There shall be five Justices of the Supreme Court who shall be citizens of the State and learned in the law. One of them shall be the Chief Justice who shall be designated as such by his appointment and who when present shall preside at all sittings of the Court. In the absence of the Chief Justice the Justice present who is senior in length of service shall preside. If it is otherwise impossible to determine seniority among the Justices, they shall determine it by lot and certify accordingly to the Governor.
There shall be seven other State Judges who shall be citizens of the State and learned in the law. One of them shall be Chancellor, one of them Vice-Chancellor, one of them President Judge of the Superior Court and of the Orphans' Court, and the remainder of them Associate Judges of the Superior Court and of the Orphans' Court. Three of said Associate Judges shall be Resident Associate Judges and one of them shall after appointment reside in each county of the State.
There shall also be such number of additional Vice-Chancellors and Associate Judges as may hereinafter be provided for by Act of the General Assembly. Each of such Vice-Chancellors and Associate Judges shall be citizens of the State and learned in the law. If it is otherwise impossible to determine seniority of service among the Vice-Chancellors or among the said Associate Judges, they shall determine it by lot respectively and certify accordingly to the Governor.
The tenure and status of the Justices of the Supreme Court and State Judges as shall have been appointed as provided for by the Constitution or by Act of the General Assembly prior to the time this amended Article IV of this Constitution becomes effective shall in no wise be affected.
A former State Judge or a former Justice of the Supreme Court, who is retired and is receiving a state judicial pension and who assents to active judicial duty and who is not engaged in the practice of law, upon designation of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, shall be authorized to sit temporarily in the court from which he retired or in any other court to which he could be designated under the Constitution and statues of the State if he still held the judicial position from which he retired. Any person so designated shall receive compensation as the General Assembly shall provide. Nothing herein shall authorize the designation of any former State Judge or a former Justice of the Supreme Court to sit in the Supreme Court except temporarily to fill up the number of that Court to the required quorum. The term "State Judge" as used in this paragraph means a Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor of the Chancery Court or a President Judge or Associate Judge of the Superior Court.