The Judiciary Organization (Amendment) Act, 1726 (Alexandrian: Loi de 1726 portant modification de l'organisation judiciaire; Martino: Ley de Organización Judicial (Enmienda), 1726; Wechua: Hatun Taripay Wasi Kamachiyta Allichaq Kamachiy, 1726) is an Act of the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie that amended the Judiciary Organization Act, 1695 to increase the number of justices of the High Court of Justice from seven to nine. It received Royal Assent in 1726AN, early in the tenure of Chief Justice Élisée Pierrat, and enlarged the Court to one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The nine-member bench has remained the composition of the High Court since.
The High Court of Justice was established by the Judiciary Organization Act, 1695 as a bench of seven, one Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. That Act also laid down the Court's rules of procedure. Its constitutional footing lay in the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, which under Article 2 vested the judicial power in the High Court of Justice and such other courts as the Cortes might establish by law, and under Article 51 empowered the Cortes Federales to fix the number of Associate Justices of the High Court by Act. Article 49 bound the judges only to the Proclamation and the law.
The appointment of Élisée Pierrat as Chief Justice in 1725AN opened a period of change on the Court, marked by fuller written opinions and the regular publication of its judgments. The enlargement of the bench the following year formed part of these early reforms.
Key provisions
The Act amended the Judiciary Organization Act, 1695 to enlarge the High Court of Justice from seven justices to nine. The section of the 1695 Act fixing the composition of the Court was amended to provide that the Court consist of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Act took effect on Royal Assent in 1726AN. It made no change to the appointment, tenure, or jurisdiction of the justices, which continued under the 1695 Act.
Legislative history
Legislative history of the Judiciary Organization (Amendment) Act, 1726
The Act was a government measure brought forward by the administration of Premier Paolo Antonio Aguilar. Introduced in the Federal Assembly, it was referred to the Committee on Justice and Constitutional Affairs, which reported it without amendment. The Assembly passed it at third reading by 562 votes to 82, and it went to the Chamber of Peers, the upper house of the Cortes Federales, which as a revising body approved the enlargement by 176 votes to 51. It received Royal Assent from King Sinchi Roca I later in 1726AN.
Text of the Act
JUDICIARY ORGANIZATION (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1726
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 1726AN.
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BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present 7th session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
1. CITATION.
This Act may be cited as the "Judiciary Organization (Amendment) Act, 1726."
2. AMENDMENT OF THE JUDICIARY ORGANIZATION ACT, 1695.
The section of the Judiciary Organization Act, 1695 fixing the composition of the High Court of Justice is amended to read: "The High Court of Justice shall consist of one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices."
This Act shall not become law unless it has been given Royal Assent.
In the event any provision or part of this Act is found to be invalid or unenforceable, only that particular provision or part so found, and not the entire Act, shall be inoperative.
Voting record
The bill was brought forward by the government of Premier Paolo Antonio Aguilar and passed the Federal Assembly by 562 votes to 82, with 35 members abstaining and 10 absent. It carried in every party group. Most of the opposition Federal Consensus Party backed the enlargement as a question of court administration. A bloc of Consensus members, joined by part of the Democratic Socialist Party and several independents, voted against it or abstained, holding that a government with only a plurality of the Assembly should not add two seats it would itself fill.
In the Chamber of Peers, the upper house of the Cortes Federales, where the great majority of members sit as independent crossbenchers, the bill was approved by 176 votes to 51 with 33 abstaining. Several peers who opposed or abstained echoed the concern raised in the Assembly that appointments to the two new seats would fall to the sitting government, while the majority treated the measure as a question of the orderly administration of the Court. The Act received Royal Assent from King Sinchi Roca I later in 1726AN.
Aftermath
The first justice appointed to the enlarged bench was Associate Justice Illapa Mayta Capac, in 1726AN. The bench of nine went on to decide the major constitutional cases of the following decades, among them Marquez v. Council of State (1751AN).
