ; office in any way, his successor must he assigned to that district by the ; Legislative Assembly if in session; if i not, then temporarily by the Governor, ' the Assembly still having power when it is in session to ''organize, alter or modify" the districts and "assign the judges" thereof. If I am correct in my view of the law, and if the facts are as I have supposed them, the question i resolves itself into this: j How have the three gentlemen now acting as judges in Utah been assigned? as-signed? And if properly assigned, do they each reside in their respective districts ? If they, having been nominated nomi-nated by the President, were assigned to their respective districts by the Legislative Assembly or since its adjournment ad-journment by the Governor, then they are in a position to aet as judges, provided pro-vided they reside in their respective t districts. If they have not been thus Lassigned; or if they, being thus assigned, as-signed, do not reside in the districts assigned them, they are not clothed with judicial functions. I have been unable to find any authority in the Organic Or-ganic Act for a judge to preside as a District Judge anywhere except in a district where he may reside and to which he has been properly assigned. In this connection it had better be stated that there are people who profess pro-fess to believe that the Bankrupt Law of the U. S., repeals, by implication, the residence clause in the Organic Act. In reply to this, and to show that such supposition is founded in error, I shall consider the question in a subsequent letter. It may not be out of place to remark, that I am not a practising lawyer; that I have no particular par-ticular object in devoting any time in examining these questions, that I am only "a looker on in Venice," with my own notions of statutes and law-givers and law expounders. What I write is the result of my own reflections; if I am correct in my views, perhaps some may be convinced and a change in legal affairs may be the result. Tours, Lex. |