The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1867-02-12

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day last. the State Senate had under con>idera-
ton bill to change the Jurisdiction Of the Courts
&c. which passed its fina. reading in that body.
Some idea of its nature may be gained from the
following proceedings of the Senate:
Bill TO change the jurisdiction of the Courts
and the rules IF pleading therein. came up. the
question being on the amendments offered by the
Committee. which was agreed TO. Mr. Avery
proposed to amend by striking ont, in the first
section, the word six. and insert twelve. thereby
giving l"nger period to make the first payment.
Agreed to.
Mr. Speed. then offered to amend by striking
out all aft+r the enacting clause. and insert his
bill a substitute. This bill provides that the
civil jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace, the
County and Superior Courts of law and equity in
this State be suspended, from and after the rati-
fcatnn of this act until the ls of Jan. 1863, and
that the civil jurisdiction of the Supr eme Court
be suspended to the same date. and authorizing
the Governor to appoint Courts of Oyer and Ter
miner to be held for every county in the State,
for the trial of all violation of the criminal laws
aud statutes of the State, at least twice in each
county in the State. between the time of ratifica
ton of this act and the aforesaid 1st day of JAN
1868. aud to appoint one of each of the Judges of
the Superior Courts of Law and Equity to hold
the same in each of the Judicial Districts of the
State under the same rules, regulations. laws and
restrictions As heretofore prescribed for the hold
ing of Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and author
ize the Governor to convene the Supreme Court
of North Carolina at the city of Raleigh. by and
with the advice and consent of his Council, any
time after tie lst day of July. 1867, to hear and
determinr any criminal Cases that may be brought
before it, by appeals from the Courts of Oyer aud
Terminer. and for no other purpose
A discussion of considerable length ensued. in
which Me>srs. Thornton, Speed and PaScha,
favored and urged tie passage of the substitute.
H.U Ut,,p( les ,uD-
ningham and Avery. opposed the substitute.
They believed it to be- frauglt with much mischief
Il fatal blow IL the judicial system of the State.
and direct move in the direction of repudiatioa
and held that this body had authority to para
lie the arm, of the j Judiciary. Iit has this pow
or. it has the right to paraiize tho of the Ex-
ecutive. They were for the relief of the people,
but opposed to unconstitutional measures.
The question recurring striking out the
iginal bill. the ayes and nays were called. and the
Senate refused to strike out by the following vote:
Yeas.-Me<<rs Bullock, Ferebee, Harris of
Rutherford. Jones, Matthews. Paschal, Perkins.
Speed. Thornton, Wiggins-IO.
Nays.-Mtssrs Adams. Avery. Battle. Barnes,
Berry. Brown. Caldwell, Clark. Covingt"n. Cum
bingham. C"wies, Elwu, d.. Ethrridge. q ash, Hall,
Harris of Frank lin, HILL Johnston, Kelly. Koonce,
Leach, Love. Lloyd, Marshall, McCorkie, Nc Rae,
Mclean. Moore, Richardson, Thompson, Wiley,
Wilson-32.
the bill on its second reading, the bill passed by
vote of 40 to 2.
On motion of Mr. Leach, the rules were sus-
pended aud the bill was pat on its third reading
MesSrs Wilson and McCorkle stated that they
were much in favor of giving relief to the peo
pie any one, but they could not consistently
vote for it. as they believed it unconstitutional.
The bill passed its third reading. ayes 40 nays 9
7. S.-The above mentioned bill passed the
House on Saturday, and is now law. The
Raleigh Sentinel thus explains it {:
We understand that the bill amends the Con-
vention Stay Law, and posspones the collection
of all jud yments and executions until 1868, OBJ
tanned 10 the Courts, and provides that if debtors
will, at the expiration of the stay granted by
this bill, go forward and pay the tenth part of
the debt and interest, at that time, then all pro-
cess is suspended, SO that the collection Of the
balance cannot be forced until 1869. The bill
also restores the jurisdiction Of magistrates to
SlU0 and under, but stays magistrates juds
ment to twelve instead Of six months.
At all events, it may be taken for granted,
that the bill arrests, noiens Uotens, the collec-
tion of all debts, designated by the Convention
Stay Law, until 1868, even though judgments
may have been already obtained.