The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-11-07
AMBIGUOUS LAWS.


Many people have been struck by
the ambiguous language in which
many Of our laws are framed, as
they have heard lawyers of equal
intelligence and learning earnestly
contend that opposite constructions
were correct, aud as the layman
listens at the debates he wonders if
each party is sincere, and, if SO, why
the meaning and intent of our
statutes are not moe plainly ex
pressed. In a recent issue of the
Atlanta Journal, Sam Jones dis
cussed this subject and from his
observations we make the following
extracts:
"Does the imperfection OF our laws
have it's origin in the whereases and
be it enacted as aforesaid and an
act entitled IAN act to amend n
act" and SO on, or is it that the
average fellow in the legislature has
not sense enough to frame a law so
that it means what it says and says
what it means ?"
: Does the imperfection of our laws
grow out of the fact that they are
made mostly by jackasses, or are
our laws mostly framed by lawyers
themselves who muddy and mystify
an act of the legislature so that there
is room for quibbliDg and reason
for doubt as TO it's real meaning?
Take our laws for the illicit sale of
whisky. You can hardly convict d
man of this crime. There are SO
many loopholes and gaps down.
Take the law against gambling, it's
a mighty hard matter to differenti-
ate the difference between the game
for money and the social game. Sake
our law pool selling, bucket shops
and so on. What is the matter
Can't a plain, common sense, Anglo
Saxon style be adopted by the legis
lature? Is it essential that a law
should be entitled IAN act to amend
an act" and so on?
A great many common people
wonder why We must have a test
case in ecclesiastical as we'll as civil
courts. The law is so indefinite that
even now in the Methodist church we
are wrangling over law passed by
our last general conference, some
bishops holding that it means one
thing and some another, some
officials interpret it one way and
some another. Why not talk right
| out in an act either of an ecclesiasti
cal Or civil legislature? Give us less
whereases and so forth and less con-
g!OmeratiOn.
A sample Of the average law is /:
can act entitled an act to prevent
| any black, white, yellow, red dog,
who has ever sucked eggs, or who
shall hereafter suck eggs, shall upon
due conviction be sentenced to pay a
fine of five hundred f1eas or go lame
three months, either or both at the
discretion of man whose eggs he
| sucked, it the eggs can be proven to
have been laid on the premises of the
aforesaid man whose eggs have been
sucked, and if the hen, at the time
the depreciation was committed
belonged to said injured party: and
it can be proved she laid the eggs"
If was a bob tailed, yellow dog L
| would not be much afraid to suck
| eggs with such law staring me in
| the face. Aud SO with the average
criminal in this country; if he has
got money or blood he can generally
defy law and crawl out of some loop
hole. Let us send men to the legisla
ture who have sense enough to frame
and express in plain English what
crime is and what it's punishment
shall be, and what equity is and how
it may Re obtained"