Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-10-03
"RECONsTRUCTION..'
Important Legal Questions Al
fectiHg the Status Of Ala
bama and tennessee.
Acts OF the Confederate Congress I'm
Relation to Civil Contracts. etc.

Acts of the Confederate Congress I'm
Relation to Civil Contracts. etc.
WASHINGTON. D. c., Sept. 2s.-Ths following
rulings have just been published: ~
Bringing of action an estoppel to deny jurisdic-
tion-ProvisiOnal Government of Alabama
its Status and Powers-Judgment of its Courts
Act Of Insurectionary Legislature of New
Hoffman, by Guardian, v. Boon and Booth, ad-
illustrators. Rulings of @. I. Peck.
Ia party who brings bis suit in court, and
prays the Judment of the court on the case
made by him, or takes an appeal from an infer
Tor to o superior court. and assigns errors and
pr avs the reversal of the judgment of the said
inferior court, thereby admits the legal compe-
tency and jurisdiction OF the court, and will not
afterwards be permitted 70 deny either. as
ground to set aside the Judgment or to expunge
the entry thereof from the records Of the court.
II, The government inaugurated in this State
by dov: Parsons, after the suppression Of the
late rebellion. under the commission and au-
thority of the President of the United States
although SAID government was afterwards de-
elaIed to be en- illegal government BY Congress
IN the acts commonly known as the RECONSTRUCT
ton acts, yet, as said acts do not declare said
government 10 be void, but permitted it 10 be
continued as provisional government, by the
military commander of the district of which this
state formed part, and was so continued by
said commander, thereby said government be-
came a legal provisional government, and its
acts and the acts of its officers were legal and
obligatory upon the people Of said State. The
fact that the judges of the courts of said pro-
ylslonaI government, OF any Of them, may have
been embraced in the class Of persons declared
By the fourteenth amendment of the constitu-
ton OF the United States to be incompetent to
hold any office, etc., may have been q good rea-
son Tor Their removal. yet. so long as they were
permitted TO hold their Offices. their judgments
were valid, as to the parties themselves, third
persons and the public. 81.
III. The fifteenth ordinance of the convention
OF thus State. In the year 1861. declares That
of NH liza nffa in Sc
State. under the United Slater military author
Ity, during the existence of the present provis-
lonal gov eminent, shall have the same force and
validity as If the same had been done in good
course Of law" This ordinance gave validity
to the judgments of the courts under said pro-
ylsional government.
Nv; The act of the 9th Of November, 1861, en-
Tilted AN act TO authorize executors, admins
traitors, guardlRns and trustees to make loans to
the Confederate States, and to purchase and re-
celve, lDspayment Of debts due them, bonds and
t EheasGry notes o. the Confederate States or Of
me state OF Alabama, and coupons which are
due on bonds Of the Confederate States and of
SAID state, Is IN violation of both the c0nstitu-
ton and the public policy of the United States
and IS, therefore, null and void. Its purpose
was to give encouragement to the rebellion then
existing, and aid and comfort ~ the public enc
NY of the United States.
supreme Court Of Tennessee.
Trade between Loyal and Insurgent States-Ef-
Iects OF occupation of latter by U. S. forces
Graham vs.. Merrill. Rulings Of ]. Smith. g.
Wnen the United States. during the late war,
ACQUIRED urn occupation of part of an insuIrec-
tlonary state, the citizens Of that part so oecu-
pfe1 were restored TO their relations as citizens
OF the united states, and contracts between
them and other citizens became valid.
The act OF July IL 1861, and the proclama-
ton OF the President of August 49, 1861 au-
thofized: /. Unrestricted commercial inter
course between the citizens Of loyal States and
Of those parts OF insursent States in occupation
OF the Federal forces: and 2. Intercourse be-
tween citizens Of the loyal and insurRent States
subject to the license of the President and the
regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the
Treasury; and the Presidents order Of Februa-
~ Is. 1862, was a general license TO such inter
course. But by the Presidents proclamation of
March 81, 1865, the distinction was abolished
and all Intercourse between the citizens Of loyal
and insurgent States was made subject to Ii
cense By the President, and regulation Of the
Secretary of the Treasury. .-
1t was not necessary to the laIfulness of such
intercourse that the party engaging in il should
have special license to himself by name under
the Presidents own sign manual. The Presi-
dents power 10 license might be delegated. or
might be exercised by a general proclamation,
such as those of February Is. 1862 and March
81, 1868.
Contract.
[. Lex Loci-COmmOn LaW-Adiu licatiOn of
other States. .". .
The law of the place where contract is made
Will ordinary govern in its construction and
the rights Of the parties Hereunder; but when
q question arises under the common law. or
law merchant, the courts of this State viii not
be concluded as to what the common law rule
in such case IS by what the courts of the State
where the contract was made have decided in
relation thereto. Alter, if the decisioni was
upon question arising under some custom or
usage OF the place where the contract was made.
Franklin v. TWOg0Od. y. Iowa D..