PENNSYLVANIA. 



629 



The Supreme Conrt is to consist of seven 

 judges, who shall be elected by the people, and 

 who shall hold their offices for the term of 

 twenty-one years, if they so long behave them- 

 selves well, but shall not be eligible to re- 

 election. Except in Philadelphia and the 

 county of Alleghany, the Courts of Common 

 Pleas shall remain as at present established, 

 bnt not more than fo.ur counties shall at any 

 time be included in one judicial district organ- 

 ized for said courts. In Philadelphia the juris- 

 diction and powers now vested in the District 

 Courts and Courts of Common Pleas shall be 

 vested in four separate and distinct courts of 

 equal and coordinate jurisdiction composed of 

 three judges each, and in Alleghany County 

 of two such courts. The courts in Philadel- 

 phia and in the county of Alleghany shall from 

 time to time detail one or more of the judges 

 to hold the Courts of Oyer and Terminer and 

 the Courts of Quarter Sessions. 



The limited vote is to be applied whenever 

 two or more judges of the Supreme Court are 

 to be chosen for the same term of service. 

 When two judges are to be chosen, each voter 

 shall vote for one only, and when three are to 

 be chosen he shall vote for no more than two, 

 and the candidates highest in vote shall be de- 

 clared elected. The court of ntii priu& is abol- 

 ished, and no court of original jurisdiction, to 

 be presided over by any one or more of the 

 judges of the Supreme Court, shall bo estab- 

 lished. 



The Legislature shall have authority to abol- 

 ish the office of associate judge after the terms 

 of the present incumbents shall have expired. 

 Whenever a county shall contain forty thou- 

 sand inhabitants it shall constitute a separate 

 judicial district, and shall elect one judge 

 learned in the law. 



In every city and county containing a pop- 

 ulation exceeding one hundred and fifty thou- 

 sand, the Legislature shall, and in any other 

 city or county may, establish a separate or- 

 phans' court, to. consist of one or more judges 

 learned in the law. 



Parties by agreement filed may, in a civil 

 suit, dispense with the trial by jury, and sub- 

 mit the decision of the case for hearing and 

 determination to the court having jurisdiction. 

 The evidence taken and the law as declared 

 shall be filed of record, with right of appeal as 

 in other coses and with like effect as appeals 

 in equity. 



SKCTIOIT 24. In all cases of felonious homicide, and 

 in such other criminal cases as may be provided by 

 law, the accused after conviction and sentence may 

 remove the indictment, record, and nil proceedings, 

 to the Supreme Court for review, in the same man- 

 ner as in civil coses. 



The article on suffrage and elections pro- 

 vides that every person claiming the right to 

 vote shall have been a citizen of the United 

 States at least one month, shall have resided 

 in the election district in which he offers to 

 vote two months immediately preceding the 



election, and shall have paid within two years 

 a State or county tax which had been assessed 

 at least two months and paid at least one 

 month before the election. 



Every ballot shall be numbered in the order 

 in which it is received, and the number re- 

 corded by the election officers opposite the 

 name of the elector who presents the ballot, 

 and any elector may write his name on the 

 back of his ticket. 



All laws regulating elections or for the regis- 

 try of voters shall be uniform throughout the 

 State, but no elector shall be deprived of his 

 vote by reason of his name not being regis- 

 tered. 



Any person who shall give or promise any 

 money or reward to an elector for his vote or 

 for withholding the same, and any elector who 

 shall receive or agree to receive for himself 

 or another any money or reward, for his vote, 

 shall forfeit the right to vote at such election ; 

 and any elector whose right to vote shall bo 

 challenged for such cause shall be required 

 to swear or affirm that the matter of the chal- 

 lenge is untrue before his vote shall be received. 



Any person who shall, while a candidate for 

 office, be guilty of bribery, fraud, or willful 

 violation of any election law, shall be forever 

 disqualified from holding any office of trust or 

 profit in this Commonwealth ; and any person 

 convicted of violating the election laws shall 

 bo deprived of the right of suffrage for four 

 years. 



In cases of contested elections or in proceedings 

 investigating elections, no person shall be permitted 

 to withhold his testimony upon the ground that it 

 may criminate himself or subject him to public in- 

 famy ; but such testimony shall not afterward be 

 used against him in any judicial proceeding, except 

 for penury in such testimony. 



All elections by persons in a representative ca- 

 pacity shall be rii'a voce. 



For the purpose of voting, no person shall be 

 deemed to have gained a residence by reason of his 

 presence, or lost it by reason of his absence, while 

 employed in the service, either civil or military, of 

 this State or the United States, nor while engaged in 

 navigating the waters of tlie State or of the United 

 States, or the high-seas, nor while a student of any 

 seminary of learning, nor while k<Spt in a poor-house 

 or other asylum at public expense, nor while confined 

 in public prison. 



The trial and determination of contested elec- 

 tions of electors of President and Vice-Presi- 

 dent, of members of the Legislature, and of all 

 public officers, shall be by the courts of law, or 

 by one or more of the law judges thereof. The 

 Legislature shall by general law designate the 

 courts by whom the several classes of election 

 contests shall be determined, and regulate the 

 manner of trial and all other matters relating 

 to it. 



The following is the sixteenth section of the 

 article on " suffrage and elections : " 



The Courts of Common Pleas of the several coun- 

 ties of the Commonwealth shall have power within 

 their respective jurisdictions to appoint overseers 

 of election to supervise the proceedings of election 

 officers, and to make report to the court as may bo 



