New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-10-25
n A TU 4 RALIZATION
The Second District COurt~ltS Ju'
risdictiOu and the Restric.
tions Upon 1t.
Il is not Within the Act Of Con.
gress Of 1902.
A Y0iuminOus Citation Of Authorities
and Review Of Those in
Opposition.
OPINION or ATTORNEY GENERAL FIELD

OppOSltiOns
..->--
OPINION or ATTORNEY GENERAL FIELD
The following opinion by Colonel A. +.
Field. tn. Attorney General. is the result of
much thought and great labor. and presents
IN logical and luminous manner all the
authorities bearing on the subject. Formed
As it is. after an investigation conducted,
not to establish q certain point. but to dis
cover and apply the law that the true status
of tho court might be determined. it will
carry conviction to every impartial and I'm
preiudiced mind:
SrArH OF LOUISIANA
Attorney Generals Office.
New Orleans, October "a, 1870.
Colonel William Wright State Registrar OF Voters:
SIR-Your communication of the TWEEN
tieth instant has been received, and the
question you PROFOUND to me. whether the
Second and First District Courts of the
parish of Orleans have authority under the
act Of Congress OF the fourteenth OF April,
1902, to grant naturalization certificates to
aliens. and thereby confer upon them the
right Of citizenship, have considered with
more than ordinary care, and with view
of having these grave questions fairly and
legally determined.
Three days ago, / addressed q COM
munication to w. X. Whitaker, Esq, who,
/ understand, is tho counsel of the Dem
Ocratic committee in all matters pertaining z
to registration, inviting him to confer with
me on the questions submitted to me for my
opinion. He has conferred with me twice
on the subject, but in his last interview, he
koA at rnss svoA nj tiV,it n1voi n
on the points submitted.
The fifth section of the act of Congress of
the fourteenth of April, 1902, provides:
That every court Of record, in any in
dividual State, hariny common ia,c juris-
dic,i0n and a seal and clerk or prothO-
nat0ry, shall be considered District Court
within the meaning of this act, and every
alien who may have been naturalized in
any such court, shall enjoy, after the passage
of this act. the same rights and privileges
as if he had been naturalized in District
or Circuit Court of the United States,
. Stat. at Large, l53.
maintain that this is the only provision
of law which defines the character and
jurisdiction Of the courts clothed with
power by the act of Congress, to natufalize
aliens. The inquiry then suggests itself.
does the Second District Court contain the
attributes required in the section above
cited! If 1t does not possess all Of them.
then it can not na:uralize. The Second
District Court is a court of limited juris.
dictiOn, and l maintain, without the fear of
successful contradiction. that the Second
District Court has not now. nor has it had
since 1864. any other power or jurisdiction,
except that which strictly belongs to a
probate court. Will it be cOntended that a
court SO limited IN its jurisdiction, confined
entirely to probate matters, with no power
to decide upon controversies between liti-
giants generally. could be classed a. a
court exercising common law powers!
1t is contended that inasmuch as the
Second District Court has jurisdiction of
cases arising in the settlement Of success.
sionl against administrators, etc, that is
the exercise of common law jurisdiction to
to a sufficient extent to meet the require.
inents OF the law. apprehend this view
is neither supported by reason nor author.
ity. The Second District Court of this par.
ish is even clothed with less jurisdiction
than the ecclesiastical courts of England.
and they were not regarded as III any sense
of the term exercising common law juris.
uiction. In case recently decided by the
Supreme Court of Illinois, in volume sixty.
three of their reports, the supervisors of
Knox county va. Davis, will be found a de-
c,sion. ii carefully examined. think, di-
rectly III point and decisive Of the question.
The county court of Knox county is estab-
iished by law a court of record, having
seal and clerk, and exercises limited CON-
mon law jurisdiction. The court says: The
county court has q seal, clerk and is a
;he requirements OF the act Of Congress-;
but has it the common law juris.
diction required! 1t has been so
far as we know, considered by the profes-
sion that the act required not only common
law, out general common law jurisdiction.
The settlement of estates, although gh a large
and highly important jurisdiction, is not
strictly common law Jurisdiction. In
Great Britain it was committed to the
ecclesiastical court. That kingdom, whence
we derive our common law, has not, until,
il may be. recently, committed the probate
of wills. the grant of letters testamentary
or of administration and the settlement of
estates to any of their common law courts;
hence the jurisdiction of the settlement OF
estates by our county courts is not COM
mon law jurisdiction, but is strictly statut
ory. 1t is true that such courts have con-
ferred upon them a limited jurisdiction iE
she action of debt and assumpsit when those
actions lie at common law, where guardian
Or an executor or administrator is q party.
plaintiff or defendant, and In assigning
dover to widows of deceased persons"
L. will be seen from this decision, that
the county courts of Illinois possessed pre-.
oisely the Jurisdiction claimed by the Second
District Court of this parish. Neither are
clothed with any other than probate juris.
diction. 1t will certainly be conceded that
when Congress used the term ''cOmmOn
law jurisdiction" it intended it for some
purpose and that it should not be disre-
gsrded. Common law jurisdiction was
well understood by the trainers of this law.
as certainly as what constituted court of
record. The courts of common law in
England are defined by Judge Blackstone
to be "courts Of general jurisdiction
yuished kfrom ecclesiastical, maritime and
military courts"
In the case of Levy and others rs. Nc.
Corton. 6 Peters United States Reports. the
court says: 1.-The Legislature must be pre-
sumed to use words in their known and
ordinary signifcation, unless that sense be |
repelled by the context. The common law |
ss constantly and generally used in contra I
distinction to statute law Taking this
Vreme Court in & Peters, let us see If the |
Second District Court is court exercising |
common law jurisdiction, and thereby en-.
titled to exercise the power Of naturaliza.
lion. Article eighty-three of the constitu.
::on Of 1868 declares: Until otherwise
; vided. there shall be seven district
courts for the parish of Orleans, with the
following ori ginal Jurisdictions: The First. ex.
elusive criminal jurisdiction; the Second.
exclusive jurisdiction OF appeals from
;stices Of the peace: the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth
and Seventh District Courts exclusive iurjs.
.!.c:ion n all civil cases. except probate,
when the sum in contest exceeds 500, ex-
riusivs OF interest. These seven courts
raall have such further jurisdiction. not
Inconsistent herewith, as shall be conferred