Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

is "Guilty," or "Not Guilty;" if in a civil suit, they how much one party is indebted (if any), to the other.

say

7. The object aimed at in that article of the Constitution which stands at the head of this chapter, is to protect persons from false charges of crime, and hasty adjudication of such charges; for it substantially amounts to a declaration that no person shall be punished for a capital or infamous crime, unless one jury, before trial, shall, upon information and belief, charge him with the offence; and another, after trial, shall find him guilty of the alleged crime.

The above remarks are as applicable to Grand and Petit Juries, acting under State, as those which act under the United States laws.

ADMIRALTY AND MARITIME JURISDICTION.

101

CHAPTER XXII.

Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction. In ancient times-and long before this government existed-civilized and commercial nations had codes or laws which related especially to transactions upon the sea. Those respecting ships of war and warlike operations at sea, were called the laws of Admiralty; those respecting vessels engaged in commercial affairs were called Maritime laws; and the courts empowered with jurisdiction to hear and try causes, or to take any judicial proceedings in those cases, were styled Courts of Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction. These laws, in many respects, differed so materially from the laws relating to affairs on land, that the authority and power to take proceedings in, and adjudicate upon them, was conferred upon a particular class of courts. Hence we see the origin of the names of such tribunals.

In this country, the United States District Courts have been designated by the laws as the courts which shall have original and exclusive authority to adjudicate this class of causes; yet an appeal from the District to the Circuit Courts may be taken.

KIND OF CASES.

The word Maritime designates that which relates to the sea. Yet, in the United States, cases which come within Admiralty and Maritime jurisdiction, are not

restricted to the sea, or to transactions relating to business or crimes done on it, but are made to embrace those which occur on navigable lakes and rivers, and include seizures made for the violation of the laws of impost, navigation or trade, suits for the recovery of seamen's wages, contracts for building, repairing or fitting out vessels, and, briefly, all contracts where the subject-matter relates to the navigation of the sea. The District Courts have Admiralty and Maritime jurisdiction in all these cases, without regard to the amount claimed, and in criminal as well as in civil suits.

The foregoing remarks show the workings of our judicial system, as it applies to business done, and crimes committed upon the high seas.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Congressmen.

1. CONGRESSMAN, in the most comprehensive sense in which the term may be used, means any member in either branch of Congress. But there is a more restricted sense in which it is most commonly used, and in this sense it is generally understood; that is, a member of the House of Representatives, the lower of the two Houses. These are elected by the people, in each State, and in the Congressional districts of that State; and they are the only persons either in the Legislative, Executive, or Judiciary branches of the government, for whom the people vote directly. They are elected by single districts, that is, but one member is chosen in one district. They are elected for two years, that is, during the term of a Congress, which lasts two years, and always holds two sessions. The President may call an extra session, if in his judgment the exigencies of the country are such as to require its action before the time of the regular meeting. This has been done on several occasions.

2. The Constitution prescribes the qualifications of members of the House of Representatives (which see). They are also stated in Chapter III, where much other matter relating to this subject may be found. The Constitution is silent as to the number of members of which the House shall be composed, excepting that it specifies how many each State should have, until the first enumeration of the people in 1790; and since then. Congress has from time to time fixed the number, which is now 241-to which must be added one for Nevada, and one for Nebraska, which States were admitted since the last apportionment.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

1. THE Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer thereof. He is chosen by the members of that body, and is selected for this important position in view of his knowledge of parliamentary law and usages. He is elected for the full term of the Congress which chooses him. His compensation, by an act of 1856, was fixed at double the amount received by other members of the House; for his duties are much more arduous than those of an ordinary member.

2. The law provides that in case of the death, resignation, impeachment, or any other disability of both the President and Vice President, the President of the Senate pro tem., must then act as President; but in case there happens to be no President of the Senate, then the Speaker becomes acting President.

3. The Speakership of the House of Representatives has always been regarded as a very respectable and honorable position. The following are the names of all the Speakers of the House, since the establishment of the government, down to 1869.

Frederick A. Muhlenburgh, Penn., 1789 to 1791 Jonathan Trumbull, Conn., 1791" 1793

Frederick A. Muhlenburgh, Penn., 1793 1797

Jonathan Dayton, N. J.,

1797 1798

Theodore Sedgwick, Mass.,

Nathaniel Macon, N. C.,

Joseph B. Varnum, Mass.,

1798" 1801

1801 1807

1807" 1811

« AnkstesnisTęsti »