New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-02-21

u | Sress OF Jne United States, approved JAM
Q airy %, 1S45, and such election shall be he'll
and conducted in the manner and form pr
Vided by law for such elections"
\ Now, in this presidential electors &C
I 4. here are two provisions which do bear O.
I ou, 9stiOns that we are to discuss as to th
| l'rop, ar method Of carrying on, certifying
and c4lnvasping the election held last Nc
veLuber, If they were in force, and | vii
AJAX your attention to them. l will frs
read section four, which is as follows:
"That Immediately after the receipt of tn,
raturn from each parish, or on the fourth
Monday of November, If the returns should
NOT sooner arrive, the Governor, in thC
i presence of tho Secretary of State, the At
5orney General and district judge of the dis
| trict in which the seat of government may
| be established, OF any two OF them, shall
examine the reS6rns and ascertain there
| from the seven persons who have been duly
elected electors"
Then there are certain administrative
provisions not important. Then the eighth
sectien'is as follows:
THAT if any one OF more OF the eleetors
chosen by the people shall fail from any
cause Whatever to attend at the appointed
place, at tne hour of g. y. NJ of the day
prescribed for their meeting, it shall be tho
duty of the other electors Immediately to
proceed by authority to supply the vacancy
or vacancies"
Now cur learned and ingenious friend
lMr. CarRenteFl argued that it was wholly
immaterisl to the practical results of this
case whether you held that lew was re-
pealed or whether you held that it was In
force. He said that If it was repes led so
as to carry down the Canvassing. section,
then section eight being carried down the
power to fill vacancies did not exist, and
two vacancies were therefore left in the
College of Electors, which, as he said,
would be enough for his purpose, and that
is doubtless true as regards the latter pro-
position. But VS. are under no such limita-
ton as that. BY the subsequent laws the
canvassing section was repealed, and by no
subsequent laws was the rest of the cleo
torsl act affected. Now that is the PROPOSE
ton which at least liberates us and
this commissions from any confusion or from
any resort to either of the horns of the d.
lemma. Why do we say thisi There came
about, in 1870, revision of the statutes of
| the State of Louisiana-nOt repeal, not
re-enactment, but a reduction of the laws
that were already understood to be in force,
and in regard to which the fat of the Legis-
lature was to be impressed upon them that
| they were the laws in force-a transaction
entirely similar to that which took place in
| Congress in the production OF the Revised
| Statutes under which we now act. On this
point will read from book published in
1876.
Commissioner Bradley have the orig
inal publication, which the counsel can use
/ if he chooses.
Mr.. Evsrts-I will be very glad to avail
myself of the volume. In the first place
there was q statute entitled ELECTIONS"
| Then there comes, after the general pro-
visions about elections granted under this
consolidated table of elections, statute
concerning contested elections, which in
| terms is referred to as the statute of 1855,
| page 40S This contested election law is
reprinted as law already in existence.
| Commissioner Thurman-Is counsel read
| ing from the Revised Statutesl
Mr.. Evarts-I am reading from the edi-
ton of 1875, which is the proper one.
Commissioner Thurman-Was that passed
as one act7
Mr.. Eyarts-I understand that it was.
Then we have another title in these Re
vised Statutes, separated 100 pages from
the other, entitled Presidential Electors
ION page 550), which begins by reciting the
acts of Congress, and then in ten sections
enumerstes the provisions of that subject
Now, those two laws, being for our pur'
| poses the same as the laws of 1868, were in
force when these Revised Statutes came
into operation, unless by actual repeal
These were passed on the fourteenth Of
March 1870, and on the sixteenth of March
1870, a law was passed and is to be found
in the first edition of this compilation. The
title of this act is the same as that OF the
election act of 1868 in its general PROPOSE
lions TO regulate elections and enforce ar
ticle l03 Now, this act provides, at sec
ton fifty-fonr that the Governor, Lieuten.
ant Governor, Secretary of State, anC
John Lynch and T. G. Anderson, OF q ma
jority of them, shall be the returning Off
GERS for all elections in the State, anC
there is at section eighty-fve = thu
= final section of the aot-the repeating
clause, "that all laws or parts of laws con
trary to the provisions of this act, and al
laws relating to the same subject matte
are hereby repealed, and this act shall TAX
effect from and after its passage" Now
-, what went down under that repeali In tn
: | first place, upon general principles, all o
= the Revised Statutes that came under tn
! | title of elections" enforcing this provision
No. 1903, and all parts of other laws tina
! were within the purview OF the conduct Q
/ elections held in that State, and no othe
parts of said laws. were repealed by tina
: section. Now the election of 1872 was he'll
under that law. Did anybody in Louisian
: conceive that the Governor was to canvass
u Some question was raised whether the act {
:, 1872, which was passed of the twentieth
i November to provide another Return
ing Board, was IN operation, but u
courts of the State, in the authorities ths
= have been proposed for your honors' COL
sideration by my learned associates, dispoi
OF this question as to who were the retur
g ing board and the canvassiDg bOard-belu
e one and the same thing, in November, lSI
:, prior to the twentieth of that mont
Therefore, the whole operation of this
= of 1870, in repeal of this or that portion
q the independent acts, the general eleotit
y acts and the presidential election act (whi'
- was not an act concerning their elect1o
but concerning the discharge of the
4 duties, giving them nothing but the statu
= apparatus), remained UNMARRIED except &
. canvassing board. Now, whether the ca
J, wasting board of 1868 was the same or NJ
II is not material. Now comes the act of Isl
= which is reproduced.
n Commissioner Bradley-Right there,
o. your attention has not been called to 1t,
te me state that the digest of the statui
le made Immediately after the revision a
% publication in January, 1871, contains tht
al two titles-the revision itself under the ii
W of Elections" and the title of president
', electors, The digest is made by John ~
n under the direction of the committee OF
g, vision. and in that digest, under the head
I'd ELECTIONS" he inserts the same title II
e- the revision contains, with the exception
n the Returning Board, which seems to in
ne cate the impression of the profession at
It's time
e. Mr.. Evarts-I thank you for the ref
he ence.
y, Resuming, Mr.. Evarts said; The Canva
y. ing Board section of the act of 1868 was
an peAled by the act of 1870. Did any of tn
of eminent learners who attended in New
I'd, leans during the month of November g
Of gest that Governor Kellogg ought to 0
We vass these votes of presidential electO
n But now the vice, the fault, the incura
ng wound of this election they say, is {
IL Governor Kellogg did not canvass.
RS Commissioner Morton inquired whet
se, the digest from which counsel had b
IN | raading was tn he eubmittAd to the Legi