National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-25

nuso; ergo libel was within the 1urtsdlction o.
. osu1 a.
not mention tho county jail at all.
The hrst section names seventeen offences O!
penitentiary crimes
The next twelve afax special term Of impris
onment to each Of the seventeen offences
The fourteenth enacts that all capital felonis,
and crimes in the District, not herein specially
provided for, except murder, treason and piracy
shall bspunished by imprisonment In the peni.
Tertiary, for not less than seven nor more than
twenty years.
The fifteenth says
Every other felony, misdemeanop or offence
not provided for by this act may and shall be
punished as heretofore" sc.
Under the law Of 1881 and It's predecessors there
Is no classification Of crimes attempted. An In.
ferential one on the principle Of the penalties at
tached, may be made as follows:
(d.) Cspital-murder, treason and piracy.
(o.) Penitentiary crimes, formerly capital, In
Guiding forgery, counterfeiting, burning tobacco,
third conviction OF religious libel, death by the
Maryland law of I72a) and o few others.
(e.) Pepitsntiary for terms specified In the
state Of 1881 including manslaught and sixteen
others.
d. Every other felony, misdemeanor or offence;
these are all punished as heretofore"
Libel Is included In this last class. and for Its
punishment We are referred by the statute or1s31
to laws passed beforetha time; aud we propose
to search for 1t among the laws OF Congress, the
laws OF Maryland and the old EagIish law, which
may have been adOptod in this District.
- UNITED STATES LAWS ON LIBEL.
1t is q noteworthy fact In American legislation
that In ninety-odd years Congress has passed but
two laws respecting libel. .
The was In 1873. 1t Is known as the HsedI.
tion law" and was passed for the protection OF
the Executive, the Senate and House and leading
officials, in what Q Congressional committee Of
that day termed "a crisis of extraordinary
danger" II carefully provided for indictment by
grand jury and trial by petit jury, and, in its
penalties, moderated greatly the rigor Of the old
common Law, softoning the unlimited imprison-
tnent to the short term of two years maximum,
aud the unlimited fine to one not exceeding two
thousand dollars. The Congress that enacted
this statute considered 1t bold experime MT, and
limited It to three years, and no Congress has
been hardy enough to re-euact it.-Holt, I2S.
The second and last was in 1885. 1t provides
that In all prosecutions, civil and criminal, for
libel, the truth may be given In evidence under
he general issue. This law is still In force. Al
though in terms It implies that criminal prosecu-
lions for libel may exist In this District its effect
Is probably to put an end to prosecutions for polt
classes of libels except obscene and Indecent pub
Ications and pictures. Society suppressss these
BY virtue Of its right to maintain deocncy and
Iuppress nuissnces. But the only plea under
which society has ever attempted to punish polit-
CAL personal, and religious ubels has been the
Of the public peace. But lIbels tend
10 cause o breach Of the peace in proportion to
heir truth. Exposure enrages more than false
,harge. "Ths greater the truth, the greater the
libel" has passed into legal proverb. The law
rises forbids the punishment Of lIbsls which are
rue; that 10 OF the only ones likely to cause
,rsaoh Of the peace. In 50 doing It destroys the
egal reason for tbs criminal prosecution Of every
lass Of lIbels except obscene and indecent publ
,ations pictures and medals. All parties offended
by ordinary libels are remitted to their civil
,ction for redress.
In another aspect the law Of 1885 has an impor-
ant bearing on this case. It's language is, I'm
I'll prosecutions or indictments for libel Instituted
" which may hereafter be instituted In the Dis
riot Of Columbia" sc.
The word MISUNDERSTANDING grand Jury
70 md them as well as Q petit Jury to try then
That 10 the only law which, after nearly . oen-
ury's existence Of this Republic, mentions libel,
mentions 1t a. . crime requiring the Intervention
Il two juries to try It; aud yet the honorable Sem
tor and United States District Attorney wish to
~ Il on Information, without Indictment and
Without jury. The right to give the truth in de-
is secured to all; but Is secured only when
he prosecution Is by indictment. VIII the Dis
riot Attorney claim to deprive my client Of this
light also, beoause he prosscutss by informationH
The word indictments" In this statute was clear
y intended to cover the only mode Of prosecuting
ibel known to Congress; and the right Of giving
he truth 10 defence was attached to that mode.
