Wilmington journal., 1875-02-12
FEE BsSP PJEED JUDGESu1sx
FEsEASs< VS. (,e zN.r.>

opinions Of the Supreme Court in ~.
case Of Wilson az. Cloud win str;ro
every reader, whether legal or Iaym,n
as inst and sensible. The con,m,;
cat'oni is from the pen Of a gentle,aa,
who in better days did honor to tho
htnch IN N5,1h Carolina, and vonla
fhat those days could return SO th.,
North Car"iicians' wonlf Lave ns
proud satisfaction Of knowing thu.
throughout the whole State TIE ind;
ciai ermiae Was h@polabiy worn:
ifcssTs Fditoy-&- - AIlo y ne th,croh
your coinInns to submit few n,.,a
words Of co1ninentf rpen the cas-. nf
wilson Is. Cloud, iately adi,dica,ed
by O,pT Supreme Court.
While / consider Justice Hoade,s
dissenting opinion ae' at least equal 70
tEi,s opihion of the Chief .yrsiice !.
see Gs TO me that he has failed in two
pafticn'ars 10 produce fully tie arcn.
mn that clearly establish his view
of the iav-one 'as to matter ol lsw
which he n " have thought unneces-
sarY, the. other ms to matter Of fact
ahiail he may have overlooked.
1st As q matter Of law, foli,wino
the Chief T1rs tice, lie has treatsa
juf' ia, as one of ordinary constrnc-
tor, when, as IL is i'll, that
cas- # eases in which the Court
has no right 20 overrule a ,olstruc-
ton made ny co ordinate .ien.rt.
fnenE of tl!f Government. unless that
construction Is clearly and plainly er-
Tot epH7. exercising power Of which
that hHlv eminent man and jnrist,
Chief Justice R1tffip. (when shall We
See !.Ls like again y says in Hore VS..
4, nderaou, Nor ought At to be, nor
i 4 ever eXel clsed, unless upon such
delihrratIon the repuguance between
tia Legislative and constitutional en-
acsmelt5 be clear to the court and sus-
cAp5;bie Of being clearly understood
BY ali In every other case, there is a
preEuD Dt;On III favor Of the general
Legislative authority recognized in thu
CoBst! ut:on. The Court distrus,s its
OWE coucinsions of an apparent conflict
between tie provisions of the statut5
and the Constitution, because the tor
mer has the sancfiou of the intelli-
gence Of he Legislators, equal to the
appr hensIon Of the. meaning of the
Constitution. of their equal and sin
ce2e desire from motives of patriotism
ami conec'entions duty. to uphold that
Instrument III its truesense; and OF the
present and temporary inciinati ions at
least OF a m@i ijrIty of the citizens
which must be supposed to be known
TO their representatives and to be ex-
pressed by them. But. even these
sanctions arc not sufficient to overturn
the Constitution, if the repugnance do
really exist and is plain" Words fully
sustained by Chief Justice Marshall in
Fletcher VS.. Peck t5t 5-':, '''.'
Can any one read the opinion of the
Chief Justice alone and say that the
repuenance was "clear TO the Court
aed susceptible of being clearly under
stood by aIl''.-"that it did really exist
and was plaIn % If so, can they, after
residing the dissenting opinion
ond point, which [ think Justice
Rea6e overlooked and which to my
mind Is weightier than all tt e other
arguments, indeed, conclusive. espe
cially when considered as supplement
aly TO Justice Reade's opinion
The question is the true constfuc-
ton of clause 81, article f. OF, the Con
stitution. It Will be noted that article
4 contains the Constitutional provis-
ion relating to the following officers:
Chief Justice and Associate justices
of the Supreme Court. Superior. Court
Judges. Clerks or Probate judges,
Solicitors. Sh riffs, Coroners, Consta-
ble~, Justices Of the Peace--tbat these
are diyisiile into those whose terms
o. office are for two years ana those
whose terms exceed two years-that in
two clauses, SO and 81, It cone in con-
troyersyD which stand in iuxtaposition,
provision is made for vacancies in
maay of these Offices; that the two
phrases used could only be necessary
in case a distinction was to be made
between the offices mentioned in
them; that in the first, every officer
mentioned holds for two years
that IN the, secend every officer men;
toned holds for more than Two years;
that IN The case of two years officers
the, CLAUSE reads, 'fhe unesplred
term" 4aat In, the cstse Of all officers
fur more than two years, and where
our regular bienDiaI eiectious might
intervene, it says, "nntil the next reg
uar. election" Can meaning be
CLEARER But this IS not only true OF
these clauses. it, is repeated III Sec.
tions 34 and 80 klQwiDg Il lear and
disfiuct purpose. IN 81, the two
yeats term officers arc provided for
aud again it reads ''the unexpired
term. ia 30, four Years term officers
are provided fer and again the words
are, until All election can be regularly
he Id, " showing that wherever the re-
gular bienn al elections might inter
vene. in the general spirit OF the Con-
st3tution the people should choose
their officers. - -: .=.
II this is not true then the COpyen-
tioH made q classification of these
tfhcers aud nsed separate phrases for
eacn, meaning exactly the same thing,
n that il cllnses directly under tnelr
attention: aud not only so, but re-
pes,ted the folly. A CONSTRUCTION winch
bra,ds every member If the -Conven-
{ on az N as is an opinion from
which Justice Rodman, at least, should
have dissented ..,.r.. ...,.-.i
To show that construction so OBJ
vious and in such perfect accord with
the spirit of the Constitution is "clear-
ly erroneous plainly" so-apd s9s-
ceptible Of being SC understood by
all, - what ale the arguments OF the
CLeff Justice, stripped of their YER
b'age snl star ding III their naked slm-
0Gc3ty? ..:. !.
Fist, lie ;r7terpolates the clause with
words enough T. IN kc il equivalent TO
ire sentence III opposition ~ whlch l.
g used, and then, having made IL
Equivalent, says the Constitution IN
,botirer instance uses different express
SONS Ia convey the sane NEAR ing.
. Secondly, In the face of the direct
legislative construction VII: ch be was
hep cverruiihg, he says that an e1-
,epti0n OF Associate Justices (evl-
lent Y done IN the endeavor to get an
tribunaD, was a Legislative
in direct reversal OF thelr
toienn act ..-....r,
Thirdly, That the election to ill
-acancy, if made BY the people, mls'
xsend beyond the limit of the term'
I'D destroy. the regularity of the m
onlipg and outgoing of the Judges
.ost lame and impotent conclu ION.
Ii the Chief. Justice had been .
aember of the Convention, and ! nao
i