The judges of the district court shall assemble annually, at such time and place as may be designated in a call for such meeting given by the district judge of the state longest in continuous service, to revise the General Rules of Practice in such courts, for which purpose any 18 of them shall constitute a quorum. When so assembled, such judges may revise and amend such rules as they deem expedient, conformably to law, and the same shall take effect from and after the publication thereof. Such rules, as the same shall be so revised and amended from time to time, shall govern all the district courts of the state; but, in furtherance of justice, they may be relaxed or modified in any case, or a party relieved from the effect thereof, on such terms as may be just. Any other proper business pertaining to the judiciary may also be transacted.