Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1854-04-20
FOR THE ADVERTISER.
Division of Edgeield,-Mo. VIZ.

In number w, | insisted that the law abiding
or non-law abiding citizen is alike dependent or
Courts for the means and power of obeyin!
or enforcing law-that the peaceable ciiizei
must first learn the law by observations. or b,
conference with an Attorney, who isa part o
the Court, and then deposit the rccorl; or eri
9cncc of his obedience with an officer Of Court
who in South Carolina, resides officially in tht
Court House-that an injured party must resor
to the Court House for iorrible redress, because
he can 20 no where else, since the judiciary i:
the only power which can net on Individuals
Now if law abiding citizen can find n" Officer
of Court, with whom to deposit the evidence oi
his willingness to obey the constituted author
ties Of his County, such citizen is without law
or rather, without the requisite appliances fo'
voluntarily obeying it. Again, although the
Court may order u certain act to be done, with
view 10 redress an injured person, yet if there
be no Sheriff, nor other officer, to execute lis
behests, the Court had rs we'll never spoken, and
so the people would be left without even io.cible
redress at. law. The conclusion therefore fol.
lows that there must be police, or set OF subor.
dinate officers, always ready to receive the evil
acnce of voluntary compliance with law, OF to
execute the mandates of the Court. This pU-
lice in South Carolina are The Sheriff, Clerk, Or.
dinary Commissioner, &c, and their service.
cannot DC had without compensation. The
source Of this compensation is fees. and if it be
desirable to have law administered justly, cheap
", easily, and quickly, every republican must
grant, that Judicial District, in u srarceIy pop
ulaed, agricultural country, should be large
enough to support police and no larger. will
now proceed 10 show, that the history of Judi
cial Divisions, in South Carolina land other
States, proves that sufficient fees to maintain Il
police is the governing principle for establishing
new Counties.
Wealth and population beget crimes, liga-
ton and registration, which, in turn produce all
the fees of the police officers. Hence when Il
country is first colonized, it can have but one
Court House, or at most but Il few and these
few must administer Justice TO the inhabitants of
q very large District, because the coloniSiS
themselves are few, poor and scattered. Al
though South Carolina was settled rs early as
1910, vet she had but single Court HouSe, ut
Charleston, for her whole territory, previous To
I72l. In that year, the country people having
greatly increased in numbers, cam"red so loud
" for their rights, that the Assembly forced
10 establish several County" or "Prccinct"
Courts, rs they were called at the time. These
Precinct Courts had civil jurisdiction of one
hundred pounds sterling, and cognizance Of
misdcmeanors, while all actions Tor property or
damages above that jurisdiction, as well lis all
prosecutions for frlOnies, were still tried at
Charleston. But rs population and wealth con-
tinued I" grow, the rural inhabitants soon found
themselves able 10 sustain police OF their own
and accordingly, in the year l76S, the State was
divided into seren Judicial Districts, in each Of
which, q Court of equal and general jurisdiction
was held twice in the year. at Charleston, Beau
fort, Orangeburg, Georgetown, Camden, Cheraw,
and Ninety-SiX A separate and independent
police was also assigned 10 each of the seven
Districts. By and by, as population became Sill
more dense, the seven Judicial Districts above
named, were subdividcd into Counties. in eac!
of which a "County Court" of limited juriSdic-
ton, was established in the year 1885. Each
County had its own Clerk, Sheriff, Jail, Court
House and the like, and although these small
Courts were Of inesimable advantage to the
people, yet they still complained bitterly of
having TO attend the remote District Courts"
for the trial of all important cases These com
plants were loudest in the Districts of Camden
and Ninety-Six, from the two following causes:
At the first division Of the State in 1853, Cam
den and Nineir.Six were made much larger than
the other FIVE Districts because the territory of
the former was then very thny settled. But
after the Revolution, Camden and Ninciy-Siy
began rapidly to fill up with emigrants from
North Carolina, Virginia, PENNSYLVANIA and else
where. In the meantime, new t, rritury In also
been acquired from The Indians, and two addi
tional Counties-Pendlcton aud Grccnvlc had
been annexed 10 the previously over-large Dis
trict Of Ninety-Siy. The people of Camden
and Ninety.Six, therefore pressed their claims
for new Districts with great vehemence. The
Legislature promptly responded in 1871, by
erecting two more Districts, which bore the
names of Pinckney and Washington The for
mer included the Counties of Chester, Spartan
burg, Union and York. The latter The present
Districts of Greenville, Anderson and Pickcns.
But'the people in every quarter of the State.
still demanded further accommodation, as their
numbers continued to swell. They felt so
deeply implored so eloquenllv, aud threatened
80 strongly, that ih" Legislature was driven TO
grant their prayers in 1889, when the County
Courts, well as the seven District Courts
were abolished and new Court of general ju.
such rs the old District" tribunals |
had exercised, was established in each County
make no doubt, but that it was the warmth
with which the people contenicd for their Con-
hand to redress every wrong that caused The
title Of 4 Districts" But District
Court was not established in every County, by
the act Of 1898. A few Of the Counties
which had no, sufficient wealth and population
to sustain police, were attached to nrighborng
Counties. In some cases, two and even three !
Counties were united iuto one Judicial District |
Thus Orangeburg and Lexington, constituted |
but one District, with Il Court House at Orange
burg, until 1904, when the County of Lexington
was erected into an Independent District The
present Districts of Georgetown, Horny and !
Williamsburg were likewise blended in one /
District. with Court House at Georgetown,
but in 1901, Horny sat up for herself, and Will |
amsbu7g followed suit in 1904. BY this same
sct of '9S, the Counties Of Salem, ClaremOnt |
and Clarendon, were united into one Judicial I
District, now known as Sumter, out the people I
n some of these Counties, begin TO feel that .
hey can maintain police of their own. and |
lence they too, are very justly asking the Legis-
ature for new District. The present Districts
IF Colleton and Charleston, comprise rs many
IS six of the Counties that were erected by the .
.ct of 1885, and Beaufort embraces rs many as
wen four of them. Indeed, Beaufort is the
,nly one of the seven Judicial Districts, which
we're created by the act Of 1868, that now re-
aims her ancient boundaries. The present Dis
rict Of Orangeburg includes two of her old
Counties also. But the cause of twelve Coun-
les being arranged so as to form no more than
he four Districts Of Beaufort, Cocton, Charles
on and Orangeburg, is obvious. Most of the
and ii those Counties was then, is now, and
'erhaps ever will be, either extremely poor, or
1tremely unhealthy-a barren sand bed, or u
ich marshy swamp, where honest men are apt
o starve or die The white population of that
Country. has ON this account. always been rerv