In People ex rel. Burby v. Howland (155 NY 270 [1898]), it was held that since the Constitution prohibited the abolition of a particular judicial office, the Legislature could not enact legislation that had the effect of preventing the incumbent from performing the duties of that office concluding that when "the main purpose of a statute ... is to evade the Constitution by effecting indirectly that which cannot be done directly, the act is to that extent void, because it violates the spirit of the fundamental law" (at 280.)