Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-16

4 and tnat ne mas not ever ssOuSut VI q
/ cepted, or exercised the functions OF Al
Office, under fhe authority of the COME
crate States or any insurrectionary Sta
| hostile 10 the United States, with the i
| tent or desire 10 aid the rebellion, and th
he never gave voluntary support 10 u
Confederate States, or any insurrectional
State. The Commissioner is authorized
take and hear proof against, as we'll as 70
the applicant, add shall be the judge of II
weight of the conflicting testimony 20 e
as the same may affect The issuance Of ce
tifcaies." No person shall be entitled
vote at any election unless registered, an
shall have received certificate Of regis
tration. Any applicant or witness swear
ing falsely TO any Of the required fact
shall be guilty of perjury. Every yiols
ton of The act ia declared a misdemeanor
and Punishable by indictment or present
ment, and BY fine, not less than ten, no
over one hundred dollars, and by impris
onment st the discretion of the court.
| Certificates issued under the origins
| act ara declared to be snunlled. The orr
ginal act Of june S, 1866, is declared t
be repealed, and the new act substituted il
lieu Of it. A4~ = =
Neither Of these acts of which the sub
stantial provisions have been recited, cen
ferred, nor did any other prior act in
terms confer upon the Governor or any
other officer the power to remove Com
missioner of Registration, or the power to
abrogate the registration OF county, OF
to annul the certificate issued 10 a voter,
or to take from q registered voter the
privilege of The elective franchise. Sub
sequentIy, however, 10 the passage OF
these acts, ana at the same session at
which was enacted the las: mentioned
acts, the General Assembly enacted the
act of March 8, 1867, chapter sc. The
fourth section of this act empowers the
I Governor to set aside the registration of
any county, and make known the same by
proclamation, "when il shall be made TO
appear TO his satisfaction that frauds and
Irregularities have intervened in the reg
islration of the voters Of such county"
Again, and on the 25th day of February,
1867, at subsequent session of the same
first General Assembly, an act was enact
ed, chapter &c, to alter and amend the act
of May 8, 1866, chapter SO. This act Of
February Is, 1867, is the same, in the pro-
visions material to the present case, as the
act Of May 8, 1866. Its principal Vari-
ance is, that 1T omits the word i0hite as a
term OF qualification Of voters, and au-
tborizes persons of color to exercise the
elective franchise, if possessing the pre-
scribed qualifications in other respects,
and not exceptionable by reason of the
disquaIifcations, which are the same as
boI = Al g
This act of February IS, 1866, is the final
act enacted by the first General Assembly
of the State, prescribing the qualifications
of voters and the Limitation of the elective
franchise, by virtue of the power conferred
by the section 9 of the constitutional
amendments Of February %, 1865. This
final act is declared to alter and amend
and be in lieu of the two preceding acts of
June 5, 1865, and May 8, 1866.
1t may be proper to add that the Second
General Assembly which convened after
the ratification of the constitutional amend.
ments, enacted an &C! on the 18th day of
February, 1868, chapter So, which declares
that the Governor shall have power TO re-
move from Office Commissioners of Regis.
tration "for deriliction of duty, frauds or
irregularities" and to set aside the regis
tralion Of any county, in whole or any
part, of The registration when il shall be
made TO appear 10 the satisfaction Of The
Governor that frauds and Irregularities
have interviewed in the registration Of vo-
ters of such county" And the act con
firms all removals and appointments there
tcfore made by the Governor of Commits,
sioners of Registration, and all sets Of the
Governor declaring registrations OF the
different counties in this State null and
void"
The third section Of the act eHacts, chat
any persons violating the provisions of the
preceding sections, by voting or attempt
ing TO vote, by yirture Of certificate
issued from a registration thus declared
null and void, shall be guilty Of misde-
mesnor, and, upon conviction, be fined not
less than fifty Dor exceeding one hundred
dollars"
The foregoing recitals show: The de-
PENDANT Staten was registered and received
his certificate on the 10Th day of Decem-
Der, 1867, under the act Of February %,
1867, the second in the series Of franchise
acts. goa the 2 9th day of February, 1868,
the Governor issued his proclamation de-
claring the registration of voters in that
county void. On the 9TH day of March,
1868, Staten voted at the election on that
day. The act empowering the Governor
to set aside and avoid registration was en-
acted on the Sth day Of March, 1867,
which was before the proclamation de-
claring the registration of the county void.
Upon this condition Of facts the defendant
was guilty of punishable misdemeanor.
which is charged in the Indictment, if the
act be void which empowers the Governor
to set aside and avoid registration and Ger.
tificates.
The elective franchise is a right which
the law protects and enforces as jealously
as il does property in chsttels or lands. II
matters not by what name it is designated,
the right to vote, the elective franchise, or
the privilege of the elective franchise. The
person who, under the constitution and
laws of the State, is entitled to it, has a
property in it, which the law maintains
and yindicstes as vigorously az it does any
right of any kind which men may have
and enjoy. ....-.-.
The rules of law which guard against
deprivation or injury, the rights of perso J,
in corporal properties, are alike auC
equally applicable to the elective franchise
and alike and equally guard persons in.
vested with it against deprivation of, OF
injury to, it. Persons invested with i
cannot be deprived Of it otherwise thai
by Clue process of law"
To the same extent that persons cannot
| be deprived of their lands and chatteIs, O.
4 rights and franchises of Any kind, other
wise than by due process of law is i
| als0 true, that without "due process O
law" they cannot be deprived or divesteC
of the muniments which evidence and ca
| tablish their titles and rights, such a
deeds, bills of sale, bonds, promissor,
notes and the like; and the certificate Q
registration and right to vote may be prop
erly included in the category,
All this ia declared and ordered by tn
organic law of the land. The seventh sec
ton 81 the Bill of Rights declares "ths
no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned
or disseized of his freehold, liberties O
privileges, or outlawed or exiled, or in an
manner destroyed or deprived of his lif,
liberty or property, bet by the Judgment {
his peers, or the law of the land" Th
phrase, "the law of the land" is anothe
expression for the due process of law,
and is Of equivalent import in respect {
the question involved in the present Iitigs
ton.
The "due process of law" or the claw O
the land" by which a person may be de
prived or Invested of his properties
rights, privileges, or franchises, or of hi
muniments or evidences of properties am
rights, or by which such muniments o
evidences may be annulled or cancelled,
not an act of the Legislature, or any AZ
of executor power, or proceeding in
court, or other than proceeding wherei