The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1868-03-11
Reconstruction Convention.
THIRTY-NINTH DAY.

hhG HrSSlQbnG, n. Ut. MdChoS.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. Allen
Franklin.
THE roll was called, and quorum an
swering to their name, the President an
bounced the convention ready to proceed.
ao. business.
The Journal of Friday was read and
b. r. Randolph moved to suspend the
rules Of the House.to take up the Ordi-
nance requiring the Legislature to ap-
point three commissioners to investigate
What are the outstanding obligations Of
the State and their validity.
The motion to Suspend was not agreed
30. sr:,s,.
The consideration of the Judiciary re-
port wss resumed from the 10Th section.
Mr.. M. Rutland offered the following
as a substitute for the section:
1.-The Judges of the Court OF Common
Pleas shall hereafter be invested with all
the powers of Chancellors, to hear and de-
ter,,.ine EQUITY causes; and the rules OF
practice which now govern Courts OF
equity in their proceedings shall continue
antil changed by law
..There shall be at least two annual
sessions OF the Court of Equity in each
Judicial District in the State, to be held
at such times and places as may be pre-
scribcd by law"
:, ..bt shall be the duty of tho Judges in
EQUITY to file their DEGREES within ninety
days from the day OF hearing each case
respectively"
.tThere Shall be one Commissioner in
Equity for each Judicial District in the
State, to be elected by the people in such
districts, whose term of office shall be two
wears, and whose fees and duties Shall
continue the same as at the present time,
until changed BY law"
z. C. Deiarge moved the indefinite post
Done,ncnt of the substitute.
Mr. E. W. n Eacfey moved post
ponement of the further consideration OF
the original section until Tuesday next,
;rt IL o'clock, and that in the meantime
the substitute be printed and laid upon
;she;t tables of the members
Mr. Rutland seconded the motion.
r. C. Delarge opposed the motion to
postpone simply to print, on the ground
that it would establish 81 bad precedent,
and before they finished their work on
the Constitution they might have to
postpone. nearly every other section to
give time for printing both substitutes
and amendments. Tho substitute as read
wa. well understood, ,as it proposes TO intro
duce into the Constitution what they pro-
posed to keep out, that is Courts Of
Equity.
MIR. d. H. Chamberlain differed entire
ly with the delegate from Charleston (R
c: BeLarge. 1t was at least an important
and open question, whether something
in the nature of the provision proposed
Nv the delegate from Fairfield (Mr. Rut-
h,,nd) should be adopted, or whether, at
one stroke, it would be safe to abolish the
Court Of Equity and all the officers con-
nected with that Court. 1t was better,
and he believed that the majority ot the
Convention would be of the same opinion,
that.the elaborate and carefully prepared
substitute of the distinguished member
from Fairfield should be printed, and they
shoaA haze time to consider il.
The question being put, the further
consideration Of the 18th section was
postponed, and; the substAn.s ordered to
be printed. ), -.
diction of the Court Of General Sessions
over criminal cases, and for three terms
every year in each district, was passed
without debate.
Section FL, providing for the election
every two years of Board OF County
Commissioners, to have jurisdiction over
roads, highways, ferries, bridges, and in
ill matters relating to taxes. disburse-
.hents of money for district or county
Surposes, Internal Improvements and To-
cal concerns of the respective districts,
caused some discussion.
William McKinlav though the section
Conferred unlimited and dangerous powers
upon the board it proposed to create !;
powers capable Of great abuse, and If IN
,udiciously exercised, calculated to entail
rum not only upon the district, but upon
the entire State. They would have the
power if they chose to exercise it, to pur-
chase the right of way to construct mann
roads or even railroads where not needed.
IF they deemed'it expedent for the bcne-
ft Of their district, they could undertake
to clean out rivers and make navigable
streams that no ships or vessels can reach.
They would also have the power to collect
taxes. He moved To amend the section
by "esta blishing Board of County Com
missioners, which, under the authority Of
the General Assembly, shall supervise
roads, bridges and. ferries. and discharge
such other duties. appertaining to their
counties as may be authorized by law"
FL. Cardoza opposed the section as
entirely unnecessary to, the completeness
Of the judicini report, besides tying up the
bands of the Legislature and preventing
them Fl ON. making laws more adapted to
country purposes He thought they
should not enter into details, but only