The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-03-13
THE PROFESSIONAL wraNEss.

The United States Court Rooms Must
not be Tuened Into Juketing
Grounds for Professional Witnesses
j din Search Of Mileage and Fees.
Special TO the News and Courier.
GREENYILLE, March 6.-The peo-
pie OF G~reenville were very much
pleased with Judge B~rawley's work at
the late term OF the United States
District Court in this city. He presid-
ed with great dignity and ability and
promptness with which he discharged
the business of the Court. The regular
correspondent ofthe News and Courier
kept its readers informed from day to
day of what was done in Court, but did
not n of the most important
incidents of the term. There was so
much saving common sense in what
Judge Brawley said about the pro-
fessiona, witness and the useless and
expensive litigation promoted by his
activity that | shall attempt to give
what Judge Brawley said touching the
matter.
In Diminishing the juries for the term
Judge Brawley thanked them for their
prompt, patient and intelligent dis
charge of their duties, which duties
heit said a been rendered more
arduous by the consideration of a large
number OF cases which should never
have been sent up to that Court for
trial, and which had every appearance
of being instigated and prosecuted by
q set OF professional witnesses for their
own advantage, and not for the pro-
motion of justice or the vindication of
law.
All cases for the suppression Of illicit
| n lstllllnOr .hn Onil trn,,a III i~N rn,,f =, n
to the Government and he did not
wish IL to be understood that any of
the officers charged with hat duty
should relax their vigilance and his
remarks were not applicable TO that
class of cases., but tho great bulk of
the prosecutions were for violations of
Section 3,242 in selling liquor without
license. The greater part of these
cases were properly cognizable in the
Courts OF the State whore any selling
of liquor by parties other than the
officials Of the State was made illegal.
The Courts of the United States, he
said, had q jurisdiction limited by law,
they had no general police powers,
they had no concern as such with any
question of prohibition or with the
advancement of the cause of tenn
pcrance, and so far as he could control
it the power of the Court should not
be invoked either in aid Of or in him
drance of such legislation as the State,
in the exercise of it's general police
powers, might see proper to adopt
unless it was mad clear hat such
laws We're an infringement of rights
requiring the protection of this Court.
The cases that were the cause of the
animadversion were not of that
character. They were in the main
petty cases of retailing, which, in the
Judgment of the Court, did not proper
ly como within the purvicw of the
section referred to-. That section of
the Revised Statutes was one of many
features OF the internal revenue laws,
designed to protect and increase the
revenues of tho Government by the
imposition OF Il tax or license fee upon
persons conducting certain kinds of
business.
1t was difficult to lay down any
precise rule by which it can be deter
mined whether n on more acts of
selling liquor constitute u carrying on
the business of Il retail liquor dealer,
but it is not difficult to determine that
many, if not most, of the prosecutions
that have been brought at this term
are not within the true intent of this
statute. Most of them come from u
few OF the commissioners OF this Court,
and relate to isolated selling of drinks
or half pints of whiskey by negroes
on tho public highway or in obscure
localities, which negative the idea
that q business is being conducted
which it is the intent of this statute to
license. They are simply cases of UNI
lawful selling obnoxious to the State
laws.
This Court would be in perpetual
session if the commissioners ali over
the State followed the example of two
or three who sent up most Of thescases,
II the expenses could be enormous
II out OF all proportion to the good
accomplished. He wished the com
mlssioncrs to understand that every
casual and furtive sale of whiskey was
not an offence under the section re-
ferred to. The commissioners should
exercise more discrimination. With
a little care they could readily deter
mine whether the party charged was
conducting a business in violation of
the statute. If they did not the Court
Would find commissioners who could.
He did not wish to say anything that
would discourage all proper prosccu-
ton for violations Of the laws of the
United States, but he did not intend
to allow it's Court rooms to be turned
into Junkcting grounds for the pro-
fcssional witnesses in search of mileage
and fees.