The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-03-07
80.

1868, but cannot see that he is .'appoint=
cdr to the 9ffice-the words Of the sec
ton being "anY person appointed to an
office of trust" shall take the oath, DC.
Now an officer is public or private
according us it is filed by public or
private attorney. To appoint to an
office is to confer the right to exercise
it. The right of an attorney to exercise
his Office is conferred upon him by the
Court. This is an appointment, OF
which his license is the evidence. The
appointment is public, because the au-'
thority of the Court is public. 1t has
no other than public authority. For
merly the Court appointed their clerks;
now they are elected by the people.
Has iteyer been thought that they were
the less public officers under the former
than they are under the present systemG
Again :ithe learned Judge comedies
that this first section should be treated
as reading, "appointed to any office or
trust" Is not a special Receiver oil a
litigated fund, q Guardian, a Referee,
an Administrator appointed to his trust
by the decree of the Court? Is an at
torney, any the less appointed to his
trust by the order of the Court, under
which his license issues to him?
As TO the Quarter Case The opinion
MS rendered by one of the Judges and
reported by you . as follows: .,,,.
"case as in the Faulkner case, although
"the petitioner has been in the southern
Earmy, he had taken the amnesty oath,
"and had been pardoned for all treason
81 he may have committed against the
"United States. It has not been con-
"tended that he has ever committed
"any treason against this State, and If
ait had been so contended, the Court
mcould not have refused to admit him,
"unlesS he had been tried and convict
90 ed of a felony. Nor can any Court
''suspend the license of an attorney
Z" a.ALeSS he has beensummonedto to show
"cause why an information shall not
"be filed against him, tried upon such
"information and found guilty. In
"such a case the Court may annul or
"suspend license. --e--r
"It is the duty and province of the
Legislature to make the law.
"The Courts only pronounce upon
"the law as they find it.
sThe Court below had no right to
"refIlse to enroll the name of the petit
"tioner and permit him to qualify as
"an attorney. t
Judgment of Court below is re-
"versed."
Circuit Court of Kanawha county for
admission to its Bar upon an Attorneys
license issued to him in 1858, under the
Commonwealth of Virginia, to practice
in its courts; admitting that he had not
taken the oath under the Act of Febru-
ary 10, 1862, of that State. The omission
10 take the oath suspended the license,
making it a penal offence to appear IN
n cause under it. 1t is idle to suppose
that an applicant may be admitted to
the bar of orr State upon foreign Ii
cense suspended in the State where II
was granted, and under which he could
not practice there without committing
n misdemeanor. But this IS not all
The code of 1850, at page 600, and adopt
ed. MS the law of our State, providing
that the applicant may be admitted up
on a foreign license, requires that he
be n practising" (using the present
ter1nl lawyer under itin the State where
il was obtained. Could Quarter, ut the
time of his application, have been u
practising lawyer in Virginia under n
license SO conditioned7 Nay, but he fur
ther admitted that he had just returned
from the rebol service, in which he had
been engaged since carly in 1861
Therefore in this, did not his applica-
ton stand the same as IT the license
had not been produced?
To be admitted then, it was necessary
for him to pass an examination as to
professional requirements, and to pro
duce an official certificate from the
county, where he had resided for the
last twelve months, of his being per-
son of "hOncst de1ncdnor, (which
means n "virtuous life." Neither of
these requirements were complled
But assume that his application was
properly sustained up to this point.
That is, either that he might stand upon
his foreign license, or that he had
shown n compliance with the two re-
ouirements last named; he also admit
ted that he entered the rebel army early
in lS6l-continued in active operation
with it till the close of the rebellion
and during part oil all that time held
Colonel's commission in that service.
Did this circumstance furnish an
answer to his motion upon the ground
of personal ItnttneSSR To the unlearned
apprehension the question would pre-
sent no difficulty; should it have embar-
rassed n cultivated mind? The learned
:JnilVe. who delivered the opinion, meets
the enquiry by saying that Quarter
Hhad taken the amnesty, and had been
oardoneosF for all treason he might hare
ron,niftei eIqdinSt the United States"
Does the pardon by the President purge
him of the moral o hliquity of his office?
Did the pardon profess to affect any
other than his relations to the United
States? Could it affect his re4ahonS 70
this State2 These questions carry thelr
own answer. mo,
The learned Judge thus remarks: "It
mas NOT OeGll CO3tSUuGU tttAt HS ItNo
committed any treason against hlS
State" 1fthe counsel for the State SO
far failed in his duty as to omit the ob-
lection, was the Court at liberty to over
look the fact that the rebellion, aiming
to destroy the Union, aimed to destroy
the States composing it, and which
have no existence apart from it? that in
u very large portion of our State the
rebel power oYercame the authority OF
the State, and the latter could not be
enforced therein7 That the rebel
arms repeatedly swept near to the gates
ofour Capitol That our State uthority,
so far us it was exercised within our
limits, had to be aud was shielded and
sustained by Federal Military Power!
Could the court fail to take notice OF all
this-and so not see in it.treason COM
mitted by the applicant against our
Stale by the very terms OF its Constltu5 @
tion2 The learned Judge adds: Iftthdd
been so ontetided, The Court could not hare
refused to admit him, IlHLSSs he had been
tried and conpicted Of a felony" There
is no statute to this enect-there is no
principle to this effect. 1t would be
marvellous If there We're! Marvellous
that upon "a conviction. for felony the
court may strike the name of an attor-
ney- from its roll, yet that upon his ad-
mission of the felony it may not ex-
clude his name from the rolll But the
law Is now the other way. A party ap-
pears at the bar of a Circuit Court ask
ing for membership, confessing guilt OF
the grnvest offence; and this court holds
that the court below failed in its duty
in refusing him admission. 1t confesses
that it Ia court of general and of the
highest jurisdiction,) is IowertesSi TO
!, Int wi