St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1909-03-27
The True STORY OF
The NJuNCT ION SUIT. !.
Hon. :. B, Dubuisson TELLS How. Alter GIvIag
The Katter MuCh Thought, HaPat
HIS IDEA INTO EXECUTION
Defiance Of The DlVlsionIsts Renlads alm b
the Hound Which SITS on It's launches
and Bays ths Mo0n.
0pelousas, La, March "a, 1909.
TO the Clarion:

Opelousas, La, March "a, 1903.
To the Clarion:
Since I have been I'll with Appendix
leitis, I have thought more Of the par
| ish division question than of my own
business for the reason that, accord
ing to my view, it is the most mo-
mentous question which has confront-
Led the people Of this parish within
my day. One Of the results Of my
[cogitations was the injunction suit
which has been filed to prevent the
holding bf the election which had
been called to take the sense Of a
majority Of the qualified electors Of
the parish on the question. Since
the adoption Of the Constitution Of
1898, I have always been Of the opin-
lion Ito which / still adhere) that no
new parish can be created out Of the
TERRITORY Of one or more Of the exist
ing parishes without the approval Of
tWo-thirds Of the qualified electors of
the parish or parishes TO be affected,
said approval to be aseertained at an
election to be called for that purpose
| By The General Assembly. Entertain
| ing these views, it occurred to me
that the proper way to test the Con-
stitutionality Of the proposed election
was TO attack it ID Court before, in
stead Of after it had been held. There
fore, as soon as ! reached home, and
although still confined to my bed, /
sent for Messrs. Thomas Fl. Lewis and
Gilbert 3. Dupre. two Of the ablest
lawyers of the local bar, and sub
mitted my views. The result was that
they eoncurred ID my opinion and
hence the fling of the suit. That We
made no mistake In institnting suit
TO test the constitutionality Of the
act before the election instead Of
after ii is made manifest by the fol-
lowing extract from the syllabus of
The opinion Of the Supreme Court Of
this State ID the case Of State ex rel.
ForsYthe and Robertson VS.. Judge,
~ A. 1I04, VIZ:
The Constitution Of the State
has not given the Legislature un-
limited discretion il the matter of
creating new parishes Of changing
the boundaries Of existing parishes,
but has imposed important limitations
on the legislative power In these re-
spects and on the methods Of exer-
eising the same.
These limitations are intended as
d protection to the rights Of existing
parishes and the people thereof, who
have the right To oppose the execu-
tion Of legislative acts passed in vio-
lation thereof, and to invoke the aid
Of the Judicial department.
ss3 Injunction against persons
proceeding under the authority and
ii execution Of such acts is not only
the proper, but The only effective
remedy, because If parties wait until
the act has been fully executed and
the new parish organized, il Is then
too late TO invoke Judicial aid.
Both Judge Perrault and Judge
Edwards who was appointed TO re-
place him being absent from the par
ish, the petition for preliminary
writ Of injunction was presented to
the Clerk Of Court, whose duty It is
under law to sign such orders in the
absence Of the Judge from the parish
when the petition for the Injunction
presents prima facie case. The
question at issue being q political one
and as feeling over the matter was
running high, Mr.. Andrepont hesitated
about signing the order and did not
do So until he had consulted me. He
asked me If / would advise him con-
scientiousiy as q friend and d gentle
man, independently Of my interest in
the matter political or otherwise, as
to what his duty was in The premises.
/ replied that I was perfectfuliy will
ing to advise him ii the spirit re-
quested, and in that spirit told him.
= z
that the petition and affidavit pre-
sented a prima faeie case and that IN.
my opinion It was his duty TO sign
the order, and that would unhesitat-
ingly do SO we're District Judge
acting under oath were the papers.
presented to me ii that capacity He
then said: Well, If that IS the case
+ / will sign the order. This was ae-
Icordingly done d short time after
wards.
The injunction was directed against
the machinery provided By law for
holding the election Certain OF the
most rampant diVisionists rushed into
Court through an array Of lawyers as