Page:State v. Johnson.pdf/14

294   Rh     to the fact that he says the civil rights bill and the XIV. amendment have no relation to each other.

On the very next day he comes into court and says that he is convinced that he was in error in that respect, and recants his position of the day previous. This, taken in connection with the fact that the case turned on a question of jurisdiction, and that the remarks made were not pertinent to the disposition of the case, entitles the argument to no more weight than that of any other lawyer of equal ability. The fourteenth amendment originated in Congress, and many of the same men who aided in proposing the amendment to the States, were in Congress when the enforcement act was passed. Under such circumstances it will not be unreasonable to presume that congressional construction is of as much weight on that subject as the opinion of Judge Congress, under the authority given that body, to enforce the amendments, undertakes to define the rights sought to be preserved and protected by the fourteenth amendment, and by the sixteenth section of said act it is declared, "That all persons within the jurisdiction of the United States, shall have the same right in every State and territory of the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, give evidence, and to the full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, penalties, taxes, licenses, and exactions of every kind, and none other; any law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. No tax or charge shall he imposed or enforced by any State upon any person immigrating thereto from a foreign country, which is not equally imposed and enforced upon any person immigrating to such State from any other foreign country; and any law of any State, in conflict with this provision, is hereby declared null and void." There seems to be no intention to extend the right of trial by jury to cases where it did not exist before, and we do not think the fourteenth amendment was adopted for any such purpose. The motion is overruled.