Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1867-06-15

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thesf tFa nspeliie Glasses, iha hfst N
which IL clearly Within hhd tho lat "
which Is clufy without The pufyleWi W.
hnd In each NJ these HtntcH 10 host NJ officers
whfso statue II w sOiuO Wny 10 ho dclermins
- n h impnstillo here 10 ptocoed IN
way NJ enumeration aud ~ distinguish Wy
nnmo nil lhu,r who were included aud all
those WIN are cyClud,d. MI that can be
dunC is ln establish somo h,cd rule, feel
The necessity uf circumspcclion here IN
saying vino ne iuoludud within the dis
franchisrmcnt rather than Ia saying who
are not included, Tor whore there Is doubt,
according to the rule VI construction which
hns brcn referred 10, that doubt must be
solved in favor Of rather lhnn against the
/ rig!L Of the voter, Tho exclusion n oil
comprehensive MS to time, and applies not
only 10 those who were in office when the
| rebellion commenced, but 10 those who held
| the prohibited offices AZ any previous time
| although they mny have ccnscd To hold such
uiTcc an Indefinite number of years prior
/ tn tho rebellion, II Is founded on the idea
| of u breach of official trust due to the state
/ rs the author Oh donor OF trust IL If Ioun'
dcd ON the idea of u breach Of trust not
arising merely from allegiance rs citi-
zen, but duty to the State IN direct OIL
cial relation to that State aud through that
| to the Federal Government. So far rs
| this acl designaics by hnmc the persons
who violated such trust, IL IL that class
to whose keeping tho trust is confident
| that is 10 say, the persons who were cloth
ed with the legislative poweri whereas IN
this instance there is II purpose OF cxclu-
sion on common ground, aud one class Is
designated us coming within the purpose
ind other classes are left indefinite, anu
only to be asceriained by construction. II
is allowable TO find the Indefinite class ny
the rule of assimilation. We see, then, IN
| this law purpose Of exclusion as TO the
| three great departments of n State--legis-
| latiye, judicial and executive. We see, fur
Their, that as to the legislative department,
made up of Legislative body composed of
members and various officers appertaining
to such body MS n Lcgis lature, the ex-
c!usion is only of higher dictionaries OF
that body-the mombcrs-ahd is not car
ricd to its subordinate officers. The terms
of exclusion are not the members and OIL
GERS of State Legislature, but simply the
members of n Stat Legislature; therefore,
the exclusion in the legislative department
has effect only upon the highest class in
that department. 1t is safe to assume the
same policy of exclusion attaches rather to
such officers as exercised functions of i'm
portant trust in executive and judicial de-
pariments than to those whose functions
arc merely limited and subordinate.
have already called attention to the
comprehensivencss of these exclusions as to
persons, and to say that they embrace all
officers, large and small, coming in any
sense within the description of executive or
judicial officers, who have at any time du-
ring their lives held any one Of these offices.
1t would have this inevitable result, that in
the formation of the Constitution for a
State by the agency Of its own people large
proportion Ia majority of the most intelli-
gent and capable. of the people would be
excluded There is no part of my duty, in
attempting to give construction to these
laws, in which find myself involved in
such painful uncertainty as in determining
what offices outside of the classes already
designated come within the just range Of
exclusion. have said that in addition to
the class of officers who clearly come within
the terms of the act as judicial and execu-
tive officers of the State, and to those class.
es which comprehend militia and munich
pal officers, who clearly are not within the
terms of the act, there remains vast body
of officers whose status is, i'll some way to
be defined; these arc known in popular
language by such terms of description as
county, township, precinct officers. Their
name is legion, their functions and duties
are, for the most part, strictly local; some
of them, such as sheritls justices of county
courts, have jurisdiction over the entire
county; others are restricted to smaller
civil subdivisions. have directed alb
| sracts to be prepared for each of these
States which will exhibit all these Offices
and the duties which apperian to them,
and the form of oath required. must re
serve for further consideration, after the
abstracts are made, the question whether
all of them, or, if not all, what class oflhesc
officers come within the Specification
As to all other executive or judicial officers
who are not, in popular language, character
lied as county officers, | am inclined to
consider them as coming under the de-
scription of executive and judicial officers
of State within the meaning Of these laws.
| deem it proper here, in Difference to that
class of officers Judicial or eXecutive) WHO
are, by The rule laid down, brought within
the operation of nchisement, to dis
| tinguish the class whose duties are not re
allied, who stands in direct relation to the
State, and who in my opinion cannot prop
erly be designated as executive or Judicial
officers of Statc--l mean that class OF
persons who exercise special public duties,
rather in the nature. of an occasional en-
ployment than general and continuing
office duties. This distinction between office
and employment-between an officer of a
State and an agent ola Statc-is we'll estab-
lished. Justice Tilligman in Serg and
Rawle, l40, co. recognizes in it the case of
commissioners appointed to lay out roads
and canals and other works of public i'm
provemcnt. The question arises on Sec
ton in the constitution of Pennsylvania,
which provides that the Governor shall ap-
point all officers whose offices are establish
ed by law, and whose appointments are not
herein provided for. The Chief Justice
says it has never been ascertaincd nor is it
easy to ascertain to what officer this power
of appointment extends. speak of offices
created by law sinse the making of the Con-
stitution. The word office is of very vague
and indefinite import. Everything con-
corning the administration of justice or the
general interests of society may be sup
posed to be within the meaning Of the con
stitution, especially if fees are ANNEXED to
the offices. But these are matters of tenn
porary and local concern which although
comprehended in the term office, have not
been thought to be embraced by the Consti-
tuition, and when offices Of that kind have
been created, the Legislature has sometimes
made the appointment in the law which
created them; sometimes given thcappoint-
ment TO others than the Governor. The Of
fcers of whom am speaking are often de.
scribed in acts of assembly by the name Of
commissioners, such for instance, as are
employed in the laying of roads and canals
and other works of public nature. Yet
all these perform duty, or in other words,
exercise an Office. | cannot enumerate all
of the employments under State authority
which, in my opinion, work no disfran-
chisement. I will name some, by way Of
illustration, viz; Boards of commission
els Of public works, directors of State
asylums, visitors of State universities, d.
rectors Of State penitentiaries; directors Of