Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1866-06-20
For the Advertiser.
The Stay Inv.
To the Editor of the Eds.fea Adrertiser

by the Court of last resort; and the harpics of
the Law are;now tobe turned loose.upon:io our un-'
'fortuua.s sseoantrynonlto complete the work of
destrucfiS6left unfinished by thesdogs of war;.
The mascot the people have doubtless been
stunned By. this decision of the Appeal Court.
The Stay Law had been rc-eneced By the Iegis-
laturc 30 often, it had been acquesccd in so long,
and so unanimously by tho people, that it was
generally taken for granted, the Legislature could
enact or repeal it Mt discretion according to the
exigences of the times But any one who had
Opportunity to ascertain the opinions Of our pres
ont Judges has not been taken by=surprise. Be-
fore the adjournment of the last session of the
Legislature, twas notorious among those who
took the pains to inform themselves, ;hat the
Stay Law would be overthrown at the first op-,
poriunity presenting itself to the present Judicia-
ry of the State:
Whether Stay Law enacted by n State is or
is not constitutional has been vexed question
from the foundation Of the Government of the
United States. In somc Of the Statesssuch law
has been, declared CONSTITUTIONAL while in others.
it has been held unconstitutional. In still other
States such law has at one timo been held con-
stitutionnl nnd Mt other.ti times unconstitutional,
according to the varyi-g opinions of Judges who
constituted tho Courts. In most of those S:ates,
where the doctrine of State sovereignty prevailed,
in the North as well rs in the South, the tcnden-
cy of the decisions has been that State Stay Laws
are constitutional; hut in such States as have
long been tainted with Federalism and Consolida-
tionuli>n, the tendency of the decisions has been
that such laws are unconstitutional:
In theicarlicr and purcr days Of the Republic
the Supreme Court ofitBea United States itself
decided and uttered diciu that State Stay Law.
are constitutional, but with the progress Of con-
solilation, that Supreme Court also progressed in
the opinion that such laws are unconstitutional.
Since the disastrous result of the late war hhs
demonstrated thatthe, Goyernmentzofrthc United
States is onsoidateilsGovernmeht5seven South
Carolina and mississippi, thoivery "Bowcrs" Of
State Rights havS sail amen land reversed the
whole tenor of the decisions Hitherto announced
by tho Courts of those States. So that from the
extreme Of State Sovereignty, our judges seem
disposed TO bound at q leup to the extreme of
consolidation.
Iattacknot the motives of the August Tribunal,
:but It does seem that decent regard for the past
ought to have made tho Judgcssof the Palmetto
State at least stand upon tho old ground so ns to
compel tho Judiciary Department of the United
States Government to perfect the work of consoli-
dation by splitting upon the State Legislatures;
as the Legislative and Executive Departments Of
that Government, have been doing. of late years.
The Senate of Venice, in conformity with the
behesls of Napoleon. decrecd that1' the Republic
no lon ger exists" 2The-Judiciary Of South Caro-
lima should never have acted an equally ignoble
part in abdicating tho reserved rights of the
States; especially at so early day after the war
and under q condition of circumstances in the
country, which will make their decision work al;
most MS much ruin among tho landed estates, as
emancipation has wrought among the slave es-
tases, of the people.
1t may be said tha! as the right Of appeal ex-
lists from State Court to the Courts ofthc United
States in all cases where the amount involved e1-
ceeds $500, that if the State Courts had not de-
creed our Stay Law unconstitutional, the United
States Courts would have done it for them, and
that in any event the evil to tho people would
have been the same. But such an assertion would
be altogether gratuitous. Our people have never
we'll known they have refortod to those Courts
less than the people of any other State in the
Union. They have in nearly every litigation
been content to nbidc by the decisions of their
own tribunals. Litigation in tho Federal Courts
is very expensive; fur more SO, than in the State
Courts. The former arc distant frum most PLAIN
iffs and Witnesses, as thoy arc held'at but two
points in tho State. Again, as no suit, even by
appeal, for less sum than $500 could bc carried
into Federal Court rs the net of Congress now
stands, new laws weuld have to be passed by Con-
gross, and tho very organization of the Federal
Courts would have almost to be rccast so Us to
give efficient, concurrent, original jurisdiction in
causes between citizons of the same State. But
few couptry Attorneys practice in the Federal
Courts of South Carolina, and most clients, cspe-
cially farmers, wish to know Tho lawyers they
employ personally; and generally they prefer'to
retain their local lawyers. True those Attorneys
could easily be admitted TO practice in the Fed
eral Courts, but it would take tinis for The Law
yers, Judges and Congress to do all these things
and time is the one thing needful for debtors.
Moreover, public opinion would have deferred |
most men from suing in the Federal aGourts if IL |
wcrO known that tho State Courts had held the
Stay Law to be constitutional. ~.
II ever there were time and occasion when
both principles and authorities shoula have been
stretched to subservc the public good, to alleviate
: public calamity, to promote the public peace,
industry and prosperity, that time and
occasion should have been to sustain tho Stay
Law, and lighton tho burden of private indebted
ness as far us possible, until cur new system Of
labor could have been organized into something
like an institution, and until the sun Of liberty,
pr civil law Mt least, could have risen onco more
upon our long benighted and down. trodden land
The position may safely be taken that tho peo-
pie of South Carolina owe moro private debts to-
lay than the entire land of the State would bring
N opon market under the Sheriff s hammer. The
Yankees destroyed at least threo-fourths of the
wealth of the State by their dcvsstations, and by
he abolition of Slavery; and now it appears as
T the Judges of the State propose to destroy the
'thcr fourth by putting up at auction all that is
eff, ito wit the land, Ito be sacrificed at song
o home Shylocks and Yankee purchasers for
1reenbacks and most Of the small proceeds to
,e paid over to Attorneys and officers for costs.
rho yultures of the law will indeed have long
md rich carnival to satisfy their wolfsh appe-
ties, and although the feast may be favored with
he tears, of ruinsdwidOws and orphans, yet the {
high sounding maxim is at hand to bo glibfy
uoted in answer to prayers for indulgence, Let 1
ustice be done though the Heavens fall" -. I
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