St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-12-08
THE SUNDAY Law.

The Sunday Law has become .
dead letter 10 the city of New Or.
leans, ~ it 10 in several of fine par.
ishss of the State. Without ex.
csptiOn. petty jurors have refused
to convict parties charged with it,
violation. How far . jury nay b.
jasti6ed in disrsgarding the plain
letter Of the law 10 . question Ne
have no desire to discuss; bat
whether. - jurors. they are justiG.
able Or not in refusing 70 execute
. law which they. - private indi-
viduals. consider nsuiisstly unjust.
intolsrant aad detrimental 70 put.
lie interssts. il 10 nevertheless true
that the present Sunday law 10 *
trsmsly unpopular and jnriss have
i,een avsrss To ind;ct punishmsut
on its violators. The reasoning Of
the msmhsrs Of . jury in arriving
at verdict Of not guilty in tbe~e
oasss wac probably somewhat si.ni-
lsr to this: I'VE the jury 6nd that
the accused las violated tue law;
but " also 6nd that the law IL bad
and there 10 no gailt in moral
rights nor good conscience in VIC
lstinR it; We therefore find thu
accused not gailty" Dy a mind
habitnated to The intricscies aud
tsshnicslitiss Of legal lore. such .
conclusion will undoubtedly 10
- most eulpsbls legal
heresey; BY . strict observer Of the
Sabbath it will b. reprebatsd - .
decided religious hsrssy. aud by
th. :ntclsrant man Of great moral
idsas it will be considered that bell
itself 10 too goed for those who are
guilty Of such crookednsss. We.
who are neither = jnrist. . fanatic
nor . morslist, eau detect some de-
fsct in suoh IN argu,nentAtis'"; bat
10 our constitution aud our Laws
give juries power - decide al cases
before them. not only on the evil
dsnce. bus On the law itself; in
other werda. while juriss are
The judges Of the Law aud
The evidence. - they arc neither
iul ists, ,no-aiista nor fanatics. We
must not he surprised If they la!
70 consider 40 properly . Sunday
aw an enactment which 10 in their
opinion manifsetly contrary to pub
&c opinion and public good. Il
'squirss no extraordinary stretch
II ths process Of induction to de-
luce from the authority given. ja-
les to bs judges Of the Law. the
,owsr which they assume to disrs-
ard the law. in csrtsin cases. snd
With clear cousc,sncss TO render
uch verdict % should b reu-
Tered, we're the Law different. II
uoh . conclusion tends to prove
10 insfioisncy Of jariss. il demon
tratss with equal force thai the
resent Sunday Law 10 obnoxious in
sany respects and oannot be Gu
orced in MI it's provisions. In fact,
law which makes il ilisgsl to b.
lsanIy on Sundays; which closes
|,s barber shops aud prevents one
rom shaving his fses and dressing
10 hair. whilst It psrnits him to
ave y SHINE Of his lower extrsmi-
lee by the eternal sbos-black on
10 sidewalks in front Of the bath
ousss and barber shops; which
,oks the door Of candy. fruit and
Oufsctionsry stores on tho day OF
10 week When most needed; which
bolishes iuuOcsnt recreation aud
revents heslthfui exercise. and
hich contains % many other alb :
nrdities aud iuconeru'tiss that It /;
ouid lie tedious u ,psuti0u them. !.
calculated to breed contempt for !
. better clsusss, which are On
rely lost in the msss Ut ito foOlisb.
,slrictivs aud int.s~r-at pr0vis-