The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-05-28

Grated such exceptions the Courts are
bound to recognize that public opin-
ion as the sole tribunal for the red
ress Of any evils complained of. In
Robertson VS. Baldwin four seamen
who had been arrested in accordance
with the provisions Of Section 4,959
Of the Revised Statutes, sought their
release by habeas corpus on the
ground that this section was in viola
ti6n of the Thirteenth Amendment,
and the Court held that this amend
nfent was not intended to introduce
any novel doctrine with respect to GER
tain descriptions of service which had
always been treated as exceptional,
such as the military and naval estab-
lishments, or to disturb the rights Of
parents and guardians to the custo-
dy of their minor children or wards,
and reviewing the history of the mari
time law and the grounds upon which
it rested, says: "From the earliest
historical period the contract of a
sailor has been treated as an cxccp-
tional one, and involving TO a certain
extent his personal liberty during the
life Of the contract. Indeed, the bust
ness of navigation could scarcely be
carried on without some guarantee
beyond the ordinary civil remedies
upon contracts that the sailor will not
desert the ship at a critical moment
or leave her at some place where seal
men are impossible to be obtained, as
Molloy forcibly expresses it, ito rot
in her neglected brine Such leser-
tion might involve a long delay Of the
vessel while the master is seeking an
other crew and abandonment of the
voyage, and in some cases the safety
Of the ship itself, hence the laws Of
nearly all maritime nations have made
provisions for securinf the personal
attendance of the crew on board and
for criminal punishment for desention
or absence without leave during the
life of the shipping articles" Coun-
sci have with apparent seriousness at
tempted to maintain that the ease Of
the petitioners here is analogous to
that Of sailors who mad embarked on
a voyage; that their continuance in
the service of their employer was as
essential to the safety of the crop as
the service of sailors to the safety Of
he ship. Tn other words, that these
men who had made a contract for
service last year may be arrested and
imprisoned in January, when proba-
bly, there is not seed in the ground,
and such arrest be vindicated by the
immcmorial usage which requires sail
ors to remain at their posts. 1t may
be proper to say that the section Of
the Revised Statutes above referred
to has been repealed since this opin-
iom was filed, but the rack of analogy
between the two classes is too ap-
parent to require discussion.
The fact that there might be en-
ceptions to the general language Of
the Thirteenth Amendment led the
Court to attempt TO lay down some
rule whereby in any given ease it
could be determined whether The in
voluntary scrvitudc complained of
falls within The inhibitions of the
Constitution, and in answer to the
question: where shall the line be
drawn, the Court says: eve know Of
no better answer ito make than to say
| that services which have from time
immcnorial been treated as cxcep-
tional shall not be regarded as within
its purview,' and from the whole
opinion it is clear that a breach of
contract for personal services was not
regarded as falling within the excep-
tion, and manifestly the "public
opinion,' which the learned Justice
said would not tolerate a statute to
that effect, was the public opinion of
the country at large, which had made
itself manifest in the amendment to
the Constitution abolishing slavery
| with all its badges and incidents.
Another view has been presented
with much earnestness, which de-
mands consideration. and that is,
while not denying the jurisdiction or
the power of the Federal Courts to
issue habcas corpus to one alleged to
be restrained of his liberty by a
State Court in violation Of the Con-
stitution or laws of thc United States,
it is contcndcd .that we are not bound
to exercise this power: that it is a
matter of discretion, and that the ac-