John W. Stevenson

“ The law attempts to prohibit the sale of any article intended to take the place of butter. This prevents competition and places a ban on progress and invention. It invades the rights both of persons and property, guaranteed by the institution. The sale of a substitute for any article of manufacture is a legitimate business, and if effected without deception can not be arbitrarily suppressed. This act is not aimed at deception, but goes further; it in effect creates an monopoly destructive of rights protected by the constitution both of the state and the United States. ”

“ Organize your committees for concerted plans of action, and bring your influence to bear in state legislatures, for the correction of evils in general legislation which cry out loudly for reform. In conclusion permit me to say, what I heard a great but young lawyer, cut off ere he had reached his meridian, say, "self-control has constituted the greatness of the American people. It is obedience to law, their own law, that is their power. ”

“ But where has been exhibited higher loftliness of aim, nobler unselfishness, calmer or more fearless adherence to duty in face of peril, more sterling constancy to truth, greater heroism in the defense of the innocent, than in the profession of the law? ”

“ Any person who unlawfully neglects or refuses to support his wife or children, shall, unless he can show to the court that owing to physical incapacity or other good cause, he is unable to furnish such support, be committed to the work-house or county jail, and sentenced to hard labor for not more than sixty days; but the court before which such conviction is had, may in lieu of the penalty, accept a bond with good security, conditioned for the support of the wife, child, or children, for six months from and after the date of such conviction. ”

“ The last remnant of the common law doctrine of the rights of husband and wife seems, as in many other states, to have become entirely exploded in Vermont. A recent act provides that married women may contract with any other person other than her husband, and bind herself and her separate property to the same extent as if unmarried. All personal property and rights of action acquired by a woman before coverture, or acquired in any manner except by her personal industry, or by gift from her husband, shall be held to her sole and separate use, etc. ”

“ By a recent enactment of the legislature of Kansas, seduction of a female under twenty-one years of age, and of good reputation, under the promise of marriage, is made a felony, punishable, upon conviction, by confinement at hard labor in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding five years: Provided, that the testimony of the woman alone shall not be sufficient evidence of a promise to marry. ”

“ The giving in payment of a debt, draft, or check, with fraudulent intent, upon any bank, whether the same be organized under state laws, or laws of the United States, in which the person giving the same shall not have sufficient funds for the payment thereof, is made a misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, or both.
Telegraphs, telephones, or electric light companies may, upon their failure to obtain the same by contract, obtain a right of way on the lands, privileges and easements of others, by the exercise through the legislature of the right of eminent domain. ”

“ When they shall neglect to adhere to that great rule, when they shall no longer be masters over themselves, when they can not stop in a moment of passion to reflect upon the limits they themselves have placed around their passions for their own good, and reverently bow before the laws, they will soon cease to be the peaceful, orderly, progressive, and powerful republic of George Washington. ”

“ An act in New York provides, that the knowingly or negligently furnishing by an employer to an employe of a scaffolding, hoist, stays, ladders, or other mechanical contrivances, that will not give proper protection to life and limb, is made a misdemeanor.
Another provides that when a receiver is appointed for a corporation, other than insurance and moneyed corporations, the wages of the employes and laborers thereof, shall be preferred to every other debt or claim against the corporation, and shall be paid from the first money of the corporation that may come to the receiver's hands. ”

“ Railway corporations, or companies organized under the laws of New Jersey, are authorized to merge and consolidate their capital, stock, franchises, and property, with those of any railroad company, whenever the said railroad companies so to be consolidated, shall or may form connecting or continuous links, line or lines of railroad; provided, that no railroad company claiming a contract with the state on the subject of taxation shall avail itself of the provisions unless the said contract is surrendered. ”

“ One, regulating the admission of attorneys and counsellors at law to practice in the several courts in that Commonwealth, provides, that any attorney who shall have been duly admitted to practice law in any Court of Common Pleas and in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, shall be permitted to practice in any other court in Pennsylvania upon motion simply, and filing, together with his certificate of admission to the Supreme Court, a certificate of the presiding judge of the county from whence he came, setting forth that he is of reputable professional standing and of unobjectionable character. ”

“ It is because they have declared that their constitution is the salus populi; it is because they adhere to the rule, that the WRITTEN LAW is the voice of the people; and that the old COMMON LAW of our fathers is a safe rule of action; it is because our people appeal from the hour of passion to the day of calm reflection, that they have so far proved themselves worthy of the liberty that their fathers conquered for them. ”

“ The license tax for selling vinous and spirituous liquors is largely increased. The tax upon all dealers in pistols, toy-pistols, revolvers, dirks, and bowie knives, is increased one hundred dollars for each and every place of business in each and every county where the same are sold. Each individual, firm, their agents, or employes engaged in the business of selling or buying farm products for future delivery, familiarly known as "futures," are required to pay a tax of five hundred dollars each per annum to the tax collector of every county where such business is carried on. ”

