The Louisiana populist., 1895-10-04

HOW HEROASTS THEM
DEMOCRAT AFTER HIS STUPID
BRETHREN.
He Points Out, with UndeniabIe Correct
ness, the Many Blundsrs of Our Legis-
Istors, and shows In Plain Words the
HuniIisting Status of Our Laws

Dall8S news, VINO Is DemOcrat OF
the strictest sect, writes that paper
under date OF September 21 as follows:
''ln Texas for many years the COM
plant Of all concerned has been the
laws delay. From this time the un-
certainty OF the law is added to the
causes that make the citizen regret
the very existence OF legislatures,
courts and governmental agencies.
Here this past week we had the spec
tacle OF chief justice declaring law
imperative, a governor declaring he
would execute that very law if he
could get enough men to back him,
and an attorney general upholding
the same law. while turning out of the
law mill two opinions declaring the
futility OF two other laws passed at
the same session. An act of the leg
islature runs the gauntlet of guberna-
torial veto. clerical blunderipg. attor-
ney generals analysis and judicial
construction nowadays before any
body can safely trust it as having any
place or authority. The legislature
may turn it out of committee all right
and after approval by the governor
some fatal defect is found. A clerk
may have murdered it by leaving a
word out OF the caption, by emitting
the enacting clause or by inserting
a word or words which had been
stricken out. Let it safely pass the
careless committees and the deadly
clerk, pass the governor and prove
acceptable to the people then comes
the attorney general with theories OF
strict construction and declares it in
valid. Then the people accept the
verdict and it is no law for anybody
to respect or obey.
Later litigous citizen, whose in
terests are affected, brings it before
the court and it is declared valid by
. civil supreme court. No appeal is
taken and for years the law is re-
spected as authority. Finally another
litigant has the question submitted to
the supreme court aud it is declared q
nullity.
These are acts the validity of which
may be adjudicated by this latter
court and also by the court Of crimi-
nal appeals, both being courts of final
resort and independent OF each other.
For instance. this prize fight legisla-
tion will doubtless be adjudicated by
the court Of criminal appeals and may
be brought before the supreme court
any day by application for mandamus
against the comptroller. These courts,
it is understood, have not always
agreed as to what is the law. As a
rule 1t may be assumed that
there is some defect of greater or
less Importance in every statute
adopted by recent Texas legislatures.
and when the validity Of one
OF these experiments are seriously
questioned. as often happens, the
chances are overwhelmingly in favor
of Its invalidity. There are radical
defects and errors and grave ques-
tions Of validity involved In numerous
acts OF the last three legislatures.
Game laws, road loads and land laws,
tax laws. the special courts, as that
at Texarkana, the laws regulating
public printing. laws to refund money
paid on school lands, laws giving re-
lief to purchasers OF school lands and
various other acts in the operation of
which great many people are direct
ly interested are yet OF uRcertain va
lidity and likely to be condemned by
the attorney general, by some justice
Of the peace, or county Judge. or
some district court or some court Of
last resort. Heads of bureaus and de-
partments are in the same business.
The laws are assaulted all along the
line up to the highest courts and
oven these in future years will over
rule their predecessors opinions and
decisions.
Hence the people have been edu-
Gated to regard the decapitation or
suppression of statutes by clerks,
committees, governors, state officials
and the courts without surprise, and
In fact the surprise is that any act
Is found to stand the fusillade and to
mean what it was intended by the
legislature. This shameful uncer-
tainty as to our laws is due to legis-
lative stupidity In the main, and this
stupidity is the inevitable result OF
sending incompetent and ignorant
men to make laws. Here is this law
against prize fighting. for instance.
The bill introduced simply made prize
fighting felony and fixed an appro-
pirate penalty. But ambitious MEM
bers aspired to fix their sign marks
ss statesmen upon 1t and made mon
strosity of the measure. Say the
learned judge should stretch the or
binary rule for constituting criminal
statutes and decide the legislature
meant to prohibit, then another legis-
lsture comes along and passes an act
to license prize fighting. But
there 10 doubt ~ to the valid
ity also of this last act.
Although it is bound up for life and
for existence with . great body OF
laws adopted as the revised civil code
~ raop>r-