New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-09-28


of the substitute which he offered this day
put on record. The Convention had laid that
substitute upon the table, but this amendment
embraced the material point on which he had
felt it his duty to make some remarks to the
Convention.
| MIR kfSGs Of st. Landry, moved to lay the
| amendment on the table. And, on said motion
Mr. Connely called for the yeas and nays, which
resulted as follows;
Yeas-Messrs. Anderson Of ST. Landry, Aken-
head, Avery, Anderson of Carroll. Armant.
Addison, Bradford, Bartlett, Benjamin, Beard,
Bienvenu, Brother, Boyer, Ballard, Bnisson,
Byrne, Castellanos. Carter. Campbell, Collens,
Cotton, Conrad, Delony, Declouet, Douglass,
Dufonr. Dugue, Edwards Of Orleans, Edwards
of Washington, Eggleston Eustis, Gardere,
Hatch, Hays, Harris, Hargis, Heron, Herman
dex, Hough, Hodges, Hunt, Isacks, Jennings,
Jones. Key. King of ST. Landry, King of Jack
son, Lapeyre, Leefe, Leeds, Lyle, NlcIIlenny
McMiilen, Mathews of Orleans, Mathews Of
Point Coupee, Martini Moss, Monge Nichols,
| Parham, Paxton, Preaux, Price, Pierce, Pierson,
Philips, pujo, Richardson of 0uachita, Risk,
Roselius, Roman, Ronqullo, Sandidge, St. Paul,
Staes, swazey, Shaw, Shelton. Smith Of West
felieiana, Tatman, Talbot. Taliafarro. Todd
Villere and Waddill-s5.
.tays-Messrs Bcsancon, Bernard, Connely.
Dalferes, Dorsey. Duffel, Farmer, Gnion, jour
Ian. Lobdell, Olivier Of ST Martin, Olivier Of
Mary, Palfrey, Richardson Of St. Mary, Roys-
len, Robinson, Smart, Scarborough, Smith ci
Wlnn, sihley, Stewart, Thompson, Van Wickle,
Williams and Whittington-25
MIR. Conneys amendment was therefore laid
on the table 7E
Mr.. CoTToN moved to amend by adding the
words g and capital shall be taxed" The mo-
ton was lost, Messrs. Besancon and Cotton
recording their votes in favor of it.
The article was then adopted as amended.
| ADMINISTRATION OF NEW ORLEANS
Article l2e The citizens of the city of New
orleans shall have the right of appointing the
| several public officers necessary for the admin
istration Of the police Of said city, pursuant to
the mode of elections which shall be prescribed
| by the Legislature Provided that the Mayor
and Recorders shall be ineligible to scat in the
| General Assembly, and the Mayor, Recorders
and Aldermen shall be commissioned by the
Governor as Justices Of the Peace, and the
Legislature may vest in them such criminal
jurisdiction as may be necessary for the pun
ishnlent of minor crimes and offences, and as the
police and good order Of said city may require "
Mr. PREAUx offered the following amendment
to be inserted after the words IS prescribed bv
the Legislature" And the Legislature shall
be empowered to vest them with such legislative
power as may be deemed necessary to enable
them to carry into effect municipal purposes
MIR. HEBRON moved to lay the amendment on
were torty-six yeas and forty five nays The
President voting with the minority, declared the
motion to lay on the table carried
MR. CoLI.ENs moved to amend by inserting at
the end of the article the following words, SO and
in cases of msdemeanors, the trial by Jury may
be dispensed with
4 Mr.. COLLENs-A large number Of petty cases
come before the courts of New0rleans, and
i occupy much time, although the most of them
are OF the most trivial character. By article
lO' OF the Constitution, every man is entitled te
trial by jury. A number of those petty cases
might be tried before magistrate, and so fd1
as the accused party is concerned, there can be
no doubt that in most cases, he would rather be
tried acithout than with q jury In all such
cases, a trial by jury may safely be dispensed
with: l, therefore, hope that this amendment
will be accepted -f@
: Mr.. IsAcks said that the whole article wa
legislative in its character, and this Convention
ought not to touch it farther than to reject it il
. toto He now moved to reject the article
r Mr. DuFouR-The article 12S is not of leg
] islative character. 1t claims the attention {
j this Convention, because it treats of a rgl
which was conferred on the City of NewOrlea1
many years ago. The gentleman should nc
confound what is in reality positive right wit
f n mere matter of legislation
MR.. IsACKs-l do not wish to interfere with {
vested right, but do not see why the City o
|
town in the State, should be Independent of the
Legislature. law Of the Legislature ought te
be sufficient to regulate every point of admins
tration embraced in this article.
Mr.. MclIHENNY moved to lay the motion by
MIR. lsacks on the table, Carried.
| MIR. RICHARDSON, of 0uachita-I trust that
the word " misdemeanors' will be inserted in
article 12s. So far as the country is concerned,
know that misdemeanors embrace about one
| third OF all the business before a magistrate .
and the city is entitled to the same prompt and
economical administration. Our courts ought
not to be encountered with these petty cases
| The word msdemeannr has n technical meaning,
and consider that IL embraces all those cases,
which really can be settled by the Recorders
without going before jury.
Mr.. CoTToN-I hope that the amendment
will be accepted, leaving to the Legislature to
decide how misdemeanors may be tried Every
man has right to demand trial by jury
This act Of right and justice is denied to n
great many poor persons in NewOrleans. II is
no uncommon thing to see a person taken up in
that city, and punished by being sent to the
Work-house for six months, for being Sc q dam
gerous and suspicious character Now let the
Legislature say that the Recorders shall have
power to try assaults and batteries and misde-
meanors, and small jury may be summoned
to try the case promptly and at little expense.
That procedure would be satisfactory to the
| "SouooSi Al HfoSp CaseS, huu peSlQeS, WOULD be
preserving to them their rights. But take
away the right of trial by jury, and with equal
justice you may do the same thing in cur Grim
inal Courts.
Mr.. CoILENs-I assure the Convention that
there is no novelty in my proposition 1t has
been adopted in Philadelphia and in many
States of the Union magistrates try petty cases
without juries. There are many cases where
the accused would rather be tried by magis-
trate at once, without the delay necessary in
empanuelng jury. But, under the Coustitu-
ton as it now stands, the magistrate can not
try him, and he is sent 10 Jail to await HIS
trial After he has laid in jail for some time
he is tried and then punished with twenty four
hours imprisonment; but he has previously been
confined three months waiting for his trial To
show gentlemen, however, that have no wish
to abridge the right of trial by jury, I shall
now add to my amendment the words, s' with
| consent of the accused
MIR. HUNT am opposed to the proposed
amendment. Gentlemen can not be aware
when they say that all misdemeanors may bs
tried without jury, that misdemeanors com
prise all offences not punishable with death OF
hard labor, The trial of o misdemeanor result
sometimes in Imprisonment and sometimes in .
fine $1,000, more or less. Is this Conyentio,
prepared to say that a man is to be conyictc,
of a crime involving such punishment without
trial by jury' have reflected much on tn
mode OF trial most proper for petty offences, AM
am Wiling to favor any wise arrangement 70
their trial that may promote the ends of justic
while il nrpSnrvns aut;ra +I,o ,,;nl4, oe II, =