The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-02-15
if;c ""ra To !,c OoAe by tho rr0sont Uam-
n-ts";Gn' -iho Qualifications Of the Past,

hiic Nerk To !,c Dohe by tho rr0sont Oam-
"-iS"ian .iho Qualifications Of the Past,
From tho Yorkviile Enquirer.
In view Of the recent appointment
Of a commission to codify tho laws of
the State under an act Of tue last Log
islature, Il brief review Of the statute
laws Of South Carolina will not be in
appropriate at the present time.
The statute law Of South Carolina
begins with the year 1852. From that
time until 1886, the laws appeared in
pamphlets. as they were promulgated
by the G0vernor and Council or BY the
General Assent ly. In the latter year,
Chief Justice Trott collected and pub
lished small edition Of the laws then
of force. About the year 1890, Judge
Grimkc collected and published such
of the laws as were then Of force. with
the titles Of all obsolete or repealed
acts. In 1914 Judge Brcvard collected
and digestcd new edition Of the
statnte laws then Of force, known as
Brcvard's Digest. 1t was rather q
manual or index, than q compilation
proper.
The first authorized and systematic
compilation Of the laws Of the State
was commenced by Thomas Cooper.
LII. d., under Il joint resolution Of the
General Assembly, in December, 1884,
directing the Governor (Hon. George
McDuftie) "to employ some fit and
competent person to compile under his
direction the statute law Of this State" )"
This work was ably and intelligently
performed, and. with the index, was
embraced in ten volumes designate
as tho "Statutes at Large" Up to
1872, this collection was accepted as
authority, and was in general use by
the bench and bar. III 1858 the AS
scmb1y provided for the selection, by
the Court Of Errors. of three Commis-
sioners to revise and coditv the statute
law then of force in this State. At the
next session, in December, 1859. the
Assembly adopted q substitute for the
former act, providing for the annual
election by joint ballot, of commits
sioner TO prepare "such code Of stat
ute law. as if enacted, might, in con-
nection with the portions of the com
mon law that would be left unaltcred,
constitute the whole body Of law in
this State" That distinguished iurist,
Hon. James l.. Pettigru, was selected
as the Commissioner, under this act,
and up to the time Of his death, about
1862, had made some progress with
the work. Only parts OF it were
completed under his supervision, and
these. although published as his re-
port, had hardly come into general
use by the bar.
The Constitution Of 1868, Art. ",
Sec. 3, required the General Assembly
ut its first session, and every ten years
thereafter, to "makc provision to re-
wise, digest and arrange, under prop
cr heads, the body Of our laws. civil
and criminal, and form penal code
founded on principles Of reformation"
d. Il. Corbin, w. j. Whippcr aud c.
W. Montgomery were elected by the
Assembly III 1869, in compliance with
al ACT, TO carry cut the above pro-
vision. In 1870, they reported the
Code of Civil Procedure, which was
adopted, and in February, 1872, the
Assembly adopted their report on the
revision of the statute laws. embraced
in one volume, and designated rs the
"RcriScu Statutes of South Carolina. :"
MIR. Corbin did most if not all of the
work for this commission, and it was
crrdi'ab!y performed. 1t embraces the
statute law as it existed up to the close
"t ,he oace;e" Of 1870 II. einoo tlot
'imr great changes have been made at
each session OF the Asscmblv-so great
that TIE volume prepared under the
C"rhih Commission is very uncertain
authority.
The present Commissioners are re-
Qnlred 10 take up the work where the
C"roin Commission left it and to pre-
sent code Of statute law rs it now
eA'S'$S, together with penal code, a.
required by the Constitution.
BU1L6R SCORES CONKLING.
The Sonth Carolina Senator Gives a Just
Fthuie to the Insolence OF the New Yorl,
".tu;ocrat."
Ihc following synopsis Of n colo
guy between General Butler and Sem
a;or Conkling is gathered from the
t"l"sraphic report of Congressional
proceedings OH Tuesday, the Sth in
slant:
General Butler spoke at considcra-
Die length upon the alleged census
frauds in Senator Carolina, and criti.
c'zed severely speeches made BY ccr-
tam stump orator Understood to be
Conkling) in New York. during the
late Presidential compaign. in which
that stump orator inSultcd and Wilt
fled the people OF South Carolina and
accused them Of conspiracy TO fraud
u!eniiy increase the census cnun,era-
tHn in order to obtain greater politi-
cal power. The falSitv and baEcncss
Of the accusation, Mr.. Butler said.
were shown by the results of the re-
cent Recommendation under the dircc
tlon Of General Walker, who was
Republican and also gentleman.
AT the conclusion Of Mr.. Buffers
remarks Mr.. ConSling said he Inferred
from the little he had heard of the
gentleman'S speech that it was de-
signed as an attack upon himself. and
ne had only to say that the vaporinvs
OF the Senator from South Carolina
gave him little concern. Ii he had