3852. IMPEACHMENT, Courts of.—[continued].
There shall be a Court of
Impeachments, to consist of three members of
the Council of State, one of each of the
superior courts of Chancery, Common Law,
and Admiralty, two members of the House
of Delegates and one of the Senate, to be
chosen by the body respectively of which they
are. Before this Court any member of the
three branches of government, that is to say,
the governor, any member of the Council, of
the two houses of legislature, or of the
superior courts, may be impeached by the
governor, the Council, or either of the said
houses or courts, and by no other, for such
misbehavior in office as would be sufficient to
remove him therefrom; and the only sentence
they shall have authority to pass shall be that
of deprivation and future incapacity of office.
Seven members shall be requisite to
make a court, and two-thirds of those present
must concur in the sentence. The offences
cognizable by this court shall be cognizable
by no other, and they shall be triers of the
fact as well as judges of the law.—
Proposed Constitution for Virginia. Washington ed. viii, 449.
Ford ed., iii, 329.
(1783)
