The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-22

ished as such merely because the Leg
 fslature denounces it as crime. In stopping these prosecutions, unr der statutes whose validity hinges up-
 on the result of investigation as to the
 facts. nothing Is withdrawn from the
 whole broad domain in which the State
 is accustomed to exert its punitive pow. CT for the protection of life. liberty and property, or which interferes in any way with the promotion of the
 public peace, public health, public jus- tice, the collection Of the States rev. enues, the preservation of its morals,
 or the assertion of its qualified sov-
 ereignty as 1t exists in subordination to the limitations of the Federal Con- stitution.
 At this time no court can Knvw whether any offense has been commit ted. whether the law be Valid or fn- valid. and consequently can not know whether any crime Is committed by non compliance with the statute, which is pure question of fact. to be ascer- | tatned on nnal proof. The only of
 fense, If on the facts it turns out that one has been committed. Is that the
 owner of property exacted charges for | the lawful use of it exceeding the lim- It's fixed by the statute.
 Laws are Suspended. "The law makers foresaw that there | would be contentious as to this, and | provided how those contentious should | be settled. and how the operation of the law should be suspended in the | exact mode provided by the States own statutes, as well as under the set | tied equity powers of this Court. which
 authorized its suspension in case of this kind without any State enact. ment.
 How then. let me ask, has the Court | tnterfered with the right of the State | to enforce its criminal laws? Every | one knows that no man can be pun
 ished or commit any crime. for not conforming to the provisions of q law
 when 1t is not in force. As long as this law is suspended, no crime can be committed against it.
 NO court has Jurisdiction to arrest l any one for its violation, or arraixn him, or to try him. or to convict him.
 To all fntents and purposes. the rate
 statutes after their suspension. and
 until that is revoked, are as dead a ] letter upon our statute books as an
 act which had been repealed. It is
 those who seek to put these statutes
 in force when the State law has sus-
 pended them and court of high dig nity has also enjoined them. who wrong
 the State-~iot the court.
 NO one values more highly than
 this court the services of that faith
 ful corps nf officers, who as solicitors, asd sheriffs preserve the peace and
 often risk their lives in executing the
 laws. Like others. they sometimes
 form premature opinions. and take positions which maturer reflection will convince them are untenable. Surely 1t was small thing the Court required
 of them when 1t ordered that arrests and prosecutions be not made under suspended and enjoined statute, which
 touched only a property right. which
 was being contested in the only mode by which 1t could hA determined. and
 or determine the right, and after that
 court has suspended and enjoined the operation of the statute and prosecu- tions under 1t.
 Surely no refiecting man can say
 that the Legislature intended, although
 It's statute was suspended in the mode provided by It's own laws, yet, never
 theless. judicial and executive officers l should disregard the provisions or the
 statute and attempt to hold as criminals
 persons. who are under the shelter of
 8 court of equity. while the operatios
 of the law is stopped.
 Neither duty to their people. nor
 pride in their office points out any
 other pathway to the nathan obser-
 vances of the law as expounded by the Court. defiance by them under the
 order. under the circumstances, would
 be emphasized by the official character
 of the aggressor. They. above all men
 should set an example in their own
 pursuance of obedience to the process of the courts
 State Courts Would Have Acted. '1f these cases had been presented | to either of my worthy brother Judges
 of the State Court here. they would
 have been compelled. under the cur | cumstances. to do as this couvt did
 and to make the identical orders this
 court did. Would not all the world have cried out for shame when the
 State court had taken purisdiction and suspended the enforcement of the rate
 laws pending final inquiry, and en- | joined prosecution of suitors therein
 of any Federal powerI anxious to pre-
 vent suitors from receiving the benefit
 of the process of the State court. and
 seeking to drive them 10 abandon 1t. should threaten them with arrest ana punishmest for doing the very things the State court said by it's injunction
 they had a right to do?
 "The presumption is that officers
 mean to do their duty, and courts will | not question their motives; but the 1 consequences of their act when they
 are fraught with peril to the welfare
 of the people and the subversion of the.
 constituted authority of the lasd. a court may well consider.
 Some Of our focal authorities seem
 to be possessed of the idea that when
 a duty Is imposed to execute the law, that the person upon whom 1t Is put. | if the power of the law gives out. must
 supply means, though no law gives | them This view Ignores the funda- mental law of all English speaking | governments, that executive of ficers can only execute the law in the
 mode and to the extent which the law
 itself provides. They must execute the law only as expounded by the courts. in subordination to the court, and not ia defiance of 1t or It's orders. Observance Of this plain principle will avoid the unrest and excitement
 which prevails. and will increase if the orders of this court are defted.