Hence it is, that there can be but few men
in the society who will have sufficient skill in the laws to qualify
them for the stations of judges. And making the proper deductions for
the ordinary depravity of human nature, the number must be still smaller
of those who unite the requisite integrity with the requisite knowledge.
These considerations apprise us, that the government can have no great
option between fit character; and that a temporary duration in office,
which would naturally discourage such characters from quitting a
lucrative line of practice to accept a seat on the bench, would have a
tendency to throw the administration of justice into hands less able,
and less well qualified, to conduct it with utility and dignity. In the
present circumstances of this country, and in those in which it is
likely to be for a long time to come, the disadvantages on this score
would be greater than they may at first sight appear; but it must be
confessed, that they are far inferior to those which present themselves
under the other aspects of the subject.
Upon the whole, there can be no room to doubt that the convention acted
wisely in copying from the models of those constitutions which have
established good behavior as the tenure of their judicial offices, in
point of duration; and that so far from being blamable on this account,
their plan would have been inexcusably defective, if it had wanted this
important feature of good government.
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