The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-09-12
Governors Message.
Executive Department, So. Ca,
Columbia, Sept. 4, 1865.

COluMOa, SepC. 4, 1900.
Gentlemen of the Senate
and House Of Representatives:
I have convened the General Assembly in
extraordinary session, for the purpose OF
recommending such notifications of exist
ing laws with reference to persons of color
as will entitle the tribunals of this State to
exercise Jurisdiction over them in all cases :;
such a reorganization Of these tribunals as
NAV be best adapted to this end; such en-
actments as will effect greater certainty, as
we'll as economy, in the punishment ofcrime
amongst an classes and lastly, such meas
ures Of relief as, in my Judgment, are neces-
sary, in view Of the present condition of the
people.
It is a striking anomaly, that more than
one half of all the inhabitants Of the State
are not amenable to trial before the State
tribunals, and are exempt from all liability
10 punishment under State laws. In ma
iorty of the Districts, neither Provost nor
freedmen'S Courts are in existence, and
persons of color perpetrate crime with i'm
punity. Some Of their graveSt offences
against society are tried before Military
Commissions, but the long delay in bringing
the criminal to justice, the necessity often
times Of removing him to remote place,
where Commission is organized for trial,
the difficulty Of securing the attendance Of
witnesses, and the expense developed upon
the prosecutor, conSpire to render such tri-
bunals wholly inefficient in furnishing the
guilty, or deterring others from perpctrating
crime.
Where Provost Courts are organized, the
punishments imposed on freedmen for crime
are not in conformity to our laws, and are
much lighter than punishments imposed by
State Courts upon white men for the same
offences. The laws of every well-regulated
State should operate equally upon all the
inhabitants, and if a. white man is punish
able bv death for arson or burglary, there
is no Justice or proprietv in permitting a
freedman to escape for like offence with
fine or light Imprisonment. When our
laws are so modified that all persons may be
tried before the same tribunal, and, upon
conviction, subjected to the same punish
ment fon the same class Of offences, all rea-
son for the interference ofFederal authority
with the administration ofjustice will have
ceased, and no impeachment will exist to the
Jurisdiction of the State Courts over all
cases, civil and criminal.
In the series of Acts, passed in December
last, known as the Code, there are various
determinations against freedmen, which
should be repealed, and civil rights and lia-
bilities as to crime should be accorded to
all inhabitants alike.
The last section Of the Act to establish
District Courts provides that 'the Judges
elected under this Act shall not be commits
stoned until the Government shall be salts
fed that they will be permitted to exercise
the jurisdiction committed TO them"
The Judges have not been commissioned,
having satisfied myself that they would
not be permitted by the military authorities
to exercise jurisdiction over persons of
color, which was the main purpose in estab-
fishing the Courts The District Court may,
however, be made invaluable, by increasing
it's Jurisdiction in civil, and restricting it in
criminal cases to offences punishable with
less than death, thereby relieving the supe
rior Courts ofmany cases which retard the
despatch of more important business.
I therefore recommend that the sittings
of the Court be quarterly, or oftener, if ne
cessarv; that all misdemeanors and felonies
now punishable by fine, imprisonment or
whipping, bv whomsoever committed, be
tried in that Court; that all felonles punish
able by death, including the different de-
grees of homicide, be tried by the Court Of
General Sessions; that the Offices ofa grand
Jury be dispensed with in the District Court,
and defendants tried on indictments without
presentment or true bill; that, with the con-
sent of the parties in civil cases, or of the
defendant in criminal cases, the presiding
Judge may hear and determine any cause or
indictment without the intervention Of a
Detit Jury that the petit jury shall consist
of twelve, and the venire of eighteen; that
in case of the acquittal of the defendant,
the Judge be authorized to certify, if in his
opinion the facts justify it, that the prose
.cution was frivolous or groundlesS, and
when such certificate is given, that the
prosecutor be liable for all the costs incur
red: that no other security to prosecute be
required by Magistrate from complain
ant than his own recognizance; that th'
jurisdiction of the Court in civil cases be ex-
tended to 5000; and that the jury be paid
for their services by fee taxed on each
case they may try.
By the thirtieth section of the "Act to
establish District Courts" it is provided
"'that in every case, civil and crimina: IN
which a person Of color is party, or which
affects the person or property of a person Of