The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia. the name of General Court in 1661-1662, and existed one hundred and ninety years under the same name. Until the Constitution of 1851 the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals and of the General Court held their offices for life. It is true the Constitution of 1829-1830 author ized the General Assembly, by a concurrent vote of two thirds of the two houses, to remove a judge. Under that Constitution none were ever so removed. By the Re formed Constitution of 1851, the judges of all the courts were elected by the people; the Supreme Court of Appeals for twelve years, and of the Circuit Courts for eight years, all being re-eligible after the expiration of their respective terms of service. The Constitu tion of 1851 was never regularly abolished; as will later on appear, it was destroyed as a result of the Civil War. The terms for which the judges have since that time been elected have remained unchanged; but there has never been an election of the judges by the people in Virginia since the war. All of the records and order books of the General Court and the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia were destroyed by fire at the evacuation of Richmond, April 3, 1865. This was a great loss, not only to Virginia, but to the coun try at large. The General Court, as we have seen, was abolished by the Constitution of 1 85 1, and its appellate criminal jurisdiction transferred to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, which had no criminal jurisdiction prior to that time. The first Court of Appeals was a legislative court only. The fourteenth section of the first Constitution conferred the power of electing the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, the General Court, the High Court of Chancery, and the judges of the Admiralty Court, by joint ballot on the two houses of the General Assembly, who were to hold their offices during good beha vior (Hen. stat. vol. 9, p. 117). The Ad miralty Court, consisting of three judges, was established in October, 1776; the High Court of Chancery, consisting of the same number of judges, in October, 1777; and the
General Court at the same time, consisting of five judges. The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia was established by an act of the May session of 1779; and it was -provided that it should consist of the judges of the High Court of ! Chancery, General Court, and Court of Admi ralty. This court, as is shown by an order entered on its order-book, met without being sworn in; and the judges produced no com missions, as they were already judges and knew each other to be judges. Here is the quaint old order: — "Williamsburg, to-wit. — At the capitol in the said city, on Monday the 3oth of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine : In virtue of an act passed at the last general assem bly, intituled an act constituting the court of appeals, then and there convened, Edmund Pendleton and George Wythe, esquires, two of the Judges of the high court of chancery; John Blair, esquire, one of the judges of the general court; and Benjamin Waller, Richard Gary, and William Roscoe Wilson Curie, esquires, Judges of the court of admiralty : And thereupon the oath of fidelity pre scribed by an act, intituled, an act prescribing the oath of fidelity, and the oaths of certain public officers; together with the oath of office prescribed by the said act constituting the court of appeals, to be taken by every Judge in the said court, being first administered by the said George Wythe and John Blair, esquires, to the said Edmund Pendleton, esquire; and then by the said Edmund 'Pendleton, esquire, to the rest of the Judges the court proceeded to the business before them " (4 Call, P-3)-
They appointed a clerk, crier, and tipstaff. A case of the gravest significance soon came before the court. It was one of the most important ever decided by any tribunal. There was no precedent for the judges to fol low.1 It was decided in November, 1782, and is styled Commonwealth v. Caton, et al. 4 Call, p. 5. John Caton, Joshua Hopkins, and John Lamb were condemned for treason. They were tried and convicted in the Gen 1 Bradlaugh v. Gossett, 12 Q. B. D. 28<x