Z follows that until the statute Ia repealed libel
must be treated IS high misdemeanor.
THE MARYLAND LAWS.
Maryland has not Iegislated on this subject 50
much as Congress- Her statute books, from the
Of the colony in 1881 down to 1901 show
nut one law on libel. That was passed IN IT'S.
See Dist. Of Col Laws, 1858, page 1867 1t 10
lined against parsons who, mallelously, By writing
" speaking, bIaspheme or curse God, or deny our
saviour or his divinity throw doubt on the Trim
ty, or bring into contempt or denial any part OF
he whole of the Scriptures. In short, II covers
retty well the whole Ella ofrefgous llbels and is
standing menace to all Universalists, Unitarians,
md scofers The punishments prescribed are,
or the first offence, fine OF $780, and to be bored
trough che tongue; for the second offence, fine
Il $500, and to be branded in the forehead with
he letter B; for the third offence death without
'enefit Of Clergy.
This law was standing on the Maryland statute
looks in 1901, when Congress adopted in mass the
Maryland laws. 1t has never been expressly re-
,ealed. I Will not discuss now its details. It is
nough for the purposes Of this argument to say
hat the extreme severity of the punishments pre-
cribed makes It evident that the Maryland LegIs-
ators Of 1723 classed religious libels with singh
They are, therefore, above the
Intended Jurisdiction Of tho police judge.
THE COMMON LAW
We have seen that the only law Of the United
states on libel treats It as indictable, and that
he only law of Maryland on the subject treats It
IS punishable with death on the third conviction.
The common law, as interpreted by the English
ourts assigns libel to the same class as mis-
'rision Of treason. It Is slwsys high INSIDE
neanor.
When Lord Thurlow moved for sentence on
Horne locke, convicted Of libel, he called upon
10 show their ssenss Of his infsmy BY
him 10 an infamous punishment"
In Wilkes case both Houses Of Parliament re-
Owed that the privilege Of ParlIamsnt would not
protect 9 member charged with the infamous
rhine Of libel. 'H-
The star chamber was court whose object was
o try high crimes. One Of the leading subjects
" Its Jurisdiction was libel.
Holt, on libel, page 40, says
sin that part of the Institutes in which Lord
Joke treaties Of the Star Chamber, Is Inst. 100, }
10 says that the main cognizance Of the offence
libel was taken almost into the particular keep
ng Of that court, as the helnonsness Of the crime
md the peculiar contumacy Of the offenders
eemed to require Q tribunal Of more than COM
non dignity. The punishments Of this court, he
ays, were likewise adapted to the mischief Of the
'fence, being imprisonment, pillory, whipping,
oss Of ears and brands In the face.n
In the appendix to "George on LIBEL" may be
ound In full Lord Coke's four propositions de
tans.., Hbelifs. presented by him to the Star
Court as an epitome of the common law,
md adopted by the court. The third one men,
ions among the punishments fine and imprison.
nsnt, (both without lImIt,) pIllory and loss Of
,ars.
The case Of the Dean OF st. Asaph led to the
passage Of Fox's libel bill, which gave libel e.
,luslvely to the jury, and provided against undue
influence Of the court.
Lord Camden, In his judgment IA The King vs..
Wilkes, reported in 2 Wilson, Isl, and quoted in
Holt, page 1ss, says:
"There is no other name but that Of libel appli-
able to the. offence Of libeling, and we know the
,fience specifically by that name, as We know the
,fences OF horse-stealing, forgery, &C., by. the
names which the law has annexed to thom. As 70
he offence Of libel, It Is high misdemeanor."
A law Of Alfred the Great punished the SLAM
ierer by cutting out his tongue, and this was con-
irmed by King Edgar and Oanute, the Dane.
A statute Of 1875 axes the penalty OF circulating
alse news or Islander at imprisonment until the
,riginal author could DO found, which Was equiva-
ent to imprisonment for life.
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