THE SUPREME COURT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
I.
By J. W. Vandervort of the West Virginia Bar.
West Virginia was formed from the State of Virginia, June 20, 1863. It thus became a State in the midst of war, and its formation was a protest against the Rebellion by the loyal people of Virginia, west of the Allegheny Mountains, where the greater part of the State of West Virginia lies. Its earlier judges were sternly and strictly loyal to the Union.
As in Virginia, the common law, except in so far as modified by statute, has been in force from the formation of the State. Its judicial system embraces justices of the peace with limited civil and criminal jurisdiction; circuit courts, each circuit embracing one or more counties; and the Supreme Court of Appeals. The law and equity jurisdictions are preserved separate and distinct from each other, by separate proceedings, but are administered by the same court and the same judge. What is known as " code practice," has never found congenial soil or climate in either of the Virginias.
The great natural resources of our State, coal, timber, iron and oil, are now being more largely developed than ever before; our Supreme Court to-day in settling questions of great interest, at the same time determines property rights involving thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in single cases, and yet the salary of a judge of the Supreme Court in our State is only $2,200, and yet in spite of this fact it in is not too much to say that our judges give the greatest service for the least pay, and in no wise neglect their duties by reason of the paucity of their pay. The constitution of the State limits the salary, and it is the hope of the bar that the salaries of the judiciary of West Virginia, including the circuit judges, who only receive $1,800 a year, will soon be increased. Never, so far as I know, has suspicion ever pointed a finger of doubt at the honor of our state judiciary, and never have our people believed of any of its judges that of him it could be said that "The jingle of the guinea helps the hurt that guilty honor feels."
Our Supreme Court consists of four judges. The reports of the Supreme Court decisions now consist of forty-five volumes. In preparing the sketches of the judges of the Supreme Court, I am indebted to many per-
