£56 THE CHANCELLOR'S CASE.

Assembly may fix it, at any amount; but, when fixed, although
it may be increased; it cannot be, in any manner, diminished,
to the prejudice of any chancellor, during the continuance of his .
commission.

This restriction, as to duration, which prevents the diminu-
tion of judicial salaries, if it were indefinite, might, possibly,
become the means of accumulating the most serious burthens
upon the State. But, it is not indefinite; it has been expressly
limited to the period during which the officer holds his commis-
sion; which is, in effect and at most, no more than during the
short period of the latter years of the life of a single individual.
It is declared, that the salary of the chancellor shall be secured
to him during the continuance of his commission. This restric-
tion, upon the legislative authority, in this particular, is com-
plete, absolute, and entire. No mere legislative act can either
invigorate or enfeeble the force of this, or any other constitu-
tional provision. The recital of the thirtieth article of the Decla-
ration of Rights as in the act of 1785, ch. 27, may be considered
as a declaration, that the legislature then acted in special obedi-
ence to the command of that article; but, it neither adds to, nor
subtracts any thing from its force. It is the article, not the act,
which binds every future legislature. The whole force of,the
restriction, upon the discretionary power of the General Assembly,
in this particular, arises from the operation of the constitutional pro-
vision; 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, relative 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 prac-
tical one, which has been, from the very beginning, interwo-
ven 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