The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-04-17
CODE MAY Be ILLEGAL.
NUMBER OF IRREGULARITIES
DISCOVERED BY ATTORNEY
GENERAL.
Some Acts Were Omitted, He Says, i'm
Opinion Filed with Governor Man
ning-Changes We're also Made in
Code of 1912, 1t Is Stated.

Columbia April 1.-THE legality of
the code of 1912 is questioned by
Thomas II. Peoples, attorney general,
in an opinion filed with Gov. Manning.
The code was printed by the Niche
company. law publishers of Char
lottesville. Va. The attorney general
states that several errors have been
in the code as compared with
the reports by the code commission
err.
THE said errors" says the attorney
general, consist in some instances in
the omission of certain statutes and
acts which were included in the re-
ports OF the code commissioners, 9TH
er instances being a change in some
of the statutes as reported by the code
commissioners"
Continuing, the opinion says: 1--WE
express no opinion as Il the legality
OF the code generally. on account OF
this failure to have the code attached
to the act and filed in the office of the
secretary of State; but even If such
procedure does ont affect the legality
OF the code. 1t seems to us that such
procedure is irregular, TO say the
least. The code, under the constitu-
ton and laws of this State. is the
only general statutory law Of the State
at the time OF its adoption and surely
a record Of this importance. in it's
entirety. should be among the records
in the possession OF the proper State
custodian. In the absence Of the
code referred to in the act Of 1912, we
are forced to the necessity Of referring
TO the reports and resolutions Of South
Carolina for the years 1911 and 1912,
h~ereinabove referred to-"
Attorney General Peoples in his
opinion gives a history Of the code.
The duties OF the code commissioner
are set forth in the paper.
The opinion on the code resulted
from the receipt of a letter from
Charleston questioning the correctness
of the law relating to the rights Of
national banks acting as trustees. The
attorney general found that the act
had been incorrectly printed in the
code.
The term of the code commissioner
expired in 1911 and an election was
held at the 1911 session for q COM
missioner. The commissioner made
his report to the general assembly in
1912. The report a accepted by n
legislative committee and was ordered
by both houses to be printed in the
journal as information. In 1912 the
general assembly passed an act to
declare the code submitted by the
code commissioner to be the only
general statutory law Of the State and
to provide for the publication or the
same.
The code commissioner appended
the following notice to the act: This
act was presented to the governor on
the gath day Of February, A. D., 1912,
and was not returned by him to the
house in which it originated within
three days. the general assembly be-
Ing In session.
The attorney general says that in
his opinion there is nothing in the
act adopting the code. or any existing
or subsequent statute or act, author
izing the code commissioner, the COM
m!ttee or the pu blishers to make any
changes in the statutes as codihed and
as reported to the general assembly In
the years 1911 and 1912, for it will
be noted from the act Of 1912 that
tho code as submitted by the codc
commissioner of South Carolina
(Which is hereto attached) is declared
to be the code OF laws OF South Caro-
lima"
Certain errors have been noted in
the code printed by the Niche COM
pany' when compared with the two
reports of the code commissioners;
said errors. consisting in some in.
stances in the omission of certain
statutes and acts which were included
In the reports Of the code commits
sioners' other instances being a
change In some OF the statutes as re-
ported by the code commissioners. In
such cases II Is the opinion OF this
once that the code of laws as con-
tained in the reports of the code
commissioners for the year 1911 and
1919 Ii the general statutory law of
the State. for these reports have been
so declared. and the code as printed
by the Niche company has not been