THE SUPREME COURT OF VERMONT.
II.
By Russell S. Taft.
The early Vermonters strongly supported the Declaration of Independence, especially the charge in it against King George the Third, "For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences." They opposed, with arms, the extraordinary act of the New York Legislature providing that the courts in Albany County should have jurisdiction of crimes committed in Charlotte County, that vast stretch of country bordering on both sides of Lake Champlain, extending north to the Canadian line. They were early and firmly impressed with the idea that they ought to be tried for their offences in the vicinage, and by impartial men, for they remonstrated against the election of the "Friends of Ministerial Tirrany and Usurpation," as they "could perceive no difference between being hailed to Great Britain for Tryal or being Tryed by these tools amongst ourselves." So earnest were they in this belief, that it found embodiment in the first constitution, and the provision has been continued since, and still is the organic law of the land, in that article which reads: "Courts of justice shall be maintained in every county." The only purpose for which a county in Vermont was ever organized was to serve as a district in which courts might be held. The ever present justice of the peace is a justice not for the State, but "within and for the county," and as such he has exercised jurisdiction in the prosecution of inferior crimes, misdemeanors, and petty civil causes, since the organization of the State government, but his jurisdiction has been limited by the confines of his county. When courts were established at the first session of the Legislature in March, 1778, it was provided that there should be in every county a county court, and by that name it has become and now is the only court for the trial of questions of fact in all important cases cognizable at common law. The first act constituting them is not in existence; but it is evident they were established, from the titles of votes passed, one of which reads as follows: "Voted, that the report by the committee relative to providing attorneys for the county courts, regulating their fees, etc., be accepted." At the June session it was voted that the special courts were not deemed county courts, etc. County courts were not organized, however, until 1781. The Superior Court, from 1778 to 1782, and the Supreme Court since the latter date, were required to meet in each county.
The Supreme Court may be said to date from the year 1782. The highest court, prior to that date, although it is sometimes called the Supreme Court in the records, was styled, in the act establishing it, the Superior Court. When, in 1782, the Legislature deemed it essential to exactly limit and define the different powers of the several courts of justice, the highest court was styled the Supreme Court, and such has been its title since. It was provided that it should be held and kept annually in each county by one chief judge and four other judges. The act took effect in the autumn of 1782, and since that time jurisdiction of all matters of litigation of a general character, including the prosecution of crimes and divorce, has been vested in the county and Supreme courts. The judicial officers of the Supreme Court have always been styled the Chief Judge and assistant judges, except in the act of 1824, in which they
