Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1878-05-09
WINSTON, N. c., THURSDAY, MAY 8. 1878.

necessity in household furniture,
shall, like wearing apparel, not TO be
liable to execution on judgments.
Negotiations of this description have
always been considered in every
civilized community ae properly be-
longing TO the remedy, 70 be execu-
ted or not by every sovereignty,
according to its views of policy and
humanity He quotes with appro'
baton the passage which we have
! quoted from Green Us. Ridd,e. To
guard against possible misconstruc-
ton, lie is careful tc say further:
"W hatever belongs merely to the
remedy may he altered according to
the will Of the State, EroUide1 the
dlterdt' on does not impair tie obi
gation Of tile contract. But if that
effect is produced. it is immaterial
whether it is done by acting on the
remedy, or directly on the contract
itself. In either case 1t IS prohi6i
tel by the Constitution"
The learned Chief Justice seems
to have had i'll his mind the maxim
sac mimimis," &c. Upon no ether
ground can any exemption be justi-
fed. "Policy and humanity" are
dangerous ghides iE the discussion
Of a legal proposition. He who fol-
lows the,a far is apt to bring back
the means of error and delusion.-
The prohibition contains no quail
ticatioD, and we have no judicial
authority to interpoiate say. Onr
duty is simply to execute it.
Where the facts are undisputed
it is always the duty Of the conrt to
pronounce the legal Mer-
chants Bank VS.. The State Bank,
lG Wall, 604. Here there is no
question of legislative discretion in
volved. With the constitutional
prohibition, even as eEYounde& by
the late Chiet Justice, before us on
ono hand, and on the other the State
Constitution of 1868, and the laws
passed to carry ont its provisions.
we cannot hesitate TO hoid that both
the latter da seriously imair the OBJ
legation of the several contracts here
in question. We say, as Was said
in Gum vs.. Barry Is Wall. 622,
that no one can east his eyes upon
the new exemptions thus created
without being at once struck with
their excessive character and hence
their fatal magnitude. The claim
tor the retrospective efficacy of the
Constitution or the laws cannot be
supported. Their validity as to
contracts Subsequently made admits
of no doubt.-Bronson Us. Kcnzie,
snpra.
The history of the National Con-
stitution throws a strong light upon
this subject. Between the close OF
the war Of the revclntinn ard the
adoption of that instrument, uppre
cedented pecuEiary distress existed
throughout the country
s'The discontents and pneaeiuess
arising in a great measure from the
embarrassment in which a 9Ieat
number ofindividnafs were involved,
continue TO become more extensive
cat length two grear parties We're
formed in eECry State, Which were
distinctly marked and which pur-
sued distinct Objects with systematic
arrangrment.-5 Marshal's Life OF
Washington, rs. One party sought
to maintain The insiolability of con
tracts, the other 10 impair or destroy
them.
f'The emission of paper money
the delay of lsguL proceedings. and
the sus spension ot the collection oi
taxes, were the fruits of the rule oi
the latter wherever they were COM
pletcly dominant" p Ibid.
"Thc svsrem called justice was il,
some of tile States iniqnify reduced
TO elementry principles"
.sIn some OF the States creditors
were treated as outlaws. Bank
rupts were armed with legal author
ity to be prosecutors, and by tho
shock OF all cofdcnce society was
shaken to its foundation. Fisher
Ames's Works led. of 1850, p. 1870
"Evidences of acknowledged
claims on the public would not com,
mand in the market more than one
fifth of their nominal value. The
bonds of solvent men payable al
no very distant: day could not, hs
negotiated but at discount oftAirty Y
) forty, or fifty per cent. per aEnum
. Landed property wonld rarely com
: mand any price and sales of th'
most common articles for ready mon
ey conld only be made at enormou
and iuinous depreciation. =
, estate legislatures in too man,
) instances yielded To the neceseitie
of their constituents and passed law
by which creditors were compelle,
20 wait for the payment of their jus
: demands on the tender of securit,
or to take property at a valuation
: or paper n,oney falsely purportins