The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-03-05
[To BE CONTINUED
REDMBN's COURTS.
Each Nation Has a Separate System
and Different Lave.


Muskooee Cor. Kansas CitB Times.
As a study Of primitive methods Of juris-
prudence, the courts Of the five little Indian
nations are interesting. Patterned after
the court systems of the states are they,
and while the men who conduct them work
in the main with all good intention and
earnestness, the results achieved are some
times very absurd. More striking
governments trying to do as the big
states do, however. is the abomina-
ole way in which their courts get tangled
| up with one another and with the federal
| courts OF the territory. 1t is hard to see
just what need there is for five independent
court systems to handle the legal business
| of 65 900 people, especially when these
people engage but little in lawsuits and do
not pay much attention to the punishment
of crime.
Intelligent men in each of the five ma
| lions declare that the court systems OF each
| is farce.
| / have told already that the native courts
have jurisdiction only over the citizens of
| each nation. When you remember that
| the citizens OK the five nations make up less
| than half the population Of the territory,
and that most of the civil cases, and GRIM
! inal as well. are between citizens and non
! citizeus, and, Furthermore, that there is
| DAS e46IlGhb Va lhe DOpulhtIOll Ol uuCSTBhlll
| standing as TO citizenship, you see Of what
little avail are these courts of which the
| Indian declare themselves 90 proud. With
| all their pride in their courts, though, they
never bring cases before these courts, if
| there is any possible artIfce by which these
cases can be carried into the United States
| court.
| In the general plan Of their court arrange
ments the five nations are similar, though
! there is enough difference of detail to keep
| outsiders puzzled all the while. Among the
| Cherokees there are nine district courts,
combinations Of the county courts and JUS
| tics courts as they are arranged in the
states, These have civil, criminal and pro-
bate jurisdiction, the civil cases being
| limited to 500, and the criminal work done
| being only in the way Of preliminary ex-
aminations. Above these there are three
! circuit courts, which have full civil juris-
diction, and which handle all criminal cases
| below the grade of murder. The supreme
| court, composed of three Justices hears ap-
| peals and tries murder cases. The MEM
| bers of the court are John Wickline. a FULL
| blood, chief justice. and B. w. Alberty and
| F. H. Whitmeyer.
| The Chocta VS. have seventeen county
courts and supreme court. The scope of
! each of these corresponds very closely to
the similar grades OF the Cherokee courts.
| The justices of the supreme court are
| Joseph Garland, Jefferson Garland and J
| W. Everidge, ell full blood. The Chicka-
| saw nation has but four county and TWO
district courts. and the justices Of the su-
preme court are appointed by the governor
from his special and particular friends,
without much regard TO the knowledge OF
| law. The Creeks are looser still. They
| have six district courts and a supreme court.
| The DEGREES of the district judges are sup
posed to be executed by a force of riders
| as 1.-The light horse"
-
| stabUlary and police force, and they gener-
| ally do about as they please. They are
| paid $125 per year and are under the COM
| mand of district captains. They serve all
| summonses, make arrests, collect fines
| and keep the most of then-run QUE in
| truders and make themselves generally USE
| full. The little Seminole nation, sister tribe
| to the Cherokees, has no court system at all
| The chief and the council attend to every
| thing.
The courts OF these nations do not, of
| course, pay any attention to each others
| DEGREES. judgments are but flimsily en-
forced in any Of them. and what with the
| inconsistent laws passed by ignorant legis-
lstures and the experience in legal affairs
! of many of the judges the doings OF these
| courts are in perpetual bewilderment. In
| most of the courts there is a strong oppos-
! ton TO admitting non-citiZen lawyers TO
practice. and while there are many highly
!
are also some that make dismal failures of
| the simplest legal problems. The indiffer-
| ence OF executive officers, too, in the most
| of the nations makes the average decision
| of an Indian court a very hollow and use
| less thing. II IL suits the sheriff or the light
| horseman's convenience to serve a writ or
| make an arrest he does it; II 1t Is q bit in
! convenient the thing is never heard of
| again.
Then in certain things laws are absolutely
| wanting in the Indian CODE None of the
natives have any statutes to enforce collec-
! ton of debts, to determine the validity Of
| contracts or to provide for the settlement Of
the affairs of Daukrupts Neither is there
any provision for the mortgaging of prop
| erty, but perhaps that is one of the places
! where the Indian has the best of the white
man. mo man but dead man. says
| Allen Telle, private secretary to Gov. Jones
OF the Choctaw nation. can sue or be sued
| for debt" That is, there is absolutely no
! provision to enforce payment Of debt, save
! in the settlement of the affairs of an estate,
in which cases suit may be brought on either
side
Such divorce laws as there are are very
| vague, and among the Greeks there is no
certain law as TO marriage, and marriage
| customs. at least among some OF the full
bloods and the negroes who swarm that ma
ton, are very loose indeed. Another
weakness of the Indian laws lies Ia the per-
sistent way in which the legislatures patch
and tinker at them so that nobody can re-
member whether law is still in force or
has teen reported as amended.
Inasmuch as the standing of many thou
sands Of people in the nation as TO citizen
ship is most uncertain, there is vast
amount Of disputation over jurisdiction be-
tween native and federal, and in the course
Of this many men get clear beyond the
reach OF either code of laws. The most con-
spicuous instances of this are in the
Cherokee nation. In that country are
over 5000 people who claim TO be
citizens and whose claims the Cherokees
deny These people the Cherokees
are anxious to remove from their country,
for they are gobbling up the best lands.
! The government has held, however, that
many Of them at least are entitled to hold
land in the country, so the federal courts
! decline TO take up proceedings against them.
| As for the Cherokee courts, they dare not
attempt to take cognizance Of these people,
for TO do SO would be to practically admit
their citizenship. So the intruders stay on
the land and get rich.
| A COUNTY in Wise )nsin has been named Villas
] after the senior senator from that state.