Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1880-06-05
ARTICLE 128.

I'm answer to our query last issue for
legal opinion, regarding the meaning Of
Article 1876 of the Constitutions, We have
been handed tho following opinion ot
Judge T. T. Land, the suthor of the arti.
Gle, whose definition is full and COM
plete:
"Under this article justices of the
neace may arrest and commit for all
crimes and offeuses, whether capital OF
punishable by imprisonment in the peni-
| tertiary or not but for such offenses
they have no pow er either to bail or to
discharge the accused. 1t is only when
tho offense charged is not capital or nee
essarialy punishable at hard labor in the
penlteptiary, that Justices of the Peace
have the power to examine witnesses,
, and. on the evidence, to bail or dis
! charge the accused.
The power to bail or discharge implies
| the power to investigate the facts; and
when this power does not exist, tho facts
cannot lie investigated, aud the accused
must be committed to Jail.
The power to bail or discharge 10 vest
ed exclusively in the district judges,
| with the exceptions contained in article
1875 of the constitution.
District judges, under article lis of the
constitution, have power to issue writs
of Aa5eas corpus at the instance of all per-
sons in actual custody in their respective
districts. Under this article person in
actual custody in any one parish may be
brought by a writ Of habeas corpus before
the judge in any other parish in this dis
trict, and there admitted to bail or dis
charged as the case may be.
The judiciary Committee thought it
unwise, ii. view of the character Of the
persons who filled and who are likely to
continue to fill, under our elective sys-
TEN, the Office of Justice of the Peace i'll
certain parts of the State to confer on
them any greater criminal jurisdiction
than that contained il article 126 of the
constitution
A correspondent signing himself "Wyo-
ming" and residing in Pointe Coupee
sends us the following answer:
81 am Of opinion that Article 1876 of
the constitution gives to justices of the
peace limited Jurisdiction az committing
their powers thereuDto are limited to the
investigation and determination Of all
cases not ca0ital, or necessarily punish
able at ha. d labor The power to bail
or discharge an accused il necessary
power confined upon the committing
magistrate by the Iaw-maker in tuther-
ance of his jurisdiction in criminal cases,
is assimilated to a Judgment inasnuch as
it DEGREES whether the accused shall give
bail to answer the action Of a Grand Ju-
~ and whet er he shall be discharged,
hence to cor strue article 126 as meaning
that magistrates shall have jurisdiction
in all criminal cases, but shall only have
power to bail or discharge an accused in
eases not capital or necessarily punish
able at hard laLor' is III effect saying that
magistrates shall have jurisdiction in all
criminal cases and that they shall not
have jurisdiction except III eases not
| capital or necessarily punishable at hard
labor IT this view obtained we wonld
see for the first time the anomaly of one
magistrate trying a case and hearing the
evidence and another magistrate passing
judgment! This is too unreasonable a
construction of this article to be serious
Iy adhered to; whereas. both its spirit
and letter admit Of and harmonic with
the construction given by me; while con.
structicns is in perfect accord with the
rules of law governing the interpolation
of ambiguous statutes.
Let's hear from another brotherT