Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1880-02-17
THE TERM.



the same.
At 10 o'clock yesterday morning the en-
tire bar Of Eureka, including a i number Of
the county officials and interested specta.
tors, assembled at the chambers Of Judge
Rives. The Judge said that inasmuch al
a question had been raised regarding the
legality of the February term, under the
order Of adjournment, he would like to
have the opinions of members of the bar
on the subject. Messrs. Hillhouse, Bishop,
Wren and Baker took the position that the
term had lapsed. Messrs. Beatty and Hub
bard held the opposite view. The facts
regarding the adjournment are substan.
stantially as given in Sundays issue Of
the SENTINEL. Judge Rives was unayoid-
ably detained in Phoebe by the great length
Of time consumed in the trial Of the Pah.
ranagat murder cases. The term should
have commenced here February Cd. On
January 28th, Judge Rives wrote Sheriff
Kyle to adjourn the Court to February
18th. This is precisely where the mistake
occurred, if a mistake has been made. We
| reproduce the section Of the statute bear
ing upon the subject:
III no Judge attend on the day ap-
pointed to hold the Court before noon, the
Sheriff or Clerk shall adjourn the Court
until the next day, at 10 o'clock, and if no
Judge attend OF that day before noon, the
Sheriff or Clerk shall adjourn the Court
until the following day, n so Oh from
day to day for one week; il no Judge at
tend for one week, the Sheriff or Clerk shall
adjourn the Court for the term; provided,
before the expiration Of one week the Judge
shall order by letter or telegram to adjourn
the Court to any day within the term, the
Sheriff or Clerk shall adjourn the Court to
the day SO ordered"
The members of the bar who held that
no term OF the Court could be legally held
under the circumstances, based their argu-
ments upon two principal grounds First,
that the Judge had no right to adjourn the
term before the term had an existence
secondly, that il he had the right, he
should have appeared on the 18th, the day
to which he had ordered the adjournment:
in other words, that the ministerial officers
had no authority, under the statute, to ad-
journ the Court from day to day, after
the first week of the term that their
powers in this regard ceased at
the end of the seventh day. The attorneys
for this side of the case urged that the
statute must be construed literally, and
that the Legislature in framing the law
must be presumed to have said precisely
what it meant; that the opening Of the
term in Eureka had been fixed for the first
Monday in February ito wit, February I'D ;
that the power had been conferred upon
the Clerk or Sheriff to keep the term alive
for o,a tvaal in fha aI0onoa ~ 4ha J.lrn ,
that during said week the Judge had the
power to adjourn the Court, by letter or
telegram, to a day certain, but on the day
SO fixed he must appear or the term lapsed.
Beyond these legal provisions, the power
was not lodged in any one or anywhere to
keep the term alive.
1t was on the ground Of a literal con-
struction Of the statute that Messrs. Beatty
and Hubbard a~ntagonized a majority of
the bar. The FIRST few ines of the section
quoted above furnished the basis of their
argument. 1t must be confessed that there
is some ambiguity in this language: of
no Judge attend ON the day appointed to
hold the Court before noon, the Sheriff or
Clerk shall adjourn" etc. On the day APP
pointed by whom, inquired Judge Beatty,
the law or the Judge? Replying to the
literal construction theory advanced by
counsel OF the other side, he asked if the
Legislature meant the first day Of the term.
why it did not say SO in 80 many words.
1t would not require any more words to
say that, if that was what it meant, than
to say the other thing. The very fact that
the Legislature had failed to specify the
first day Of the term was a conclusive an
swer to all that had been said by the coun-
sci on the other side of the question.
Jugde Rives having named the 18th as the
day for the converting Of the Court, he held
that under the statute it was competent for
the Sheriff or Clerk to adjourn the Court
from day to day to the 10th yesterday,
which had been done, and, therefore, the
term had a perfectly legal existence, and it
was the duty Of the Court to go on with the
business Of the term. Judge Beatty's ar
gument drew forth further remarks from
Messrs. Hillhouse, Wren and Bishop.
Judge Rives appeared undecided about
the matter, and took the subject under ad-
visement until to-day at 10 A. NJ. He fully
realizes the importance Of the question
and the trouble and expense that may re-
suit from a wrong decision, and he is there
fore especially anxious to reach a proper
conclusion in the premises. We infer
from remarks dropped during the discus
| sion, that he is more than likely to decide
this morning that the term has lapsed, that
| being the safest side of the question.
The lapse Of the term will work a saving
| to the county Of not less than 81, 900, and
| possibly much more. 1t will save the ex-
| pense Of one Grand and one trial jury, to
say nothing OF the rent OF a building in
which to hold Court. The business of the
February term being merged into the June
term, will not materially increase the cost
| Of the latter, besides the new Court House
| will be finished before that time. There
are five prisoners in the County Jail.
II costa the county sixty-ive cents
a day each for their board. This
| will amount to only about $500 from the
present date to the June term. If they
were tried and convicted at this term, and
the Supreme Court should hold that the
term was illegal, all would come back for
new trials, and there is no telling what the
ultimate cost to the county might be. The
Sheriff and Clerk are TO be the greatest
losers If the term goes over. 1t may be
safely estimated that for the time being
each of these officers will be out of pocket
not less than 81 500, taking into the count
both civil and criminal business. The
Sheriff, in addition, must sustain a clear
loss of the milage ON one Grand and one
Trial Jury. Also, many Of the civil actions
now pending are liable to be compromised
before June. But the loss OF the officers
must rebound to the benefit of the masses.
We would express sorrow for them If such
an expression would put them even on the
lost term.