New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-08

striking coatrasts to the code Of sixty ycsrs ago.
The District Of Columbia, on the coatrarJ, with
the large and growing City Of Washington, for 80
many yes,s tie very headquarters of democratic
progression, is, in legal point OF vlsw, scarcely
more than the Msrylsnd Of sixty years snce' we
can h.rey say it 10 that. For. though it be true
that Congress has row ard then very spsrlngy IN
terfered to cut away here and there provision oil
the old M.rylMd code it is also true that the Ma
r, land code of 1901, msds up is Was OF repeated
reenactments Of old coloni,l laws going back to
the cary times Of the Colony, contains msny things
which even in 1901, were an'iqusted if not ooso'
le,e. and of the existence of which nobody seems
to know sDythiDg, till, after lying year after year
ard lustrum after lu,trum forgotten and unused,
they are Unexpectedly dug up to be put in force on
some particular occasion. Thus, this provision OF
requiring of Jurors the possession Of property TO
the amount of $500, enforced in the Slckles c"e,
seem. whether it be regarded s. good or IS
bad oue) to have been so little in use that the DIS
tIic,.Attorney, although practitioner OF hfteen
Years standing, only Lighted upon 1t IS he was
There are some other provisions OF this old
MARYLAND code long dsregarded in the same man
ner, but which, perhaps, some time or other, some
body in authority may insist upon enforcing. thus
BY an old set, originally passed in Tlj, but which
still forms par. of the code in force in the Dis
trict Of Columbia, any person whatsoever trav-
cling out of the county of his residence without a
g 20 and amin
thus unproyided into the District of Columbia
may be apprehended and carried before
magistrate, and, if not sufficiently known, or
able to give good account of himself
may at the magistrates discretion be COM
mitted to jail for SIX months, or until the procure
ment of "a certificate or other Justification that
abe or she is rot servant" And even sitter this
certificate is obtained in order TO secure his DIS
charge, the imprisoned psrty must psy the Jslor
bis board at the rate Of ten pounds OF tobacco, OF
one days service for every day OF imprisonment,
and also the person who arrested him two hundred
pounds of tobacco, or twenty days service, as
reward for his trouble in the premises This act
had its origin at time when the lsborlng popula-
ton Of Maryland cons sted largely of indentured
white servants. It's existence on the statute book
is probably as little known to the bulk OF the In
hsbitants of the District and even to the members
of the bar as was that Of the act requiring pecu-
mary qualification in jurors 1t is, however,
law actually in force; it may be brought into oPe-
ration at any time, and, considering the number of
oaiers, wholly unable to give any good account OF
themselves, by which Washington is infested, 1t
might be worth the consideration OF the District
Attorney and Judge Crawford, whether this act
might not be enforced with advantage.
There is another act, the origin of wh,h may be
traced back to still earlier date, and which, BY
repeated retnactments by the Legislature of Ma
ryland, still forms part of the code Of the Dis
trict Of Columbia One section of this act imposes
penalties upon profane swearing and drunkenness.
Should the magistrates of the District undertake to
enforce these provisions they would certainly have
their hands full. BY another section of this same
act, "any person within this province (Which
word "proyince" by Interpretation means the State
Of Mary and, and by further Interpretation the
District of Columbia who shall "deny the Holy
% Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or the
4" Godhesd of any Of the persons, or the unity OF
4" the Godhesd or shall utter any proiane words
4" concerning the Holy Trinity or any Of the per-
SOD. thereof" SHALL for the first ofiense, have bis
tongue bored through and be fined twenty pounds
or in default of payment be imprisoned ak months.
Any person offending second time is to be "sfg-
" matized' by having his forehead branded with
the letter b, being also fined forty pounds, or in
default of payment imprisoned twelve months
For the third offense, by the code of MaDlan as
adopted by Congress in l3Ol, the punishment IS
death, without benefit of clergy; but it may be
some consolation to those clerical gentlemen who
msy be called TO preach in the Unitarian Church
a, Washington, TO know that by an act of Congress
applicable alike to this and several other old Mary
land statutes which inict the penalty Of death, this
punishment has in this case, among Others, been
cOnmuted into confinement in the penitentary for
not less than ten nor more than twenty years.
KIDNAPPING IN PHILADELPHIA.