Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1861-12-05
The District Judiciary,

The judiciary Of the District Of Columbia yes
terday became the subject Of very bitter animal.
version In the course Of the Senate's proceedings
The occasion was the consideration Of joint reso-
buttons proposed by Mr.. Wilson, directing the
liberation Of certain negroes now confined In the
Washington jail. The condition of that prison
was very justly censured with great severity
with a much az that With which the grand jury
for this county have censured It, term after term,
for years past, In their customary presentmenis
with reference TO IL. In thus censuring II, the
grand juries have always taken occasion to poiat
out the fact that Congress was Justly chargeable
with the responsibility for the shameful evils Of
which they complained Not once, but twenty
times, in the last decade, have the grand jury
besought Congress 10 make the necessary appro-
priaton to enable the Marshal Of the District to
make the Washington Jail somewhat more CON-
Portable and less deeterous to the health of those
confined In II, than ''an Austrian dungeon" But
hey have always so appealed In vain.
Now that the attentit n Of 30 many Senator's Is
10 reaously turned TO the subject Il is to be hoped
That Congress will longer leave IL In Its chronic
deploEable condition. We are among those who
believe that the class Of laws Of the District In
heSii>d frem Maryland half century ago, which
were yesterday Denounced Is It's "bIack code >,
should be amended as soon as possible They
certainly afford opportunities for e1tortlon from
and oppression Of negroes by unprincipled ma gis.
trates, county officers and policemen, who win
always exist where the law affords them such op-
portunities. In this matter this community has
been wholly at The mercy Of Congress and has
suffered accordingly. In making those changes
II Is 10 be hoped that the views Of Senator F,s
sender, wherein he urged 4" that the whole sub
1eet would be properly and fully dealt with -
cd hat he
and constitutional course on the subject, and
also tia" the legal RIG Its existing In this eoupec
ton he would wish to regard meteing ont in,
uce and discriminating as TO facts will be strict
ly kept in view.
III sweeping changes are to be made In the
principles Of the laws Of this District In the time
ana temper manifested by more than one Senator
yesterday, they will be made solely for political
enect elsewhere, and without proper regard 10,
The well being OF the community being Ieeislated
for.
While we shall cheeIfully sustain thoughtful
~eH-oalaacsd and discriminating changes In
our whole judiciary system, We shall deprecate
anything Of the sort which are likely to be neither
more nor les than revolutionary experiments i,
The expense Of the only community lawfully at
The mercy, in such matters, Of the experimen,ors
few years since an effort at Judicial reform
was essayed here. AS II involved fin the shape
Of the adoption Of a new codeI completely doing
away with all the laws under which our fellow
citizens had lived since the first settlement of the
cennt,y, and scquiesence in It was LEFT optional
with the people, Of course II failed. as might
have been expected.
Nevertheless, this opportunity to reform our
judiciary In many essential particulars should
be improved. Let Congress, on consultation
Of tha.a Int
condition and business prosperity Of the Federal
metropolis enact the necessary reforms, one by
one, as necessity for them may be brought TO
their notice. This can be done to great adven-
tage to our community, and to the relief Of Con-
gress from the stigma that new justly rests upon
IL for Its persistent neglect Of its duty to the Dis
1icf In this particular, for a long series of wears