Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/293

 in which a person of color was a party. An indictment of a white person for the homicide of a person of color had to be tried in the regular superior court; and so had all other indictments in which a white person was accused of a capital felony affecting the person or property of a person of color. In these forty-nine sections the jurisdiction of this special court for persons of color is worked out in detail; but inasmuch as the law was in force less than a year and was one of the ephemeral "Black Laws" already considered, there is no need to go into it further. Suffice it to say that in the South at present, as in other sections, the people of all races and colors have their rights adjudicated by the same court.

DIFFERENT PUNISHMENTS

Alabama, Florida, and Georgia prescribe a heavier punishment for fornication and adultery between white people and Negroes than between members of the same race. On first consideration this appears to be a case of different punishment. As was said by the Supreme Court of Alabama[61]: "The fact that a different punishment is affixed to the offence of adultery when committed between a Negro and a white person, and when committed between two white persons or two Negroes, does not constitute a discrimination against or in favor of either race. The discrimination is not directed against the person of any particular color or race, but against the offence, the nature of which is determined by the opposite colors of the cohabiting parties. The punishment of each offending party, white and black, is precisely the same." The con