Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-03-22
A New Way of Revising Ilic
4

The laws of South Carolina do no
permit divorces, but for period of {
few years divorce could be had on
the same grounds as provided for in
! New \ 1ork, but the circumstances un-
der which this law came TO be enacted
are most remarkable and amusing. In
an interview with Philadelphia Press
reporter, prominent clergy man says
Il have my information from one OF the
most prominent lawyers of South Car
olina, and can vouch for its truthful
ness. In 1871, by a resolution of the
South Carolina Legislature, the Judic-
iary Committee was instructed to re-
model the entire civil and criminal code
of the State At that time considerable
ill-will existed between the whites and
colored population in consequence of
the former attempting to enforce some
obnoxious laws which entailed hard
ships upon the citizens of color. AS a
concession to the latter two colored
Legislators were selected to remodel
the code, with the power to select third
party. Their choice was q barrister
named Rind, former citizen of New
Hampshire, aud at that time Legisla-
tor. When the subcommittee met
one of the colored statesmen remarked
that they had soft job Rind remon-
strated and said that the work was
enormous.
What, calculated the colored law
maker, we get $4,000 piece for the
work, and you being lawyer, can cas-
lily do it, That's what we put you on
the committee for Rind objected to
being forced to do all the labor, and the
matter was finally compromised upon
the basis that none of them should do
the work, and, instead, the code of
some Northern State should be copied
The Legislative days were coming to
a close, and in order to hasten matters,
the school children for miles around
were pressed into service as copyists.
NEW YORK CODE ADOPTED.
"The New York code was adopted
as the law of the future Leaves from
these books were given out to the
scholars to De copied with the instruc-
tion to simply change the word New
York and substitute South Carolina.
The work was completed just in time
to be introduced in the Legislature,
and on the day of the adjournment the
New York code became the law of
South Carolina. The huge pile of
manuscript was delivered to the prln-
ter. and the three sages of the south
collected 100000
When the new code was printed and
issued, the lawyers discovered that the
Legislature had made provision for the
regulation of pilotage pertaining to the
Bay of South Carolina and the Hudson
River. Long Island sound was cared
for, and certain provisions about Lake
Erie were mentioned Particular care
was taken of the city of South Carroll
ma and it's aldermanic representation,
while Blackwell's Island, Sing Sing
and Auburn Prisons were provided for. |
A sensation followed the discovery of
the trick, and at the next meeting of
the Legislature the three modelers of
the law were on hand. The experts
who revised the code left in that por-
tion of the New York law appertaining |
to divorce, and thus for few years it |
was possible to obtain a divorce in
South Carolina The constitutional
which followed this mixed |
state of affairs failed to agree upon the
divorce question, however, and d.
vorces connot now be had in South |
Carolina