hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

SUPERIOR JUDGES. 381
serve injunctions and prohibitions on legal holidays
and non-judicial days.
One of these courts should be organized in each of
the organized counties, or cities and counties, of the
state, for each of which at least one judge should be
elected at the general state election; but in the city
and county of San Francisco twelve superior judges
should be elected, any one or more of whom might
hold court. There might be as many sessions, at the
same time, as there were judges, and a presiding
judge might be chosen or removed by the remaining
eleven at their pleasure, but he must distribute the
business of the court among the judges, and prescribe
its order. The judgments, orders, and proceedings of
any session of the superior court, held by any one or
more of the judges, should be as effectual as if all had
been present. Several of the more important counties
had two superior judges, while Yuba and Sutter
had but one between them. The term of office of
the superior judges was fixed at six years, except in
the case of San Francisco, whose judges must classify
themselves so that four should go out of office at the
end of two years, four in four years, and four in six
years. Vacancies should be filled as in the case of
supreme judges. Whenever there was more than
one judge of the superior court in a county, other
than San Francisco, they might hold as many sessions
as there were judges, and apportion the business
among themselves; and a judge of one county might,
by request, hold court in another, or the governor
might direct him to do so.. A cause might also be
tried in a superior court by a judge pro tempore, who
must have been a member of the bar, and agreed
upon by the litigants or their attorneys, and sworn to
try the cause.
The legislature was denied the power to grant
leave of absence to any judicial officer, and should he
absent himself for more than sixty consecutive days
he would be deemed to have forfeited his office; but