The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-05-08
A Remarkable Decision.
dLGerille icCl;IISt,

! Court OF lhe Township n0nu cases are
the most remarkable documents in
the Judicial history Of this continent.
There never WAS anything like them
before and there should never be again.
They present to the public All ure-
quateG: specimen Of "crawfiShing" ard
should I've preserved in all the scral'
bout;s of tue country as curi0sities.'
We have always tried to uphold our
courts aud sustai; them in the admin
istration of the law even when we did
not agree with what WAS done. We
felt it to he 0nr duty TO 90 SO but we
are staggered now. We have no III.
tenticn, however, of abusing our high
est judicial tribunal but unesn to make
a few common seD.e observations on
these extrat rliuary decisions.
To make what we have to say plain
We will 20 back to the beginning
jeff Floyd and others resisted the pay
meut of interest on certain railroad
bonds of Ninety Six township. The
circuit court decided that these bonds
were worth less because tOwnhipS had
40 constitutional power to issue such
bonds. The decision of the Supreme
Court sustained this view. According
;8 this iuhgm :ut, jeff Floyd did not
owe any debt. 40 tax could be col
lec;cd from him for tie railroad. The
decision reached all tDwnship bon:is.
There was ro power TO issue them aDd
they were a nuIllly. They were a.
dead as they could possibly be-.
| 4 camor was raised by certain
newspapers who are always found on
the side q, of,monpy as opposed to human
rights. Spectators III these bonds
added their cries to the hubbub which
reached the ears Of the Supreme Cour
for the late decision speaks of the
"large interests involved" The leg
islu:ure was in furry aud attempted
to enact law to uuitity the Floyd de
cision and vitaliZc the dead bonds. a
least that was the popular belief as to
the intentions Of the legislature.
In the course Of time certain parties
applied to the Supreme Court for q
maudamns to require certain officers
to do certain acts required Of them bj
the acts which were declared void ant
unconstitutional. The Supreme Gour
declined to issue the mar,lamus because
the law was void and imposed no euct
.iuties as were sought to be- enforced
! Other reasons were assigned hut the
main point was that nandanlu5 was
not the right process anyway.
The court further said the act of 1855
which every body blu the members o.
The Supreme Court supposed was
meant TO validate the alleged debts
Was not Intended IT, have any such
eifectat all. TO support this view The
Court said, "Tha legislature can under
no circumstances authorize the viola
lion Of the Constitution or validate an
demonstrations act" the so called
validating act Was nothing more than
an imposition of a tax for the railroads
Tue ley is:ature imposed the tax which
.he railroad spectators originally i'll
tended TO do under the void township
bond acis. These old acts (unconsti>
lutioual and void) indicated the
amounts due by the several town =
ships. In word, what Was no debt
when made by townships could be
fixed by act of the Legislature under
its original power TO tax. The Court.
however, is incIi led to think the legis
iaLure cannot exercise this taxing
power for railroads without the previ
Gus consent Of the communities or To-
calities to be taxed.
SO these Gpinious go. The Court
"scatters powerfully" as old Mrs Ster.
ling would say. Standing alone the
decIsious NEAL nothing. At least the
Chief Justice and Judge McIyer must
have teen convinced that nobody ever
would have found out the meanings
or they would not have authorize
Judge McGowan, who has been con-
siS.eut throughout, to explain their
extraordinary delivcrauc:s.
Such decisions DO not inspire conf
deuce in the people. They look liRe
trifling vita 'eriou5 question aud
have done much To destroy respect for
the wisdom of our : Suprema Court. 1t
is about tine TO reor.a izs That tfiGu-
ual, SO that when Il ruiut is decided II
will remain the law iu? q. least Il Year.
The members of'the Court shGuld re-
sign aid allow our people to vihulcate
them or elect meu W:th more hrm :
ueSS.
The course Of the Supreme Court in
tie famous "kush caso" is as much TO
be condemued as in Me IAatttr Of the
township bonds. The difference Is
that the plant fl in the Rush case did
not 60 to the Legislature to get that
body TO creaIe uebt against Mrs Rush
after the Court deciden she owed 10th
lBg. Ihe Court Guliitied lis first &C.
cision in a more roundabout way. 1t
has pren done, however, all the same.
We do not believe there isa lawyer ID
tie State who approves CT the action
Of the Supreme Court ia these Two
cases. such rapid changes CT opinion
are vexatious. The law is Rendered
Uncertain and brought into reproach,
1t viii souiI c5nle about 'Ih,! every
case Will depend upon 'lhe III terests
invo!ved," popular clamor and news
paper criticism.
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