Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-06
REGISTRATION LAW Upheld
Important Decision on q South Carolina
Case.
Bill Asking for an Injunction Dis
missed-yictOry for the
State.

RICHMOND, Va, August Gin the
United States circuit court this morning
Judge Golf handed down a brief in the
South Carolina registration cases, dismiss
ing compliments bill for an injunction.
Only the attorneys in the case and a few
others were present when the opinion was
delivered
This Is, of course, a complete victory for
the state of South Carolina, but Attorney
O'Bear, who represents the plaintiff, will
take an appeal direct to the United States
Supreme Court and THINKS he can get an
early hearing as privilege case.
He left for Washington today and the
South Carolina attorneys will return home
this evening.
The courts opinion is as follows:
when the bill in this case was presented
for my consideration 1 deemed it my duty
to give the complainant an opportunity to
demonstrate that he was entitled, as he
claimed, to the relief he prayed for and to
the jurisdiction of this court in order to
presented by this case we're fully expressed
in the opinion I filed in the case of Mills
against Green. l have given the opinion
filed in said case by the circuit court of
appeals for this circuit for the May term
1895, and all the cases cited therein my
careful consideration and thorough eXamin-
alton, and must be permitted to say with
all due respect that I am unable to find
the reason or the authority for and by
which the injunction granted in that case
was dissolved and the bill dismissed.
think that in the Mills case well as this
the rights claimed by the resi- Hctive plain
tiffs Is citizens of the United States and
of the state of South Carolina I've a prop
erty value of the highest and most sacred
character-of far greater value and I'M
.portance than have commodities, the val
ues of which are measured by the number
Of pounds they weigh or the number of
goods they contain.
These rights, it Is admitted, said
plaintiffs are deprived of. but it is insisted
that they have adequate remedies at law
and that in equity. therefore. cannot en-
terrain their complaints.
II very much regret that the circuit court
Of appeals did not indicate the character of
the remedy at law, alluded to in its said
opinion. And I also regret that am I'M
able. after thorough investigation, to find it,
/ will not concede that it is proper to close
the doors of the courts Of the United States
to their citizens who are complaining that
they are deprived by the states of the rights
and privileges guaranteed to them by the
Constitution of the United States and to ad-
wise them that they must seek the jurisdic-
ton OF the courts of the states for relief
from the outragcs imposed by the uncon-
Stitutional enactmentE of such states. am
advised that the full and complete opinion
of the circuit court Of appeals is yet to be
filed, and 1 indulge the hope that upon this
point it will not leave us in doubt. In my
judgment such caseS-under the rules dis
tingushng equity and law cases, applicable
to the courts of the United States-should
be especially heard the equity side of
such courts, for the reason that said courts
are, among other things, established to de-
termine controversies involving conflicts be-
tween state and federal constitution and
enactments, and for the further reason that
in such cases there is no full and adequate
remedy at law.
ut has been repeatedly held by the
courts of the United States that equity will
interfere when the injury complained of
is such that it cannot be fairly compen-
stated for by damages, or If 1t is continuing
or permanent in character. QIere the
court cites various opinions to sustain that
point)
''The fact that there is remedy at law
is not itself sufficient to define equity of
jurisdiction unless it also appears that the
former is as complete and effectual as the
latter. (Other cases here cited)
THE fact that state laws provide legal
remedy for wrongs committed does not de-
prive the federal courts of equity jurisdc-
ton over the same in a proper course.
Gases cited.)
Nevertheless, while I entertain these
views my great respect for the circuit
court of appeals, my desire to properly re-
gard the judicial proprieties, and my duty
to give due weight and authority to the
decisions and opinions Of the appellate
courts Of the United States, compeis me-
finding, as l do. that this case in its ma
terial allegations, its true scope and effect
Is, In fact, similar to the Mills case, to
which have referred. to refuse the injunc-
ton asked for and to dismiss the COM
plainant's bill, and such decree will now
ne npaISb