Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-06-05
YORK'S BENCH and BAR
Address at Laying Of the Corner
Stone.
some LEGAL lights OF The PAST.

Of Those He Knew Personally.
Following is the full text Of the ad-
dress that Hon. George w. Gage, asso'
ciate justice Of the supreme court Of
South Carolina, delivered to large anc
intelligent audience at the laying Of the
corner stone of the new court house
last Wednesday:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Fellow Cit
liens:
When your invitation came to me to
speak to you on this occasion l felt SO
keenly the obligation to accept it, that
/ have done so without a full oppor-
tlnity to prepare myself for such an
occasion.
The event though speaks for itself,
to those who with uncovered and rev.
erent heads will heed it's CALL
We are assembled to lay the founda-
ton of a third house of Justice in this,
not venerable. but tried county, and on
{ MS same spot of ground.
] said a house of Justice. What
conflicting emotions this word raises
in the hearts of those who love JUS
tice, and who have struggled in vain
i: may be- for it's maintenance.
1t is the noblest aspiration Of NOR
tai man; it rests by the throne of God
himself
Justinian defined it as the constant
and perpetual disposition to render to
every man his due; in his own Ian
guage, Justitia est constans ct perpetua
voluntas jus SUM cuigue tribuendi.
of it, the mightiest in the land
ought not to want more; and Of it the
lowliest in the land ought not to have
less.
Emerson characterized truth as the
summit of being, and justice as the
of it to affairs"
May this house never be one where
Judgment is turned away backward
and justice standeth afar off; for truth
is fallen in the street and equity can
not enter"
altars deliver the poor and fatherless
and do justice to the afflicted and
needy"
It is a circumstance Of large sig
nifcance that the people of York, for
a third time in a century and a quar-
ter, should erect a building dedicated
to the administration of Justice.
1t proves that these people yet be-
lieve in the integrity Of juries, the
laracter of lawyers ard the inde-
pendence of judges.
This vote of confidence, pledged
when you cast your ballots for this
house, now calls upon bench and bar
and jury to re-dedicate themselves to
IL great public service; and this we
ought to do, reverently in the sight of
God and these witnesses.
l have thought to speak to you to-
day about the history which clusters
about this parcel of ground, of the
here erected and the signifi-
canoe of them. and of the men who
in them.
For hundred years before the Rev.
olution, Charleston was the source and
center of all judicial proceedings.
The back country was sparsely set
tied, the territorial divisions were
large. and there were few men learn
ed in the law.
In 1868 the state was divided upon
into seven precincts. That one called
Camden embraced this county and
many others, and it's seat of justice
was the town of Camden, then the only
settlement in that large
area.
In 1871 these precincts were read
justed, and two new precincts were
added one of which was called
Pinckney; it was made up of the ter
ritory now embraced in the counties
Of Spartanburg, Cherokee, Union,
Chester and all of York, except that
part lying east of the Catawba river.
The seat of Justice of that precinct
was Pinckneyville, small settlement
in the present county of Union. close
to Lockhart.
The act named commissioners to
erect a court house and Jail at that
place, and those from York were Will
liam Rratton and William Smith. The
were erected, and l have
been informed the Jail house yet
stands.
But in n few years an increasing
demanded smaller areas for
judicial districts: and in 1855 the state
was divided into thirty-four counties.
One of these is described i'm the act as
"One other county called the New Ac-
QUESTION. shall be known by the name
of York"
The territorial new acquisition"
portions of old York and
Spartanburg counties acquired from
North Carolina by Il relocation in
1772 of the line between the states.
Mills states that the name was got
ten from county of that name in
whence many of the i'm
migrants into this section of the state
came.
1t is an interesting circumstance
that there are three contiguous coun-
ties. not only in this state and in Penn
sylvania. bearing the names Of York.
Chester and Lancaster; but there are
three such counties i'm England.
The act of 1855 also provided, that
the justices Of the county should have
power to erect court house, and a
Jail. with pillory. whipping post and
stocks: also tn buy or receive by gift
two acres of ground to be used for
such purposes, land no other use
! venture to say. that the funda-
mental law in every state of the I'm
ion would today prohibit the use of the
pillory. whipping post and stocks;
though | have seen it stated in recent
that the state of Delaware yet
resorts to the whipping post to pun
iSh some crimes.
The deed by which the county ac-
quired this cite is not recorded; but
the testimony tends to show that Will
liam Hill made the ronveVanpp He