The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1879-03-08
[Cnmmunicated.l
Is is expedIent 10 exclude
Lawyers from the Con.
stituliOnal Convention?

St1eUllOn1l convention!
Every Our agrees that none bur
the best and most competent men
should be selected as delegates
to tile convention. But who are
the best and most competent
men?
y correspondent in the Nem
| Orleans Times Of the 14t!. Febru.
AIRY argues that no lawyer should
be sent to the Convention be
ca,>e these gentlemen wonid
frame ii Constitution STD obscure
and ambiguous in its Germs That
a harvest Of litigatiOns would en-
size its adoption. The writer
would therefore. have only plain
men of business and mechanics in
the Convention, because those
elements of our population would
frame Constitution free from all
ob>curity, and couched in the
very plaineSt language.
We take issue with the writer
on that point. In the first pl cc,
it will be admitted that the rea-
son for calling q Convention at all
a, this season is to remedy the
defects which exist in the COnStl-
tuition of 1868. Now, ask the aver
age planter or man OF business
whether he ever read the Consti-
tuition of 1868, and he will tell you
frankly that he has not. Nay, ask
the majority CT wOnld.be dele
gates what are the defects to be
rene lied in the existing Constitu
ton, and they will confess that
they have never even read the
Preamble, or Bill of Rights.
/ How can any man have the pr'
sumption to think himself quail.
fed to frame an organic law fol
; all coming time, when he has not
famillarized himself with the pro
visions and practical workings OF
the existing Constitution I
!, Let us rempmbe: that the dele
2 gates selected by the people viii
r be sent to rear the whole struct.
+ ure of Il government. AS thi.
, structure 5 purely intellectual, il
follows that it's architects SHOULD
he men pre-eminent for their in
2 teliectual qualifications, and wei
vcrsed in the science of govern
\ ment. Now, it is IA recognized fac
that the legal profession combine
/ these two qualifications in Il grea
p ~r degree than any other class il
society. If there is any defect il
II a law, they are the first to discov
0 or it, and to suggest the remedy
Besides, any one at all CONVEX
n slnt with the proceedings of tn
@ legislature knows that the mos
important committee is tina
which is styled the Jutliciar,
O Committee, composed of the hes
3 legal minds in the body. Thei
junction is to report or all que,
tons of law. and their report
generally accepted as conclusive
A Constitution being the hughes
u form of law. it is obvious thu
t. the best legal talent only Shout
- lie employed to frame it.
le The most important depar
/ ment Of the government of thi
It State is the Judiciary. 1t will NC
6 be cOntended for one mOmer
8. that laymen can understand til
operation of the system AZ We'll q
n one born and bred in the law, 5
If to speak. AS well might you e>
Of p+ct IA lawyer to build il house
# a planter to practice dentistry.
of man might be an excellent Law
yer and yet cut "a very sorry fig
te urc us Il planter, or rice uersa.
IN You are to choose as delegates
rs the Convention men who are igi
rs rant OF the defects in the preSel
" judiciary system, as most iayine
70 generally are, you would hope fl
Of too much in expecting them
remedy the existing evils. \
man is to be blamed for not u
a derstandlng the law and the VOL
lis lngs of courts OF justice.
&c The Convention of 1868 WI
composed of men taken from II
working classes, and plain men
w business. The consequence wa
.et, that in adopting Judiciary 81
he TEN they managed matters
such a way as to leave absolut
ly without a court in which
NC sue, the large class of claiI
where the principal was less til;
five hundred dollars, but with Il
nn accrued interest exceeded tn
;o sum. ii there had been in til
NJ Convention such lawyers as j.
To Benjamin, Christian Roselius,
70 Wharton CoIlens, H. g. Castell
nos. j. B. Cotton and Rand
~. Hunt who were III the convent,
at which framed the CONSTITUTE
ot of 1852, such a blunder new
uouJd h.vn ~OoUnrrod