Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-11-14
The Press on the Recent Opinion.
[F'rom the Philadelphia Inquirer
civil Rights in Delaware.

&Efii hhlShtS hsSiNhNsSs
The decision of Chief Justice Gilpin, of
Delaware,i in relation TO the Civil Rights bill,
is somewhat peculiar and shows that he
considers the law, as a rule Of action, not
depending upon any principle but entirely
upon his own whim. Thus, while it is ad-
mitted that the law of Delaware forbds the
reception of the evidence of colored people,
he, Chief Justice Glpin, says he had always
allowed it to be given when colored people
were prosecutors. This means that tho
Chief Justice has frequently permitted the
law to be violated, for no other reason than
il was his pleasure TO take that course. 1t
would be difficult, upon any principle of
equity, to suggest why colored people who
were prosecutors, and, therefore, witnesses
in their own cases, and governed, as must
be the case, by resentment, should he capa
BILE of being witnesses, whilst other colored
people who could give testimony of
value to other parties, and who
themselves had not the slightest
interest in the controversies before the
court, were not allowed to give evidence. If
there was any danger from such testimony,
| il would be most TO be feared from one who
was swearing in his own case. But this
Chief Justice has always violated the law
in reference to such witnesses in some cases,
whilst he has shown disposition to hold
closely to it in Others thus depriving white
men of the benefit of the testimony of col
ored people in their cases, but giving that
advantage to the colored people themselves
There is an Inconsistency about this which
even Judicial finesse cannot satisfactorily
explain away Chief Justice Gipin volun-
tarily went out of his way in the case before
him, after admitting the colored prosecutor
to give testimony for himself, to declare that
the provisions Of the Civil Rights act which
declare that all persons are equal before the
law was unconstitutional in the State of
Delaware.
The law of that very small State says
that colored persons shall not be wit
| nesses in cases where white evidence is to
be procured. The statute is one of the
| relics of slavery, enacted in pursuance
of the demands of caste, and to assert
| the supremacy of manholding in respectable
| lity and crcdibiity. The abolition Of slave
| ry should make it dead-lettcr, and the Civil
| Rights act was intended to guarantee equal
| rights to all persons in the Union. But this
| Chief Justice of little Delaware, who 1t is
| obvious is strong believer in the State rights
doctrines which caused secession, is of OPP
| pinion that human beings have no rights in
| Delaware, if the laws of Delaware forbid
| them. This immense country, extending
| from inc ArOStOOk 10 lne ItlO 0Tanue, aHu
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, cannot es-
tablish what are the rights of its people in
all sections, and any constitutional or other
enactment assuring NIL men in equal rights
| is positively void if it contravenes the pre-
judiced and unjust legislation of s'the three
lower counties" Delaware, Chief Justice
| Gilpin thinks can stop the wheels of pro-
| gress, and human rights must cease to assert
their claims by the law of nature and of jus
tice, if little Delaware, in the majesty of her
smallness, chooses to denounce such human-
itarian principles as inexpedient and absurd.
tFrom the Philadelphia Pressl
The Chief and Associate Justices of the
Supreme Court of the sovereign State of Del
aware, sitting in banc, have decided that
.he Civil Rights bill of the last Congress is
unconstitutional, null and void, and utterly
of non effect, so far as it interferes or at
tempts to interfere with the rules of evidence
or methods of procedure of the Court of
Delaware. We suppose the action of this
imposing tribunal-this court of last resort
settles the matter and relieves the nation
of any further trouble. We respectfully
suggest to the fearless bench of our neighk
boring Commonwealth the propriety of turn
ing their immediate attention to the Magma
Charta and Bill of Rights. These two great
acts, to which the civil rights bill of our day
is merely supplementary, will undoubtedly
be found to conflict in several points with
the peculiar ideas of justice and judicial pro-
ccdure as they exist in the Conservative
| mind of Delaware.