The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-04-12

! We know not from the record what
acknowledgement, if any, caused the Leg
islature to abolish the system of govern
ing the penitentiary through super.n
tsndent. nor is it necessary there should
have been any. The Legislature, repre-
senting the sovereignty. could cllange
the method of governing amy State IN
stituticn at WILL 1t does appear upon
the face of the complaint chat the de-
PENDANT has in possession 100000 OF
States property. that he will IF still in
office handle 100000 of State funds
annually. that he is insolvent and has
given only a $1,000 bond None of
these allegations are denied in the an
swer, and some of them are expressly
admitted. While there is no charge OF
mal-administration against the defend
ant Cwho came in less than month be-
fors, the Act abolshing the office the
Legislature may well have thought that
a system which admitted Of that method
was not businpss-like or SAFE and. if
they did, it was in their power to abolish
it. and it is not for the courts to for
bid it and take the responsibility of
restoring that state of things. If the
defendant is protected in a four years
.
abolished. then. as has already been
pointed out, Legislature which is elect
ed to sit sixty days may fill all the in
stituticns of the State, which from their
nature cannot be abolished, with Off
GERS holding not four years, hut ten
years or twenty-five years or fifty years,
or for life. and thus tie the hands
of future generations and prevent any
I,.N44n Al A 81
in the mode of administering our great
State institutions. Nay. more, it may
elect boards for life and provide that
they may themselves, from time to
! time, fill vacancies in their own body
a right which would in part of their
4 offices. and thus take the government
of the State institutions entirely ont Of
the hands of the people who will be
poweress to free themselves from the
body OF this death, through future
! Legislatures. 1t is true, it may be said
I that if the Legislature acts thus unad-
visedly and extremely the courts cannot
correct it's faults. That is true. If the
/ Legislature acts unadvisedly their errors
must be corrected, not by the courts.
/ but by the people in the election of
subsequent Legislatures, and it is not
for the courts to limit the corrective
process; in The hands Of subsequent Leg
isIatures. If the Act of 1897 seemed
evil TO the people, it was for them to
send a Legislature here in 1890 to cor
rect it, and if this Act of 1899 is not
approved by popular opinion, u Legisla-
ture viii be sent here in 1901 TO change
it. The courts have no supervisory
power, nor veto, upon legislation.
The theory of all free government is
shat the people are TO administer their
own affairs in their own way No Leg
+ islatufe elected for two years can pass
any act whatever which is not revocable
by a future Legislature and this is as
true when it creates an office as i'm any
other casa. When the Supreme Court
of The United States in an unfortunate
hour. held IN the Dartlnouth College
case that Il charter of q corporation was
not privilege but a contract and
therefore irreyoeable. the immense. the
overshadowing danger that one weak or
corriilst Legislature could bankrupt
I commonwealth for all time and tie the
hands of unborn generations, caused
every State including orr own, TO re-
vert to first principles by placing in
their constitutions the provision that all
charters should be reyocable at the viii
of any future LEGISLATURE. When the
decision, by the same tribunal. of the
case af Chisholm Us. Georgia showed
the danger of a State being sued by
reason of contracts made by its Legisla-
ture through unwisdom or corruption,
Judge Ir.tleal. of North Carolina. then on
the Sgperem court of the United States,
gave the alarm through his dissentin%
cpinicn,and tn re was roeced through with
great pronptness the 18th Amendment
to the United States Constitution, where
by any future Legislature could say
whether it would be bound by the Acts
OF its predecessor by forbidding any suit
against State to enforce rights accru-
ing under any legislation by the State
an amendment which alone saved North
Carolina from the terrible oppression of
an indebtedness of S36,000000 incurred
without consideration in 1868. When the
Legislature Of 1888 without deep fore
sight into the future attempted to give
immunity from taxation for all time to
the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad
Gen.anv. and che company claimed that
therepnder it could build Hines into every
county in the State. and be every whore
and forever exempt from contributing by
taxation to the support of the State, it
was this court in Railroad VS.. Allsbrook
40 y. c., 1871. Cat p. 145-14S), which
protected the public from a great and
lasting injustice by declaring the incom-
potence Of one Legislature thus to bind
future generations. and thus placed the
vast property of this CORPORATION on the
tax list-a decision which was affirmed
by the Supreme court at Washington.
In all our sister States. it is held
fiat legislative offices are not contracts
but are agencies of the State reyocahle
by the Legislature without any restric
tons. Meecham Puzzle offices, Sec
ton 4G3: 10 Am and Eng. Enc 562c
Blacks Const. law $50; Cooley Const
Line (6th ed p. 331 and numerous other
cases cited by each. Our State alone of
the Is modiies this Choke VS.. Hender-
son. SUPRA but only to the extent that
while the Legislature can at will abolish
such offices or reduce the salary or in
crease the duties, it cannot remove the
incumbent while the office is continued
a modification which has entailed upon
this State a large class of litigation
which is unknown everywhere else
That case however also distinctly holds