Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-23
THE .FREEnMEN.s couRr...

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thousand dollars was involved. IT came up
from the county of Maury, and was matter
of difference between lady and a number
Of negro laborers employed in the cultivation
OF her farm near Spring Hill, during the last
year. The contract was an oral one, and the
compensation was to be share Of the crop.
The negroes alleged that the lady, Mrs.
McKissick, had failed TO pay them as agreed,
and charged her with fraud. They, there
fore, brought suit for two thousand dollars
and on Wednesday obtained judgment in the
Freedmen's Court" for eleven hundred
and eighty eight Of it. We suppose the
court has the power 30 execute its DEGREES.
Without undertaking TO state in detail the
facts Of this case, or otherwise discussing it,
we desire TO present some reflections which
il inspires, and to protest against any system
Of jurisprudence where the tribunals ere in
dividual in their make up, and absolute in
their decrees-in neither of which there is
any authority from the people interested, and
where in both every leading principle of ju-
dicial administration is set at nought.
The foundations Of the prevailing juris-
prudence in America were laid many centu-
ries ago in the mother-land. Upon these, it
has grown in that country and this under
the patronage Of talent, wisdom and justice,
until il had become a structure of amazing
symmetry and perfection. 1t had reached
that point where the citizen was secure in
his person and property, and where neither
could be infringed without the judgment of
neighboring peers. 1t had been so careful
ly studied and so diligently guarded in its
growth and construction, that no one could
enter the temple Of justice except through
the doors established for the purpose, and
which were wide enough to admit ALL 1t
was divided into departments, legal, equita-
bic and criminal-and these again into mi
nor and major Jurisdictions The magistracy,
embracing system of mere individual iu-
risdiction, was restricted in its powers to the
least offences and to small debts-and even
in these the right Of the citizen was so dill
gently guarded that appeals were allowed
from the lowest to the highest tribunals,
through the regular gradations. No man
could be called oanswer complaint except
by due process of law-no one could be
either deprived Of his rights or deprive others
of theirs, without being able to claim the
,1rofaosiou Of tho apt;r a .opnp,unif,, fhrouob
the law, or be subject TO the exactions Of JUS
tice through the same channel. The judicial
functionaries were subject themselves to law,
and liable TO impeachment, removal and
punishment for corruption, malfeasance or
gross injustice. Under such system the
rights of person and property were secure,
and under it our people were born and rear
ed, and their traditions, experiences and
affections still cherish and adhere to it.
The sudden and unceremonious advent Of
a new order of Jurisprudence, Independent of
the people; the establishment of a court pre-
sided over by a person, wholly unlearned in
the law it may be, whose Jurisdiction is alb
solute and final, in the making of whose
decisions there is no Intervention of juries,
and which, when made, are irreversible, and
from which there lies no appeal, is an inno-
walton upon established principles and Gus
toms well calculated TO alarm the people,
and 10 challenge an indignant protest. As
we understand the matter, there is no limit,
in actual practice, to the degree or amount
IS 'I.;- ''~''' "''d irresponsible jurisdiction 1t
reaches TO the most delicate relations exist
ing among the inhabitants of section
embracing about ten millions of people, and,
if not already, may be, at any moment, con-
verted into an engine of the most atrocious
oppression and wrong. To an intelligent
race, accustomed, from time out of mind,
and entitled by birthright, to the judicial
guarantees handed down by wise and vir-
tuous ancestry, this innovation is a clear and
pronounced outrage, TO which they may
submit, but to which they can never be re-
conciled
We will not be misunderstood upon this
subject. We arraign no decision that has
been made by this tribunal So long as it
confined itself to the adjudication of the
little questions daily arising in matters of
slight moment, We had nothing to say. But
when il assumes to go abroad in the land,
and take exclusive cognizance of cases aris-
ing under the law and properly belonging to
the highest Of our courts Of original juris-
diction, we think the time has arrived to
vindicate great principle, in the assertion of
which the happiness and prosperity of the
whole people is involved. Let the negroes
testify; LET them have entry into the estab-
lished courts of the land; let them be fully
and fairly protected in all their rights. But
6let there be no violent and dangerous inVa-
sion Of the rights Of the white man--let not
the judicial fabric of the past tumble into
ruins, because the negroes have been set free
let there be no irresponsible ministers Of
ciating at the sacred affairs of Public JUS
tice The Lieutenant or Chaplain who pre-
sides TO day may deal exact justice-but
great and free people, virtuous and intel
ligent people, will never consent to this mode
Of dispensing justice. It is wrong in prin-
ciple, startling in practice, and total sub
version of the established customs Of the
country from its origin to the present,