The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-02-05
The Decis ION in MIR. Fnulkner's Case,

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The opinion which we publish this
morning as delivered by Judge Brown
in the Supreme Court of Appeals last
SATURDAY, in reference to the application
of Hon. c. J. FAULKNER to be admitted
to practice law in the Courts i'll this
State, must commend itself to all as
very clear and able disposition OF the
points involved in the case. The ccnclu-
sions arrived at are such as any one con-
verss.nt with the facts and knowing the
intelligence and integrity of the Court
must have predicted. That attorneys
at ID w are not civil officers within the
meaning of the act of November 1905
and are consequently not required to
tale the test oath which that actimposes,
is. il seems to us, almost too plain for
dispute. Judge Brown has made 1t
still palmer, and placed it in so strong
light that even those who have been
wilfully blind cannot avoid seeing and
acknowledging its truth.
The opinion delivered by Chief Justice
BERKSHIRE was also very clear and
forcible 1t presented complete an
alysis of the whole case and showed that
under no receivable rule Of intcrprcta-
ton could the law of November, 1863, be
held to apply to Attorneys at Law. We
regret that We are not able to give it
alio to our readers this morning. 1t ~as,
however, rot entirely written out, owing
to press of ether duties demanding the
atten ton OF the Judge, and was deliv-
cred partly in an oral form.
Judge Y. HARRISON, who was tempo
rarily occupying the place OF Judge HAIR
RIsoN of this city, and whom he resem-
bles in nothing except his name, dis
scented from the opinions pronounced by
the two regularly constituted Judges OF
the Supreme Court, and endeavored to
support his position by tissue OF alb
snrdities which the attorney who con-
testeaM FAULKNER : application would
have rejected from his argument What
ever Judge y. HARRIsOH'S legal reputa-
ton may have bsen heretofore, We can
scarcely imagine it to be so bad that it
could no. be damaged By the opinion lie
delivered last Saturday. 1t will, of
course, be placed upon the record and
remain food fer the derision Of lawyers
Pertinent to this subject, although
sG-ue of our authorities may consider
them Experiment questions, We would
like 10 ask ,rho imported from New York
sn Attorney General for the State of
West Virginia. How much money was
the New York lawyer paid for cOntesting
the right of West Virginia attorneys to
practice in the courts of their owl State!
Was the money paid by The Union
League, or was it drawn from the State
treasury Do the constitution and laws
of this State authorize the employment
of an Attorney General Who is not 4
citizen of the State3 We have heard
that Judge n. HARRISON has appointed
a citizen OF Pennsylvania to be Prosecu-
ting Attorney in Monroe county: does
the same rule prevail in this locality
and in reference to other State offiCersf
Was it because no attorney in this State
vas thought competent to contest Mr.,
FAUIKNER's application that one has to
be imported from New IorI for that
purpose; or was it because no attorney in
this State could be found whe was vii
ling to stultify himself BIZ attempting to
argue against so plain a proposition as
that involved in SIR FAULKNER's case}
Aud finally, how many bushels Of such
men as HENRY WARE PECK would be
necessary to convince the Supreme Court
than an attorney is civil officer
We were led to believe, from a frantic
editorial Published by our nervous CO.
temporary few days ago, that if attor-
neys we're admitted to practice in our
courts without taking the iron clad"
test oath, everything connected with
'our infant State" would lapse into i'm
mediate and irrctrievable ruin We
thought that an arrangement had been
made by the editor of the LateIligCacer
to have GABRIEL blow his horn and to
convict the Judges OF the Supreme
Court of disloyalty. The new State was
to be Immediately absorbed" and mat
tiers and things were to "bust up" gen.
orally. Well, the attorneys were adj
mitted; several gentlemen who have
been engaged in the rebellion were quail,
flied as members of the bar without tax
ing tshe test oath, and the dreadful con-
sequences predicted by cur neighbors
have not yet come to pass Nary foot"
has yet been heard from GABRIEL and.
so far as we have been able to observe.
West Virginia is still here; in fact the
ground is frozen so harl that it won't
absorb, though there is no telling what
may be the consequences of thaw. We
confess to being somewhat startled by
the alarm of fire in the Fifth Ward lest
Saturday evening, but our fears were
;uspeiied an hour later when we learned