The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-05-22

article 103 jhas no application Whatever TO
the class OF offences which are to be tried
summarily. without the Intervention OF an i'm
partial jury OF the vieinage." tl5 A., l9D) Eight
years later, under different administration OIL
public affairs the Supreme court, composed OF
an entirely different bench, reairmed the princi-
ples laid down In the two cases alresdy cited, aud
under proceeding by habeas corpus. after hav.
ing reviewed the very act now In question, held
that article lOj OF the constitution OF 1864 was
similar in it's provisions to article 103 Of the
sitution of 1862; that article 1873 OF the constit-
tion OF 1864 differed not from article liza OF the
constitution oi 1861 as ''minor crimes aud Of
fences" ore contained In the expression minor
offences" and that the "vsgrsnt act" known as
sections 12O and 121 OF the acts Of 1856 not being
in conflict with the constitution OF 1854, con.
tinued In force under the provisions Of article 149
OF that constitution. Gao A., 32G
OF 1868, 1t will be found that article los OF the
former is iientica with article OF the latter !;
that article 124, in the one, while differing in
language from article 81, in the other, is the
same in spirit, and similar in the extent OF the
delegation of judicial powers TO officers neoes-
ssry in towns aud cities for the enforcement of
their police regulations; and that article 149 of
the constitution of 1864 Ia literally embodied in
the constitution OF 1858.
II is necessary, however, to follow out the
chain OF logical seluences 80 unanswerabiy set
out in these decisions. IL is safe to rest the
right OF the recorders of the city OF New Or
leans to punish tummarilv In cases OF vagrancy,
on 'he delegation Of jnaicial powers contained In
the constitution OF 1868.
Article 81 au horiz - the Legislature to create
judicial off eers and vest them with cogni-
z4nce over cases arising under the police regnla-
tions Of towns and cities. III vagraney belong to
! the class of oases which arise under the police
regulations of the city Of New Orleans, an act OF
the Legislature vesting recorders with the power
TO punish offenders of this character In sum
| mary manner is In strict ojnsonance with the
| constitutional grant OF powers.
Blackstone defines the public police and
economy as ''the due regulation and domestic
order OF the kingdom, whereby the inhabitants
| Of q state, like members OF q well governed
family, are bound to conform their general bs.
havior to the rules OF propriety, good neighbor-
trtous and inoffenslve In their respective sta
tions.' "a Bl. Com 162.) The same author
adds. "Idleness iii any person whatsoever is
also high etf nse against the public economy
The civil law expelled all sturdy vargrants from
the city; and, in our own law, all idle persons OF
| vagabolds whom our ansient statutes describe
to be such as wake on the night and sleeps on
the day. and haunt customable taverns and ale
house, and routs about, and no man wots ii ON
whence they came nor whittier they CO. or such
as are more particularly described by statute
II Geo. I, g. 6, and divided into three classes
idte and disorde'ly persons. 'og,tes and udgd
bonds. and incorrigibie rogues; all these are of
the government OF any kingdom They are
therefore all punished by the statute last men
tioned" etc. "A Bl. Com. 1897
Judge Cooley, in his work on "Donstitafional
Limitations" Up. GIL says. The police OF State
| In q comprehensive sense, embraces its systen
OF internal regulations, by which 1t is sought &c
presei vs the pnb ic order and to prevent ofsnses
| against the state"
summary proceedings in criminal causes are
not infrequent either in Eogland or in those
i nj ia
force. Such convictions for vic atoms of the game
and kindred laws, amount in England to more
than 100000 year, while in New York, where
the law defining and puuishing vsgrancy is very
like our own, nearly 300 yagrants are confined Ii
| its penitentiaries.
| Our own supreme Court, through its organ
| Chief Justice Hyman, IN one OF the cases al
| ready cited, declared that the act vestng record
| ers with authority summarily to punish vagrants
was an exercising Of the constitutional power to
elothe these officers with the criminal jurisdio
tion necessary for the punishm mt OF such IN nor
offences as the police aud good order OF the city
required. (20 A 326.)
The right OF the Legislature to enact police
laws for the government Of towns and cities
throughout the State is no longer an open ques
| tion. The Supreme Court of tae United States
in the celebrated "slaughterhouse" cases, has
finally disposed Of any objection OF this character
which might be urged against the vagrant act o1
| 1856.
There are several considerations valuable i'm the
construction of laws like this, which might be
advanced; among others, the legal rule OF inter.
probation that acts should not be declared void
because they oppose spirit supposed to pervade
the consttu ion, but not expressed in words; snd
the furth r rule that courts should not pronounce
statute to be unconstitutional. unless The nullity
aud invalidity Of the act are paced beyond rea-
sonable doubt. But such an elaboration of the
subject is deemed unnecessary, in visw OF the
| fact that the vagrant Law, in none of it's provi
sions, conf cts with the constitution of 1868.
The Legislature ia vested with absolute right OF
legislation except when restricted by the organic
law There is such restriction with gard to
proceeding in prosecutions, by indictment or in
formation, and in trials. by the intermediary OF
| jury OF the parish where the offense was com.
mitted. This, however, the Supreme court saws
| is q general rule which does not apply when the
otfense charged is within the Jurisdiction 81
recorders as limited by article 81 of the constitu
| ZION. As demonstrated, the act defining and
Furnishing vagrancy is an act establishing a
police regulstion police regulations, according to
article 94 of the constitution, may he taken
cognzance of by the recorders; ergo, the trial OF
vagrants by the recorders ia clearly constitu-
| tional.
Act NO. 100 OF 1866, requiring that the punist-
ment of vagrants bs by Imprisonment at hard
labor in the city Work house. the second inquiry
IL, whether ntence fer such offense decreeing
Imprisonment in the Parish Prison IL legal and
authorZsd2
The on y statute found by the court authoriz-
|
tory now known M the city OF New Orleans, was
an act passed in lS4t at time when the city was
divided into municipalities, under separate aud
distinct lo,al governments. This act provided
that the Council Of each municipality of the city
OF New Orleans be and they are hereby author
lied to establish within their respective limits a
work-house or prison, and enact the requisite or.
dinances for the government OF the same, in
which shall be confined ana employed ali persons
legally committed by any magistrate authorized
to commit vsgrants," The second section of the
act in regard to such work houses vests the
councils Of the municipalities with all the DO owers
OF police juries within the limits Of such munic !.
palities, aud 37L cents per day was to be paid
from the parish treasury for each OF the persons
confined in said warehouses;. The succeeding
sections created the offsnse of vaprancy. and
provided for it's punishment.
This act OF the Legi lature, adopted at q time
when the constitution of 1912 was In force, is pc
culiar in many OF its provisions, and can be fully
understood only after careful consideration. II
delegs5ed certain powers, not to the city OF New
Orleans, but to ''the coun il of each municipal
ity," 'within their respective limits" The only
persons subj ct to imprisonment in these work
D