ber, one thousand nine hundred and eight, shall hold his office for the term of six years, and until his successor is duly elected and qualified; and there shall at the general election in this state, to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, one thousand nine hundred and eight, and every six years thereafter, be elected by the legal voters of said county a judge of the criminal court of Raleigh county, who shall be a resident member of the bar of said county, who shall preside over the said court for the term of six years from the first day of January succeeding said election, and shall be, except as to his term of office and jurisdiction, subject to the laws in force governing circuit judges.

Sec. 4. The powers and jurisdiction conferred by law upon the circuit courts in the trial of criminal cases and proceedings, and modes and procedure authorized therein, within the county of Raleigh, are hereby conferred upon, and shall be exercised by said criminal court of Raleigh county; and the judge of said criminal court shall have the same powers in vacation as to felonies, misdemeanors and other offenses committed in said county of Raleigh, that are now, or may hereafter be conferred upon the judge of the circuit court of Raleigh county.

Sec. 5. It shall not be necessary in any cause or proceeding in said criminal court that the facts authorizing it to take jurisdiction of the case or proceeding shall be set forth upon the record, but jurisdiction shall be presumed unless the contrary plainly appears by the record.

Sec. 6. The said criminal court shall have the same powers to punish for contempt as are conferred upon the circuit court by law.

Sec. 7. The county court of Raleigh shall provide a proper office for said judge in the court house of said county, and all record books and other books and stationary that may be necessary, and likewise a seal for said criminal court; full faith and credit shall be given to the records of said court, and to the certificates of its judge or clerk, whether the seal of the court be affixed thereto or not, in like manner and with like effect as if the same were records of a circuit court, or certificates of a judge or clerk of the circuit court similarly authenticated.

Sec. 8. The clerk of the circuit court of Raleigh county shall be ex-officio clerk of said criminal court and perform the duties thereof; and shall receive the same fees as are allowed by law for

similar services to the clerks of the circuit court; and in the discharge of his duties as clerk of the criminal court, he shall be subject to all statutes relating to the clerks of the circuit court. All processes, rules and orders of said court, in the exercise of its jurisdiction, shall be signed by the clerk thereof, and be directed to the sheriffs of the proper counties wherein the same are to be executed, and they shall be executed in like manner and with the same effect as processes issuing from the circuit court of said county; and the clerk of said court shall, in addition to the fees of his office, be paid out of the county treasury such amount as the county court may deem reasonable, but not to exceed two hundred dollars per annum.

Sec. 9. The said judge shall for his services receive not less than eighteen hundred dollars nor more than twenty-five hundred dollars per annum, to be paid out of the county treasury of said county of Raleigh in the same manner as the salary of the other county officers are paid; and he shall be disqualified from practicing law in all the courts of this state during his continuance in office.

Sec. 10. There shall be four terms of said court held in each year commencing on the second Monday in January, third Monday in March, second Monday in June and the third Monday in October; special terms of said court may be called and held as provided for special terms of the circuit courts.

Sec. 11. The terms of said court shall be held in Beckley in said county of Raleigh at the court house thereof, and shall be attended by the sheriff of said county in the same manner and to the same extent as required of him by law, in regard to the circuit court of said county.

Sec. 12. The sheriff of Raleigh county, and the sheriffs of the several counties of the state, shall by themselves or their deputies execute all processes of said court, or issued by the clerk thereof, directed to them respectively, and all process emanating from said criminal court, or issued by the clerk thereof, shall be directed to and executed by them in the same manner as provided by law as to process issuing from the circuit court or its clerk; and the sheriff of Raleigh county shall perform the same duties and services for the criminal court of Raleigh county, as he is now by law required to perform for the circuit court of said county, and in the execution of the processes, rules and orders of said court, the said officers shall have the same powers and rights, be subject to the same liabil

ities, govern themselves by the same rules and principles of law, and the statutes of the state, and be entitled to the same fees as though the process issued from the circuit court of said county.

Sec. 13. The said criminal court shall empanel a grand jury at each term thereof, except that the criminal court of said county by an order entered of record, or the judge thereof in vacation, by a written order to the clerk of said court, at least twenty days. before the term, may dispense with the grand jury for one of the four terms required by law to be held in said county, annually, for said court, and in such case no grand jury shall be drawn or summoned to attend such term until ordered either by the court or the judge thereof in vacation; and the said criminal court, at a special or adjourned term thereof, whenever it shall be proper to do so, may order a grand jury to be drawn or summoned to attend such term; such grand jury may consider any offenses against the laws committed within said county of Raleigh whether committed before the next preceding term or not, and whether the accused shall have been held for trial or not, prior to the next preceding regular term, and all of the provisions of chapter one hundred and fifty-seven of the code of West Virginia in regard to grand juries in the circuit court shall apply, so far as applicable, to grand juries in said criminal court. The grand and petit jurors serving in said criminal court shall be chosen and empaneled in the same manner as they are chosen and empaneled by law in the circuit court, and shall receive the same compensation as said jurors in the circuit court.

