The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1867-06-04

ment and has limited such punishment as th
consequence of conviction, to the penalty o
Imprisonment, and the manumssion Of slaves
owned by the party, ard to the disqualification
from holding any Office under the United States
l am not advised of any statute now 10 fore,
10 either of these ten States, except, perhaps
Virginia, which declares dsfranchisement as tc
right of suffrage by force Of the act itself. The
fourth and fifth sections may be considered TO-
gether. Parties applying for registration must
swear that Il have never been a member of any
State Legislature nor held any'executive or ju
dica Office in any State, and afterwards en-
gagged in insurrection or rebellion against the
/ United States or given aid and comfort to the
enemies thereof; that I have never taken any
oath as member of the Congress of the United
States, or as officer Of the United States, or
as member ofany State Legislature, or as an
executive or judicial officer, of any State, and
afterwards engaged 10 insurrection or rebellion
against the United States, or given aid and com
| fort 20 the enemies thereof" These clauses of
the oath in effect extend disfranc nchisements be-
yond the provisions of the original act, and the
prier clauses of the oath itself, in the important
particular that neither conviction, nor the judg-
ment OF court, nor an express legislative en-
actnent, is required to establish the fact of dis
franchsement. In legal parlance disfranchise-
ment, under these clauses Of the oath, results
from matters en- Pdss, but, in one respect, these
clauses limit the generality of the original act
as to the disfranchisement. The original act
contemplates distranchisement under these
clauses that does not arise from particip alton in
rebellion alone, but other elements must concur,
that is to say, holding certain Offices, or taking
official oaths by certain officers, and afterwards
Participating in rebellion against the United
| Ctato Tba oft o1o
leads to two distinct subject matters of inquiry:
, first, What offices or officers are comprehended?
Second, What acts amount to engagement in
insurreetion rebellion against the United
States, or giving aid and comfort to the enemies
thereof? | will first consider what Office or
Offices comprehended. As to some Offices
there is no room for doubt. Members of State
Legislatures and members of Congress are clear
ly enough designated. The question mi ght,
however, arise whether a Conve ntion, held in a
State for the framing or amendment of its Con-
slitution, would answer the description of a
State Legislature within the meaning of the
act? Such Convention, although it is clothed
with legislative power, cannot properly be de-
nominated State Legislature, and in the acts
now under consideration Convention and a
Legislature are expressly distinguished from
each other, for they require Constitution to
be framed by a Convention and they require
the Legislature Of the same State to adopt the
constitutional amendment. Where, then, in
the same acts they again use the phrase "Leg-
| to use it in the same sense, and as distinguished
from Constitutional Convention. But as to
these Legislative bodies which passed what are
called ordinances cfsecession, by whatever name
| they may have been called, am of the opinion
that their members are properly comprehended
within this disqualitying clause, for [ can i'm
agine no official Legislative position in which the
duty Of allegiance was more distinctly violated.
The next, the more difficult inquiry, is who
| is to be considered an officer of the United
States, or an executive or judicial officer of any
| State within the meaning of these clauses =?
Various classes of officers here intended-
State officers aud Federal officers, and executive
or judicial officers. No legislative officer is
mentioned except a member of State Legjsla-
| ture or member of Congress. Descriptions
used as to other officers are as to State officers
that they must be judicial or executive; and
! as to Federal officer, the terms "judicial' or
"execu,ive" are not express He is described
simply as all officer Of the United States. 1t
! has been shown that Federal officers and State
officers are classified separately in the clauses of
the act under consideration. [ deem it proGta-
| ole and conducive to clear order to follow that
classification. | shall accordingly first consider
what State officers are included in the terms
executive or judicial. This phrase is twice
used in these clauses, with the superadded de-
scription, Gin any State" "In any State" in
the first clause, and of any State in the second
clause / think the controlling term of descrip-
ton, if there is any repuguancy 10 the terms,
must be taken to be the last, for that is used in
| N oIo 9th T. ie N
same term of description used 10 the act of Con
gtess of 1889, declaring what State officers are
required to take the oath to support the Const
tuition of the United States, aud 10 the third
section of the constitutional amendment. Both
use the terms of description, "executive
! and judicial officers of the State" The terms
are so general aud indefinite that they fai tc
express with sufficient certainty designation
OF the persons intended to be reached. 1t is tt
| be regretted, in matter of SO much importance
that the rule of designation adopted as to mem
bers of Congress aud of State Legislature haG
not been followed up, or, if that were impracti
cable, that some more definite general rules had
not been declared The uncertainty become:
manifest in the application Of the law, and thi:
uncertainty necessitatcs construction. The ne
ccssity for construction which arises from the
generality of The law cannot be better stated
than in the language of Plowden: "Thougt
the words be general, they to be reduced t
particularly by exposition made according Il
the intent of the act Those statutes which
comprehend all things in the letter, the sage
of the law have expounded to extend to bu
some things. Those which generally prohibited
all people from doing such an act, they have in
terpreted TO permit some persons to do; and thos
which include every person In the letter, the.
have adiudged to reach some persons only-al