Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-11
THE REBELLION NOT ENDED.
Jurisdiction Of Military Commissions
Important opinion of abe AtfOr-
ney General.

submitted to Attorney G General Ho
a case for his opinion, which i
Or Volved the Jurisdiction of militia
= eommissions-that is, their autho
y ity to try civilian in q time
= peace. The case is that of Jam
M Weaver, a citizen of Texas, wi
was tried before a military commi
sion appointed by the commando
1 general of 9th military district, III
y der authority of section. 3 of Il
!. act of March 2, 1867, {" to proyil
= for the more efficient governmel
E of the Rebel States and four
}. guilty of murder and sentenced |
be hanged. The record was 70
warded to the President, as require
r by section 4 of the foregoing &C
! and returned by him to the Seer,
tary of War, who in turn sutmi
/ ted it to the Attorney Genera
From the papers accompanying
the letter of the Secretary of Wa
as detailed by the Attorney Ger
eral, it appears that James Weaver
4 q citizen of Bastrop county, Texa:
was indicted for murder in tbs
| county. f-,-
! By request of a district Judge il
| Texas, made to Gen. Reynolds
commander of that military dis
trict, accompanied by the statemen
that a trial could not probably b
had in the State courts, and askin,
that he may be tried by the miIitar,
authorities, a military commissiol
was organized at Austin, Texas, be
fore which, on the 18th of Septem
Der, 1868, Weaver was arraignet
and tried. He was defended b.
counsel, found guilty and sentenced
to be hanged. The question OF
which the Secretary of War desires
the opinion of the Attorney Gener.
al seems by the latter functionary
to be this:
whether the general command
ing the fifth military district had au-
thority to take man from civil
power and try him by military law,
or, in other words, whether a mill
tary commission in Texas, in Sep
TENDER, 1868, had Jurisdiction over
citizen not in the naval or military
service, charged with the murder of
another citizen, and under indict-
ment and arrest in the State courts
therefor"
A part of the record in the case
is a letter from Judge Thornton to
Gen, Reynolds, from which it aps
pears that Weaver was under in
dictment in the district court for
the second judicial district of Texas
for murder, and that the civil courts
were so badly situated and managed
that, if left with them, no trial could
probably be had.
Exceptions to the jurisdiction of
the commission were filed by
Weaver, who objected-frst, that
he was entitled to a trial by jury;
secondly, that the constitution of
the United States provides that no
person shall be twice put in jeop-
ardy of life or limb for the same
offense that the effense with which
he was charged belonged entirely
to the civil courts of the State of
Texas, and that he would be unable
to plead the finding of the commits
sion in bar in the District Court in
Bastrop county; thirdly, that before
the date of the order converting the
commission, he was under indict-
ment in the civil courts, and was
under arrest to await trial thereon,
and that the said indictment for the
same offense was still pending
against him; fourthly, because the
District Court of Bastrop county
was fully organized, and prepared
to pass upon all cases brought be-
fore it; filthy, because he, the said
Weaver, was citizen, not connected
with the army of the United States,
and the deceased was also citizen.
These exceptions were oyerruled by
the commission.
The Attorney General approves
the finding of the commission SEN
fencing Weaver to death, and in de-
tense of his decision, recites the
statute of March 2, 1867, providing
for the more efficient government of
the Rebel States, which declares in
it preamble that no legal State gov
ernments or adequate protection
for life or property then existed in.
the Rebel States therein enumer-
ated, including among them the
State of Texas, and that it was ne
cessary that peace and good order
should be enforced in said States
until loyal and republican State
governments could be legally estab-
lished. 1t therefore enacted that
said Rebel States should be divided
into military districts and made
subject to the military authority of
the United States as hereinafter
prescribed; that it should be the
duty of the President to assign to
the command of each of said dis
tricts an officer of the army, and to
detail sufficient force to enable
such officer to perform his duties
and enforce his authority in the
district to which he was assigned.
The third and fourth sections of
the foregoing act are next recited
by the Attorney General, the former
giving to such military officer as
may be assigned to duty in the dis
trict the power to take jurisdiction
of and to try offenders; or, when in
his Judgment it may be necessary
for the trial of offenders, he shall
have power to, organize military
or tribunals for that
purpose; and all interference under
color of State authority in the exer-
else of military authority under
this act shall be null and void. The
latter provides that all persons put
under military arrest by virtue of
this act shall be tried without I'M
necessary delay, etc. -.-
The Attorney General, in view of
the foregoing, says:
GAS the State of Texas had not,
in September, 1868, and has not
since adopted a constitution in con-
formity with the provisions of the
act, and has not become entitled to
representation in the Congress of