Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-07-06
LAWS THAT HARM THE STATE.
REACEy NAL

the Legislature Is really Law, ina
does not express the convictions Of th
people as to the moral wrong and Grim
inslity of the act denounced.
Offences cannot be created by Law
They must already have become such 1
the public estimation, snd the law mus
simply express the general conviction
or it will be dead letter. To this prin
cipIe there is no exception. The peopl
are not to be educated by legislation
nor can that improve the public morals
That work is to be done by other agen
eies,-and chiefly by the Press, the Pal
pit and the Bar, each Of which Is eithe
q missionary OF the Truth, or does no
acknowledge its duty, and becomes al
emisssry of the Devil, to mislead snt
corrupt the people, and blunt their mora
sense, and darken their faculty Of distin
gushing the Right from the Wrong.
A dead law that still stands on the
statute-book, is like dead limb Of 6
ree,-not merely useless,-for nothing il
so in this world,-but harmful because il
has died OF disease, and its decay and
death are in part those of the tree itself
All useless laws are bad laws. They are
the fungi that grow out of the ulcers Of
the Commonwealth, or parasites upon it
4 like the mistleto, which hastens the
decay of the oak, and thrives by its IN
( doing.
We are not quite sure that the worst
/ laws are not those which, running ahead
Of the popular convictions, attempt to
punish as crimes acts that the general
public opinion does not regard as crimi-
nal. Whenever q law becomes obsolete
or q dead letter, or is admitted to be
against the general conviction or in adj
vance of it, it should be repealed: be-
cause il cannot but be treated with con-
tempt and the general disregard of one
law, which may practically be violated
with impunity, is contagious, and pro.
duees disregard Of others whose enforce
ment the well-being of society demands.
We do not speak now Of such laws as
endeayor to stamp upon innocent and
even Iaudable and patriotic acts the
character Of guilt,-such as an enact
ment that attempts to brand struggle
for independence by States or a Nation,
as treason and rebellion of the individ-
ual citizen. These cannot repeal the
convictions Of the. Human race, or buy
the sanctions of history and pOsterity.
We have in our mind such laws as those
which declare killing in the duello to be
murder, and class those who break them
as felons and the outlaws Of society; as
those which prohibit gaming, and g
score of others that are either dead let
tiers on the statute book, or only serve to
relieve the State of the burthen of pay
ing respectable salaries to its officers of
justice, and to enable the police OF cities
to levy a tax and create a revenue by
compromising with the offenders.
Laws that have endangered to make
duelling dishonorable, by providing the
punishment of death or the penitentiary
for him who kills another on what the
world persists in styling the field of
honor, never have been and never will
be enforced. The juries always scquit.
They are the judges Of the law, in the
sense, because, as we have said,
that alone is really penal law, which
the convictions Of the people,
and this people each jury represents,
and acts upon those convictions. All
other laws, the People, by its juries, re-
peals, Notwithstanding the utmost efforts
Of Judges to maintain them.
Legislators, whenever you cannot at
all enforce a penal law, repeal it. If no
one is punished for violating it, as is the
case with the law against profane swear /
Ing, 1t is useless, and also injurious, be- /
cause the disregard Of one law breeds /
Of all. II it is only OCCASION
Ally and at rare intervals enforced,
against some poor devil who has no
friends or character or money to fee an
Advocate withal, there is so much the
more reason for its repeal, because to
sequit ten men and convict one, for the
,ame offence, is an infamous injustice to
he one.
Laws that proceed upon no philosoph-
cal principles, or any sound theory as to
he nature and essence and proportional
,ravity of guilt, make the Codes OF every
lation- Ubiquitous. Such are those that
Undertake to prevent the unlawful use
4 thing, by prohibiting the posses
ion OF it, which is in no sense an
fence, any more than it is an offence
o possess those organs Of the body that
nay be put to the uses Of vice or VIC
snce. Such is the law against carrying
6ncealed weapons, which never has
cen and never can be enforced, except
and in isolated cases, and
'hieh the best citizen will, without any ,
snss Of wrong, disobey, II he has to ira
erse the streets Of Memphis Of dark
light.
The foolish old English law which pun
he'd as msnslaughter the accidental and
killingof another, has long !
nee silently given up the ghost. But !
be criminal code Of every State is still T,
III Of absurdity and injustice; and there
re it is that Jurors, bent on repeating r
s injustice, are too often led sstray by :
lgsnious counsel, and turn murderers
,ose upon society. Thus they, in the
I'd, make laws which Justify or at least /,
zeuse acts OF actual guilt, upon the con
enient ground Of insanity, or other pri- :
ate wrongs, such as that for which =
ekies murdered Barton Key. We do =
1t mean that where ones wife or sister =
daughter is sedueei and ruined, that :,
le Jury, the fact being eonelusively :,
oven, ought not to aequit the slayer of :,
e villain who has done that which is of !,
'rker guilt than murder itself; for it is =
q settled public opinion and conviction, ;
ID SO it ought to be, that 50 great a :
iminal deserves death; and whether J,
is conviction is or is not enacted into !.
", it Is the law, and will some time get :
ielf enacted everywhere.
Nevertheless there are unjust eOnvie. !,
'ns also In the public mind, which per- :,
trate enormous ipjustices, and protect :,
llains at the same time. Such is that q,
Union which utterly outlaws the !,
oman who has lost the jewel Of her :,
astitV uld1F Whatevar fenn.fa tf,,, - =