THE CHANCELLOR'S CASE.—1 BLAND. 615

ture then acted in special obedience to the command of that Arti-
cle; but, it neither adds to, nor subtracts any thing from its force-
It is the Article, not the Act, which binds every future Legisla-
ture. The whole force of the restriction, upon the discretionary
power of the General Assembly, in this particular, arises from the
operation of the constitutional provision; not from any thing that
can be said in a mere legislative Act. It is very clear, therefore,
that whatever expressions are to be found in any of the Acts, rela-
tive to the duration of the Chancellor's salary, are mere surplusage.
Those laws are, so far, a mere dead letter; if they conform to the
Constitution, it is well; if not, they are absolutely void.

The third and last point relates to the appropriation or provision
for the payment of judicial salaries. As to this, there are no two
ideas more clear, or more easily understood than the contracting
of a debt, and the making provision for its payment. This dis-
tinction, as regards the public, between the obligation by which a
debt is secured; and the appropriation to pay it, is a practical one,
which has been, from the very beginning, interwoven with all our
fiscal concerns. During our Revolution, the General Assembly
were, in many instances, negligent of their appropriations, and
made them too general and vague; but, at the close of the war,
they were reminded of the importance of * having them dis-
tinct and specific, by the Intendent of the Revenue, who 657
said to them, in his report of the 14th of May, 1783, to the House
of Delegates, that " as peace is now established, he begs leave
humbly to suggest the propriety of appropriating all moneys in
such manner, that the application and payment thereof cannot be
mistaken by the treasurer." And, profiting by this intimation,
the Legislature, in one of their Acts of that session, say, that "it
is of singular consequence, that all and every appropriation should
be executed agreeably to the order and intent of the General
Assembly; and that the Assembly should be enabled, at each
session, to judge of the state of said appropriations," &c. A
multitude of instances might be adduced, from our statute book,
of specific appropriations of particular funds, and of designated
portions of the public moneys being applied to the payment of
particular debts. The warm party controversies about specific
appropriations, under the Federal Government, which once per-
vaded the Union, is within the recollection of every one.

But, as this distinction, between the contract, and the appro-
priation, has an important bearing upon the subject now under
consideration; it is of "singular consequence," that it should be
exemplified, illustrated, and fully understood, as regards judicial
salaries. The General Assembly of November, 1785, secured the
Chancellor's salary, according to the Declaration of Rights, during
the continuance of his commission. And, in the before recited
message of the Delegates to the Senate, of the 23rd of January of