Sec. 14. If the judge of said criminal court, in his judgment, can not properly preside at the hearing of any cause pending therein, said cause may be, in his discretion, certified to and the original papers, with a copy of the orders of the circuit court, filed in the circuit court of the county, and the cause shall be docketed therein and proceeded with as though the cause had been originally brought and the prior proceedings had in the court to which it was transferred; and the said criminal court may in its discretion take such recognizance from the defendant in a bailable case, and from witnesses for the state, as he may deem proper for their appearances before said circuit court; or when for any cause the judge of the said criminal court is incapable of acting, or is absent, a special judge may be elected in the same manner as a special judge of the circuit court, and governed in all respects, as far as applicable,

to the said special judges of the circuit court, and shall be allowed five dollars each day, to be paid out of the county treasury of the said county of Raleigh; and a change of venue of any cause pending in said court may be ordered as provided in section fifteen of chapter one hundred and fifty-nine of the code of West Virginia.

Sec. 15. The circuit court of said county may, in its discretion, certify to said criminal court for trial all indictments and prosecutions for felonies, misdemeanors and offenses now pending in said circuit court, and all which may hereafter be found by the grand juries impaneled in the circuit court, or which may be removed into said circuit court from other circiut courts, and inferior tribunals, and may in its discretion take such recognizance from the defendant in baliable cases, as also, from the witnesses of the state, as may deem proper for their appearance before said criminal court or as he may order.

Sec..16. Appeals may be allowed and writs of error and supersedeas awarded to the judgments, rules and orders of said court by the circuit court of said county, or the judge thereof in vacation, in cases involving the freedom of a person, or the constitutionality of a law, and when judgment is rendered against the defendant in a case of felony or misdemeanor, or in cases of public revenue, the right of appeal shall belong to the state as well as the defendant.

Sec. 17. Any person who is a party to any such controversy wishing to obtain an appeal, writ of error or supersedeas in the cases named in the sixteenth section of this act, may present to the circuit court of Raleigh county, or the judge thereof in vacation, a petition therefor, and chapter one hundred and thirty-five. of the code of West Virginia, concerning appeals to the supreme court of appeals, shall so far as applicable, govern the proceedings on such appeal, writ of error or supersedeas as to the duties of the petitioner, the said court and clerks thereof; provided, however, no such appeal, writ of error or supersedeas shall be allowed to the judgment or order of said criminal court rendered in a case upon appeal from the judgment of a justice of said county of Raleigh, or the judgment of the mayor or recorder of any incorporated city, town or village in the said county of Raleigh, in a criminal case or proceeding had before them, nor shall the same be allowed unless the petition therefor be presented within one year from the date of such judgment or order.

Sec. 18. Every appeal, writ of error or supersedeas from said criminal court shall be docketed in the circuit court of Raleigh county and shall be proceeded in, in the same manner, as appeals, writs of error and supersedeas are proceeded in, heard and determined in the supreme court of appeals.

Sec. 19. In cases wherein the appeal, writ of error or supersedeas is to the circuit court, and the court or judge thereof deems the judgment or order plainly right, and rejects it on this ground, if the order or objection so state, no further petition shall afterwards be presented for the same purpose, but the petition and order of rejection with the transcript of the record may be presented to the supreme court of appeals, or a judge thereof in vacation, for an appeal from said order of rejection, and if allowed the same proceeding may be had thereon as if the same was a petition originally from the circuit court of said county to the supreme court of appeals.

Sec. 20. The said circuit court, where an appeal, writ of error or supersedeas has been allowed by the said court or the judge thereof in vacation, shall upon the hearing thereof, affirm said judgment or order, if there be no error therein prejudicial to the appellant, or reverse the same in whole or in part if erroneous, and the circuit court may retain the case for trial or remand the same back to said criminal court to be further proceeded in and finally determined; and the clerk of said circuit court shall, as soon as practicable after the adjournment of said court transmit the decision of said circuit court to the clerk of said criminal court.

Sec. 21. Every person sentenced to imprisonment by the judgment of a justice, or the judgment of the mayor or recorder of any incorporated city, town or village in the said county of Raleigh, or to the payment of a fine of ten dollars or more, shall be allowed an appeal, as provided in section two hundred and thirty of chapter fifty of the code of West Virginia, to the criminal court of said county, concurrent with the circuit court of said county, and all of the provisions of said section shall apply to said appeal and govern the proceeding thereon, and the same shall be proceeded in, heard and determined, and with the like effect, as is provided in said section two hundred and thirty of chapter fifty of the code.

Sec. 22. If from any cause the office of judge of said criminal court shall become vacant, the vacancy shall be filled in the same