Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-02-10
WEST VIRGINIA.

SEAT OF GOvERNMENT.-The House of Dele
gates, last Saturday, on the thirty-eighth bal
lot. selected Buckhannnn. in UpShur county,
as the capital of West Virginia. The Senate
has yet to act, and the Wheeling Register
says, " even if the bill should reach the latter
body at all during this session, it is hardly pro
bable that the two Houses will be able to
concur
ADMITTING REBEL" ATTORNEYS To PRAC-
TIcE.-In the Supreme Court of West Vir-
ginia, it has been decided that Attorneys at
of the act, and are consequently not required
to take the test oath. The decision was rem
dered on the application of Hon. Charles James
Faulkner to be admitted to practice.
Hon. Judge Berkshire in delivering the
opinion, said
/. 1t has been commended that the act of
February 10th, 1852, vacated license to prac-
tice. j do not see how it can it only prOhi-
bited an attorney from appearing in any cause
until he had taken and subscribed a certain
oath therein specified, aud subjected him to Il
fine if he did appear without taking such oath.
1t was adopted merely as a war measure. 1t
could, 10y no possible means, work such a re
I SUIT N 10 N1tAAt the AACCuSt u al ~ uNN.
An attorney or counsellor is not an officer of
the Government, civil or military, nor is he
such an officer As is contemplated by the Con-
Stitution OF West Virginia, or the act OfNOvem-
Der l6, 1868.
An attorney has never been considered 4
Government officer, from the foundation OF
Virginia to the present time. 1t has been so
long and so clearly established as the opinion
of every one in this State that he was not such
| m officer that no hos nrasumaI IN pnas-
ton it since 1910.
The whole practice of the officers of the
United States, from its foundation to the pre-
sent time, shows that an attorney is not an Of
tiCer. For were members of the bars Of United
States courts officers, they would not be per-
mitted to practice in such courts while they
held seats in Congress. Yet, since the United
States courts have been established, it has not
been questioned that an attorney could both
hold a seat IN Congress and practice in such
ourts.
The whole legislation of the UnitedStates and
the States of Virginia and West Virginia show
most concluSively, and beyond all doubt, that
an attorney has never been considered as a
''perSon elected OF appointed to any office or
trust, civil or military"
The HteHigeReer, (Wheeling) after publish
ing the above, adds:
1t is understood that 4 bill will be brought
'orWard at once in the Legislature requiring
the test oath Of every attorney who has been
ADMITTED 10 practice or may hereafter apply,
before continuing his practice in the one case,
OF before admission in the other. Such a law
would settle the question for attorneys as eff
fectually as yesterdays decision settles it for
other officers.
The TEST OATH CoNsTrrUT1ox.1-ANer
rendering the above opinion as to LAWYERS tho
Court decided that as to "ofRcers," the Levis-
lature had authority to impose oaths not re-
quired by the Constitution.
William Straton had been elected to fiji n
vacancy existing in the office of Clerk of the
Circuit Court for Logan county. He appeared
in the Court, offered to give bond agd security,
and to take the oath faithfully to perform the
duties of the office, and the oath to support the
Constitution of the United States and of this
State, Judge SamuelS refused to permit him to
undertake the duties OF the office unless he
took the oath prescribed by the act of Noyem-
Der l6, 1868, (acts Of 1868, page l2S, chapter
1861 This he declinedt to do.
He thereupOn applied to the Court of Appeals
LOT a m~Gl1damuS, directing Judge Samuels to
ADMIT MN to the office, without his taking
the last mentioned oath but the Court refused
to grant il.
Ihey held that there was no constitutional
objection to the act Of November Is, 1868, in
its application to officers. The Constitution
Art. III, sec. - requires every officer to take
a particular oath, aud that oath cannot be dis
penSed with even by the Legislature, but it
does not restrict the Legislature from imposing
other oathS. On the contrary, it clearly i'm
plies that they may do so, as, for instance, the
oath faithfully TO discharge the duties of the Of
flee, which is not mentioned in the COnstitu-
ton but which the Legislature may certainly
require.
ENTERPRISE IN THE KANAwHA VALLET.-The
Kanawha Journal says a new town named Coal
burg has sprung up in that county, some sew
enteen miles above Charleston, within the past
eighteen months. So rapid has been its growth
that it had a population of five hundred and
nifty souls before One-half of the citizens Of the