“ Very few acts of general importance were enacted by the legislature of Arkansas at its recent session. Two or three should be noticed. One declares that railroad companies shall become subject to a penalty, to be recovered by the party aggrieved, for charging and endeavoring to collect a greater sum than is specified in the bill of lading, for the transportation of merchandise or freight of any kind, or for a failure by said company to deliver the thing so transported to the consignee, or his agent, upon a tender of the sum mentioned in the bill of lading. ”

“ Applicants for admission to the bar, who shall pass the required examination, and shall receive a certificate from such board to the effect that they have passed the required examination, may be admitted to practice as attorneys in all courts of record, except the Supreme Court, by any court of record.
Any person who shall commit the crime of larceny in any ship, vessel, railroad, or stage-coach, by stealing the property of another while said property is in transit, may be tried for said offense in any county through which said ship, vessel, railroad car, or stage-coach shall pass. ”

“ Several important acts marked the legislation of Wisconsin at the last session of its legislature.
What is commonly known as the "contract system" of maintaining paupers, insane, and idiots in poor-houses and asylums, is forbidden, and no person is allowed to contract with any town, village, city, or county to carry on a poor-house or asylum and furnish the inmates board at a given rate for each inmate. ”

“ The American Bar Association has become in part the voluntary custodians of our American system of self-government, founded upon the sovereignty of the popular will, under self-imposed constitutional limitations on their own power. ”

“ No child under fourteen can be abused, abandoned, or beaten, or become subject to exposure in any mode; nor can such child be so disposed of with a view of its being employed as an acrobat, a gymnast, or a contortionist, or a circus rider, a rope walker, a beggar, mendicant, or a street singer, etc.
Another enactment, of novelty and importance, forbids, under heavy penalties, the importation, emigration, and employment of foreigners and aliens under an agreement or contract abroad to perform labor in the United States. ”

“ The conquests and triumphs of the American Bar in long years that have passed, attest its capacity, virtue, courage, and nobility for dealing with professional problems and difficulties that might have dashed the brightest hopes, or brought doubt to the stoutest heart. ”

“ No minor under the age of twelve years shall be employed in any factory, workshop, or establishment wherein the manufacture of any goods of any kind is carried on, and no minor under the age of eighteen shall be employed in any of the places named for a longer period than ten hours a day, and in no case, shall the hours of labor exceed sixty in one week. A violation of this act is to be punished by fine or imprisonment. ”

“ An act for the preservation of the health of females employed in manufacturing, mechanical, and mercantile establishments, provides, that every person, corporation, or company, employing females in their establishments in Ohio, shall provide suitable seats for the use of the females so employed, and shall permit the use of such seats by them when they are not necessarily engaged in the active duties for which they are employed. ”

“ Congress has wisely created a retired list for common soldiers or non-commissioned officers of the United States army, or marine corps. The act porvides, that after a service of thirty years, such soldier or non-commissioned officer shall, on application to the President, be placed on the retired list with the rank held by him at the date of his retirement, with seventy-five per centum of the pay and allowances of the rank upon which he was retired. ”

“ An act in the interest of an intelligent husbandry requires that the owner of any honey bees, brood comb, or honey known to be infected with the disease known as "foul brood," or infectious or contagious disease,shall cause them to be inspected and destroyed. A failure to comply shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and punished by fine or imprisonment.
Another prohibits the selling, giving or furnishing tobacco in any of its forms to minors, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each violation of the enactment. ”

“ Alabama, Indiana, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Nebraska, have each passed laws to protect all persons in their civil and legal rights in the enjoyment of all accommodations, advantages, privileges of inns, restaurants, theaters, barber—shops, public conveyances on land and water, etc., prescribing penalties for their violation by civil action, and yet defining certain misdemeanors and fixing their penalties. ”

“ It is confidently believed by some of our best and most distinguished men that legislative requirements upon state courts of last resort to write and report their opinions and decisions in every case, as is now done in the Supreme Court of the United States, would prove a wonderful stimulant to able, accurate, and correct judgments. ”

“ An act to promote habits of temperance, and to prohibit the practice of treating, declares it unlawful for any person or persons to treat, or entertain gratuitously any person or persons, with any spirituous or malt liquors, wine or cider, or any beverage whatever, or with any other article whatever, whereby, any spirituous or malt liquor or liquors, wine, cider, or any other beverage shall be obtained gratuitously in any public bar-room, saloon, beer-hall, grocery, or in any other public place of resort or amusement in the state. ”

“ Railroads shall not, however, be leased to foreign corporations, or non-residents, nor be consolidated with the road of any foreign corporation, or non-resident, without the consent of the New Jersey legislature, and as a condition precedent to such consent, exemption from taxation and all privileges and advantages as to special modes of taxation must be surrendered ”

“ An act against gift enterprises, provides that any merchant, manufacturer, importer, retailer, or dealer, doing business within the Commonwealth, who shall offer, give, or sell to any purchaser or customer any ticket or tickets, check or checks, or other token or memoranda, entitling such purchaser or customer to demand or receive money, or any other article of value, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to fine or imprisonment, or both. ”