A commission, which shall consist of five
members, shall be appointed by the governor, with
the advice and consent of the Senate, the members
of which shall hold office for the term of three years
from and after the first day of February, 1876, to dispose
of such part of the business then on the dockets
of the Supreme Court, as shall, by arrangement between
said commission and said court, be transferred
to such commission; and said commission shall have
like jurisdiction and power in respect to such business
as are or may be vested in said court; and the members
of said commission shall receive a like compensation
for the time being, with the judges of said court.
A majority of the members of said commission shall
be necessary to form a quorum or pronounce a deciThe
sion, and its decision shall be certified, entered, and
enforced as the judgments of the Supreme Court, and
at the expiration of the term of said commission, all
business undisposed of shall by it be certified to the
Supreme Court and disposed of as if said commission
had never existed. The clerk and reporter of said court
shall be the clerk and reporter of said commission, and
the commission shall have such other attendants not
exceeding in number those provided by law for said
court, which attendants said commission may appoint
and remove at its pleasure.
Any vacancy occurring in said commission, shall be
filled by appointment of the governor, with the advice
and consent of the Senate, if the Senate be in session,
and if the Senate be not in session, by the governor,
but in such last case, such appointment shall expire at
the end of the next session of the General Assembly.
The General Assembly may, on application of the Supreme
Court duly entered on the journal of the court
and certified, provide by law, whenever two-thirds of
such [each] house shall concur therein, from time to
time, for the appointment, in like manner, of a like
commission with like powers, jurisdiction and duties;
provided, that the term of any such commission shall
not exceed two years, nor shall it be created oftener
than once in ten years.