Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1831-01-04

necessary to the validity oil that act Becaue, the
toriety Of the former, being 10 Office from month
mon h, and performing continuous round Of duties,
exposed hs conduct to continual scrutiny and opposi.
lion. Sheriff came under th.t elass, peculiarly. He
was In every part OF the eointy, moving about th
performance OF his duty liable con nuaiiy 10 tie called
upon to taxa the oath which he had negi c,ed aud TO
p nsity Tor that neglect But what was the remedy
agsnst Commissioner appointed for particular e. M
poiary service. There wss penalty in the law and
consequently none could be iunc,ed The ease read
by the gentleman from Di1widdie, decided in New
Yerk, was one i'm which the Commissioners were M.
pointed do con inuing duty. They were Commits
sioners OF Roads, appointed yearly That case .here
fore, would not apply 10 that OF the Commissioners in
the County of Patrick VIII, wer, 10 p.rform
single act alone. In regard 10 all oc in which
continuing duty was TO be done, il would be found
hat penalty attached to ne elect 10 take the
oa'h But in the law relative to eiec,ien.. Commits
sioners merely required to take the oath; but
not liable by their esleci TO penal action Suppose
them for argument, that the House decide that the
gect Of the Superintendent OF Election. in this respect
ond that election by per-
son not sworn, valid-Would II not be equiv alent TO
decision, that there was obg the part of the
Commissioner, to take the oath' II there had been
penalty, the same argument, on the same grounds
would have excused tao delinquent Commissioners
from it, Oliction. d il not ss. He turned to
the Statute, and found no clause which prescribed
punishment for the neglect Now, Sir, said Mr.. L.,
tor what reason was this oath requiredl IL certainly
was for purpose, aud II the law ought strictly
to be- complied with. He would agree, that an hon-
est man would, in all probability, perform the duty
well without, as with the oath. But the law sup
poses necessary to bind these officers by oath
not only before their fellow men, but before theic
Maker, to perform implicitly the duty OF the office.
And was this oath to be Dispensed with so lightly
Was the importance of this single to be thrown
into the scale, against an important princiIl.i The
question was not, whether the county of Patrick
hould be disfraDc hised, for session year-but
whether the people should be represented by ndi-
viduals. who were not legally elected lie should
have he'itated long, before he should have objected
to this report. dill he think with the gentleman from
that contrary decision would operate in
juriousy upon the rights Of the people. He wished
their rights to be protected And he thought it would
be found necessary in the OF the Session. TO
embrace all the laws on The subject, and reduce them
into condensed frm. This, and similar cases, could
then he provided for. He wa, willing to provide,
that when no oath should have been taken by the
tho election should be valid, aud the
officers punishable for their neglect. But he did think
'ht giving the sanction TO an open diregard OF the
made these remarks because he thought it the duty
Of the Hou.e TO set out this matter with the right
loot hrs and to provide general law on the subject
which may, IL possible, remove many difficulties and
Inconvenience. Hs knew that his friend from Din.
vidie would not stretch the law, for unjust purposes
but he would him again.t stretching to do
usice-est il might be precedent for similar mea-
lures, for injuriou. purposes.
Mr.. Brodnax asked the indulgence of the house, al
hougb at late hour, TO offer few re:arks in reply to-
he gentleman from Henrico. He b- idea of stretch
ng the law either for ;st uni purposes He was
,apPy to perceive that the ser teman aud himself
creed so nearly on some essential points. he had
lie for which he (Mr. By contended in penalty
we're attached to the neglect of officers take the oath
rho gentleman had not only admitted that the acts of
,hcrfs and Judges valid under such circumstan-
es; but he had drawn distinction between them and
he commissioners appointed TO superntcnd elections.
ne distinction was plausible one but he on. b.
would not say it was we'll grounded Tn distinction
lad been pointed out; but no reason given for il
md he could find none. But he would ask, not |
he duties of the commissioners in the precincts as no.
orous those OF Sherfs and Judgcs-and were they
" He OH IVES
rcthren would tell the gentleman, that those officers
yielded as much influence, and had long arm
election times, any Sheriff in his county, any
ury in its box. As TO their duties they exactly
milar TO those OF the Commissioners of roads whose
cts the he had read referred. Their Offices
qually durable because the Commissioners in the pre-
ncts were appointed TO superntend every election that
ccured in the course Of the yeaand il also pro-
idcd that if no other appointment made by the
hat centngently, they might ever serve longer than
year. As to the reference made by the gentleman
om Henrico TO witness in court, Mr. Is. did not |
Omit its applicabilitybut he could suppose in
vhch the testimony OF witness might not be set aside
ven ii he had taken no oath. Suppose gentleman 10
ONE into court who known to both parties as a
nan OF iotegriy-in case ne were not sworn-would
ither the gentleman from Henrco himself move TO
ct his testimony asde?-But in this the voters
we're the jury, and they did not know, and could
now whether the officers who superintendent the cleo
on were sworn Dot-How gentleman who
Jumped off his horse at the COURT house at two o'clock,
nd went up to give his vote, to know whether all the
reliminary forms had been observed by the supern-
ending officers not Bat there seemed to be another
rgumentthat ifthey poured oil into the wounds of this
lection other election would hereafter be regularly
nd leg lily conducted. But he thought after this, there
you'd scarcely be in which the officers would
ot take the oath. The gentleman from Henrico had
anticipated what every member in the House tho t
oughy convinced of-tbat il necessary to regulate
he whole system, by revision of the present laws |
doubted that this would be done. But the ques
ion now was, whether in this case, when il not |
ssmed that single vote given Illegal they would
ompy with the fairly expressed opinions of the people
f Patrick county, and place the matter exactly as
would have stood had the Sheriff performed his duty,
would the House under all the circumstances, con-
ude to send the parties back for Election the
ounty Of Patrick! He concluded by saying that he |
lad NOT the slightest interest in the result However,
he storm might rage elsewhere he hoped there would
Iways be profound calm here. Were the case that
4 his brother, he would not from what he
idered right But in this he had feeling but |
desire to perform his duty.
Mr. Marshall said, that the principal error on this
ubect seemed TO be that the gentleman from Dinwid-
lie considered the requision OF oath from the super
ntendants of elections merely directory. If the gen.
leman not correct in this, his whole argument fe II
o the ground. But examination Of the law, il would
found that not throughout drawn in direc DRY
erHns. There were paris Of ii also which man
atory IL true that those portions by which the
eputy Sheriff directed TO carry the land books to
he polls and in which the swearing Of voters was pro-
'ded fer, and several other minor points, drecto
y. But that portion which required oath TO be taken
W the Commissioner before entering upon the duties Of
superintendent Of election, in the srctcst sense
1t says expressly that before entering up
IN the duties OF his Office he shall take the foo,oi,g
,ahand the oath then recited in the act Could any
hing be more explicit, peremptory than this
Still il argued that this oath mere matter Of
and that the neglect Of il did destroy
the validity Of performed by commissioners, with
IL. r.