Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1870-03-18
EXTRAORDINARY DscLslon OF the sn

MORnd Cs1assf1 - ~
Aessrs. Edil6rs; It well known to the
Bar of n orth- Caroline that the Chief JUS
Itice Of the State is deeply conscious Of
poss essin gan astnte mind, is very much
tinciined to indudge II what he delights to
call ''the reason of the thing" and tri
umphs in the privilege of drawing bead"
on every question presented to him So
strong is this propensity in him that it has
been said that he would rather give new
and ingenious reason for wrong decision
than to decide a simple case correctly for
plain reason. But I am notsgoing tore
peat all that has been said about the Ghisf
Justice, for the Supreme Conr tEasl1ave~ de-
clded that they cannot be cussed or dis
cussed with impunity.J 3E>E -A 81
The published opinion in the case of
Leak rs, the Commissioners of Richmond
county, recently decided By The Supreme
Court, is judicial Interpretation of the
laws OF wax which Will astonish the com
munity, if that pef possible. Ii has been
the boast Of the legal profession that the
principles Of their science are based ca
com0on sense and natural Justice, bat, if
the decision IN Leaks case is correct, the
boast is an exceedingly empty one.
The plaintiff had loaned money to the
County Court Of Richmond county to buy
salt for the people during the war, and
brought his suit TO recover tic AMOUNT
The act OF the Legislature, authorizing the
County Courts to do such things, required
majority of the Justices to be present,
which was not complied with in Leaks
case and, therefore, the Court very prop
erly gave judgment for the defendants.
1t the Court had rested their decision
on this requirement and had stopped there,
nothing could be said against it, bat they
go much further and proclaim as the law
that which is absolutely revolving The
opinion is delivered by the Chief Justice.
Without noticing the evident sheer at the
''cause of the South, !" and the very remark
able 'tdtcjI announcement what was then
considered resisting an evasion turns ont to
have been aiding rebellion" let IT'S ex-
anime the case little.
In the first place, after defining what
were ''acts III aid Of the rebellion" and Civ
ing examples, the Chief Justice has q great
deal TO say about 1.-The rightfuI State gov
eminent during the war;" end of persons
unlawfully exercising the power of the
State Sin open hostility to the rightfal
State government, :" 60, Sc. Leaving out
all discussion Of where this riphtfll State
government was, and of whom constituted,
it may we'll be said that such stuff comes
with peculiar effrOntery from Judge Pear
son. He Was Chief Justice during the
war, either rlghtfully or ,wropgfully if
wrOugfuily, then all his acts were necessa-
rily without authority, and, according to
his own theory extended, every man upon
whose case he sat In judgment was unlaw-
fa!Iy dealt with. OF course ho excerpts
from the category of acts sin aid of the re-
belllon" and TO be taken therefore as lawful,
appropriations for the ordinary admins
tration of Justice" and the like, but
Legislature which he pronounces to have
been illegal and without authority, could
not make him Judge, and his acts lawful |
for any purpose. TO use his own illustra |
zion ''any one who attempts to prove the |
contrary must confess the soft impeach-
nent Of allowing his reasoning faculties to !
be obscured by prejudice and sympathy"
,aO0 for the ''cause OF the South" but for |
those who have the disposal of Offices, such |
rs seat on the Z. S. Supreme Court |
bench.
Hoping til It you Will not consider this
IN allusion to the legs of the Court (see
'ule er f'ltrte Moore et al, we now come to
he principle announced by the Court
which is repulsive, viz : that furnishing |
'aN to the citizens during the war was aid
ng the rebellion, and contracts for such a |
purpose vCld
Inasmueh as the opinion could not be
complete and oerve the purpose for which
t was intended, without a!lusiOn to the |
President Of the United States -familiarly
jailed " Grant" by the Court-that perse-
,uted individual is introduced for the pur-
pose of illustration, as follows
Grant seizaa a 1aY, in ha of nF cnrrviDC,
n salt into Vicksburg He eays - the WOmen and
children are in 8 state Of actual starvation, and !
ny motive was to do of charity and hu |
nanity, and mitigate the rigors of war" Reply
The laws OF wax are paramount to motives of
n arity and humanity Starving the citizens was
escorted to in order to compel the authorities to
and you attempt to counterfeit my
measures and aid them to protract the siege!"
Remarkable illustration indeed A |
military commander stops traffic with
,ity which he is besieging, because bread
md meat will enable them to hold out, |
hegefore the Court OF a conquered country
must declare contracts for corn and salt, |
ettOeen ais otOn citizens, made during the /
var, to be void. The argument is that the
United States Government had a right to
tarve the citizens into surrender, and
therefore anybody who supplied them
ng the measures of the government, aud
iding them to protract the struggle, and
ould not recover the price of the necessa-
les SO furnished 1 say tie Supreme
}ourt have decided that this rule applies
0 anybody supplying salt, &c. for, notwith-
landing the Chief Justice was discussing {
he case of county authorities who had
upplied the people, he goes on, after IL
by the single act of an individu-
!, and shows that the commission of the
ct by an organized body was only an ag-
ravation of the offence. FThe act per- So,
Q says" did aid the rebellion and its being
one by the wrongful county authority
tends more strongLy to fix
Is character
1t may be said that this cannot be the t
leaning of the decision because, if carried
ut, the principle would embrace all con-
racts for the sale of anything between
itizens during the war, and the Supreme
}ourt have heretofore decided otherwise l.,
4 regard to what they considered limo
ent contracts. But this objection only ,