Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/97

On Power to Increase Supreme Court 91 cation equally imperative following from positive provision or deduced from the nature of our political structure." And in Commonwealth v. Maxwell, 27 Pa. St. 453, it is said: "I doubt if any act of the assembly has ever been annulled for contravening an implied rule of the constitution." See also 6 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, 2d Ed., p. 934, notes. It must, therefore, be conceded that the rule by which we are to be guided in construing this section of the constitution is that unless it can be said that these words quoted expressly limit the power of the legislature ; or, as some of the author- ities hold, unless such limitation appears by necessary impli- cation, the power to increase exists. The opinions of the members of the constitutional convention and what took place in that body in respect to these and similar provisions would seem to be of persuasive force. I have not been able to examine the minutes of the constitutional convention, but I have read and considered the opinions of Matthew P. Deady, S. F. Chadwick, P. P. Prim, R. P. Boise, J. K. Kelly, E. D. Shattuck, and George H. Williams, which were given by them to the judiciary committee of the house in January, 1887, when the legislative assembly had under consideration a bill to increase the salaries of certain state officers, and when the question was mooted under Article 13, Section 1, whether it was within the power of the legislature to increase such salaries in whole or in part. Article 13, Section 1 reads as follows : "The governor shall receive an annual salary of $1,500; the secretary of state shall receive an annual salary of $1,500; the treasurer of the state shall receive an annual salary of $800 ; fudges of the Supreme Court shall each receive an annual salary of $2,000 ; they shall receive no fees or perquisites what- ever for the performance of any duties connected with their respective offices ; and the compensation of officers if not fixed by this constitution shall be provided by law." All of these gentlemen were members of the constitutional