Judges Commons^™

Judicial Impeachments And The Struggle For Democracy In South Carolina, James W. Ely, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Judicial tenure had become a sensitive issue in the colonies before the American Revolution. Although the Act of Settlement of 1701 guaranteed tenure during good behavior for judges in England, this statute did not extend to the colonies, and royal governors regularly were instructed to issue judicial commissions at the pleasure of the Crown. Judges in New York briefly secured appointments for good behavior during the 1750's, but in 1761 the King in Council directed that henceforth no commission could be granted except at pleasure. In 1759 the Pennsylvania Assembly passed a measure providing that judges in that colony would …