The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-26
AFTERNOON SESSION.

oy tuS EreSlueHI, ana the roll UeluS called showed the presence of 105 dele gates.
 Leave of absence was granted MT. Beaver for the afternoon
 MT. Coleman of Greene and MT. Jones of Montgomery both endeavored to obtain recognition from the Chair. The Chair recognized the gentleman from Montgomery, who yielded to the gentleman from Greene.
 Mir. Coleman CGreene)-Mr President and delegates to the Convention. A de- legate very frequently feels embarrass- Ed in rising to express his opinion up- pn any subject when there Is manifest lmpatience to hear him. and especially Is this more So with me when l have not perfect confidence in my own judg- ment and conclusions. Nevertheless, upor question so grave. as the one now before us for consideration, T feel would not do my duty unless urged the objections I have to the adoption net only of the amended resolution, but of any resolution or ordinance upon is subject. We have had Constitu- tions in this State, six or eight, or per- haps seven. I don't remember exactly the number.
 Mir. Graham CTalladega)-I do not want to interrupt the gentleman, but we cannot hear him at all.
 MT. Coleman (Greene)-I don't know That the delegates will miss a great
 l know of no siRnilar provision in the Constitution of any other State. Ger tainly nothing similar has been intro auced into the organic law of the State Df Alabama and we have lived and done fairly we'll under most adverse conditions that a State was ever sub- lected to. The section preceding this which provides for the impeachment of } Sheriff, arms the Executive with all the power he wants. This adds noth- Ing to the Executive power. It is a legislative provision entirely for the benefit of the Sheriff and is out of place in my opinion under the head Of the Executive Department
 But independent of that, the reading of the original section and the reading of the amendment as adopted, and which is now the section before this Convention, seems to me to be wanting in definiteness and position. It says adequate" provision shall be made for the family of Sheriff who may be killed in defending prisoner. If l should take a poll of all the delegates here and ask each one what Is meant by "adequate' what would be the ans wers? There would probably be as many answers as those given separate ly. But a law has to be defined and fixed. And 1 notice there is no limit Whatever put upon the amount to be paid. We know that in assessing dam pges frequently for the loss Of man just compensation, which l think would be better term jurtes range from two to forty thousand dollars. There is nothing in this provision whatever that puts any limit upon the power of Iha I.aPiSl tIra o make Sllph aDDrO- priations as it sees proper to come up to the standard of adequacy. l fear that the delegates sometime have their Judgments moved by the appeals made and the citing of certain extreme in- stances, some of those alluded to by the delegate from Montgomery. There is nothing better established in law than extreme eases make shipwreck of great principles of law and justice. Whenever you are moved by an appeal because of the hardship of a particular case from providing for the general good, it Is not wise legislation, much less should it be in che organic law of a State. And what necessity is there for it? The Legislature is fully com potent to devise ways and means and to make appl opriations as they arise IT it is necessary and I do believe the delegates to this Convention will beRr with me that we are IoSluS sISHS oA IAS organic law, a law which Is to control legislation, a law which is to confer privileges and place limitations upon the powers which they exert and not the granting of Legislation itself.
 Now I ask the delegates to consider what i; to be effected by putting into the organic law provision that the Legislature shall make adequate pro- vision for the families of those who are rNpfS words are lin defense" whether juSti- fled or not, and then comes the question of adequacy, undefined as it is,. ranging from one price to another perhaps, ac- cordlng to the families and according to the efficiency of the Sheriff.
 MT. Boona-Don't you think that word "adeuuate" would cover as much as the man was fairly makingE Say he was making $100 d month, that he was making and providing that much money per month to his family, would not That make at least S1G0 a month?
 MT. Coleman (Greene)-I don't think 'adequate" would but I would think just compensation" would. "Ade- Iuatc" is I believe proper return for the purpose intended. That is the gen eral adjudication of the word adequacy as I remember. Compensation Is to re- lmburse for the loss sustained. That is about the way the IWO WoIuS run. But delegates in framing laws should know exactly what words they are using because when the courts come to construe them or the Legislature comes to apply the law, each one will have his own opinion as 10 what was intended by just compen- sation" or adequate provision" unless defined by law and whether that relates to one member of the family or the entire family. is wholly indefinite.
 But it is legislation. It is forgetting the purpose for which this Convention assembled and travelling into the do- main of purely legislative matters. That is the most serious objection to if and that is an objection, 1t seems to me, that ought to be raised to every resolution or ordinance introduced here which ought not to be in the organic law. fer under our system the Legis- lature has all power except where it is limited by the Constitution itself.
 Many instances have been stated of heroic venture by the officers of the State. If it will serve any purpose can give one from my own county, per haps unparalleled in the State of Ala hama. There was d prisoner commit ted to the Sheriff of Greene County anu placed in jail. Just about daylight a body of men appeared apparently with a prisoner and told the jailer they had q prisoner to be placed in jail and thus induced him to open the doors. When they entered their wants and desires were manifest. They took the prls- oner which the jailer already had in
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