The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-02-24
COURT FORM AND CEREMONIAL.
An Impressive Custom Passing Away.
The Evils of an Elective judiciary.
.Ffrst Monday" in South Carolina.
The Disaster That Befell Silas Ford.
The Catastrophe at Mile Branch"

For The Messenger.
I have been taking some care lately
to learn something about South Caro-
lima; for, although my forbears on my
mothers side were South CarOlinians,
Charaestonfans Git is said that ohey
were Of direct Hugenot lineage, but l
am not Dragging about that, I know
h~um:liatingly little about the Palmetto
State"
I have regretted to learn recently
that of late a the people Of South
Carolina have been gradually discredit-
ing the form and ceremonial which in
former times surrounded and invested
the Judge on the bench. In the days
of their fathers the judge look his
seat for the administration OF justice,
clad in the robes of pomp n stateli-
ness betting his august position, the
high sheriff, in cooked nat and with
drawn sword, preceded him to the court
house, proclaiming to the people his
approach, and beseeching God to save
that honorable court" or words OF SIM
liar import-and the lawyer who plead
ed at the bar must appear i'm seemly
garb Of black.
That was right, and the custom TO
DdEdDlTdSC f1dIIllct, WIS lIIOIt ION
ored in the observance than in the rude
reach Of the present day. Next to the
sanctuary Of Most High the temple of
justice should, from the impr~essiVeness
of it's environments and the solemnlty
which pervadeS it's walls, the
respect and even inspire the awe OF the
masses.
1t is an unpleasant thing to write, but
for all that it is true, that the legal
R0rOcaSSjnn has CpfppiaYQ ted ar Last
in 1ecorum and dignity, since the close
of the Civil war. The passage Of the
act, permitting a man to obtain license
to practice law on proof of good moral
character, was an unfortunate cOnces-
sion to an unhealthy public sentiment
prevailing at the time. [ do not deny
that there are many good moral char
, acter' lawyers in the state today, and
THAT there are many good moral char
of the passage Of the act was too poor
to have entered the profession in any
other way; but it was a a precedent
in legislation.
The people did a bad thing for them
selves, too, when they established an
elective judiciary. The judge should not
get down too close to the people. I do
not say hat as Phillips said of Napo-
leon, grand, gloomy and peculiar, he
should sit on his throne, a sceptred
hermit, wrapped in the solitude of his
own originality" but there should be a
far remove between the executor Of the
law and the CONSERVATION of the peace,
and those for whom the laws were
framed and those who break the peace.
lChoSen for life or good behavior the
judge on the bench should be absolute
1y independent Of public opinion in his
course of action and in the determine
ton of the cases brought before him,
and should be placed above tn ex-
pediency or necessity of soliciting pop
ular favor or gaining votes. l do not
charge hat in an elective judiciary we
have a corrupt judiciary necessarily
on the contrary, L believe that the
North Carolina Supreme and Superior
court benches are capable and honest;
but l do say that human nature is the
same the world over, and that an cleo
tive judiciary must be, to the extent
of the weakness Of man, a plant and
n plastic judiciary. But it will never
be changed in our day, nor in any day.
History teaches ummiStakably THAI the
people, loudly as they hurrah for libec-
sty, are as greedy of power as the Rus
sian Car and they never yet have sur
rendered voluntarily am atom of dit once
gotten into their hands.
Said an old citizen Of Fayetteville the
other day: Fifty years ago the pro-
fession of law was but one step below
tina of the minister in the pulpit.
Judge Strange, of this county had his
office at his country place, and SO did
James c.. Dobbin, secretary of THE navy
in the administration of Franklin
Pierce. Clients nae to- seek them, rot
they seek their clients. Drum for ouS-
iness? Am old time lawyer would have
starved first. Nowadays when a man
lis injured on the railroad the lawyer is
at his side Almost as soon as the sur
geon; and. while the latter is sewing
up Ills hurts, the former is bending
Cam1ges."
south Carolina has am Institution we
call it, which, if adopted i'm North
olina, would, l believe, edOun to the
general material betterment. In fact:
if I ann not mistaken, Mr.. E.. r. Nc
Kethan, of Fayetteville, while publish
ing his paper, the Standard, advocated
the passage of am act by the Legislature
providing for it's adoption throughout
this state. It is First Monday" In
every county in South Carolina, on the
first Monday % every month there IS
a great aSSemblage of the people at
the county eat as large as h crowd
at a county fair. On that day all the
legal sales take place, transfers of prop
erty are made, n a vast mount OF
private business is transacted. This
large gathering prevents land and other
realty from beng bid off with few know
ing anything hou it and without
bringing NEAR its value. Over and above
this the frequency of these meetings
enable the people the better TO know
each other, and friends the Cf5ener to
see each other. In. as large a county
as his, Cumberland, 'Ihe citizens Of
Beaverdam township in the extreme
southeast, are as nuch strangers 20
those of Quewhiff.e township, in the
extreme northwest, as they are to The
Virginians: they have a chance to get
together and hobn51b CClly once a year
at the county fair.
The value of "Firsa Monday" from "A
business point of view IS s~trikingly
: shown i'm the fact, to which l am tes-
tffying of my own k~noWledge. that For
perhaps twenty years the T~yzoa-Jones
carriage factory at C~arth3ge, =. y.
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