Brown v. Orangeburg County

• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: GARY, A. J.
• Citation: Brown v. Orangeburg County, 32 S.E. 764, 55 S.C. 45 (S.C. 1899)
• Decision Date: 20 April 1899
• Parties: BROWN v. ORANGEBURG COUNTY.

32 S.E. 764

55 S.C. 45

BROWN v. ORANGEBURG COUNTY.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

April 20, 1899

Appeal from common pleas circuit court of Orangeburg county; James Aldrich, Judge.

Action by Isaac Brown, administrator of the estate of Lawrence Brown, deceased, against Orangeburg county. There was a judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Raysor & Summers and J. B. McLauchlin, for appellant.

Wm. C Wolfe, Henry H. Brunson, and Chas. G. Dantzler, for respondent.

GARY A. J.

The principal question raised by the appeal is whether the presiding judge was in error in directing the jury to find a verdict in favor of the defendant on the ground that section 6, art. 6, of the constitution, and the act of the legislature entitled "An act to prevent lynching in this state" (Acts 1896, p. 213), conferred upon the plaintiff no right to recover damages against the defendant, as the person lynched was not a prisoner.

Section 6, art. 6, of the constitution is as follows: "In case of any prisoner lawfully in the charge, custody or control of any officer, state, county or municipal, being seized and taken from said officer through his negligence, permission or connivance, by a mob or other unlawful assemblage of persons and at their hands suffering bodily violence or death, the said officer shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon true bill found, shall be deposed from his office pending his trial, and upon conviction shall forfeit his office, and shall, unless pardoned by the governor, be ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit within this state. It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney within whose circuit or county the offense may be committed to forthwith institute a prosecution against said officer who shall be tried in such county in the same circuit, other than the one in which the offense was committed, as the attorney general may elect. The fees and mileage of all material witnesses both for the state and the defense, shall be paid by the state treasurer in such manner as may be provided by law: provided, in all cases of lynching when death ensues, the county where such lynching takes place shall, without regard to the conduct of the officers, be liable in exemplary damages of not less than two thousand dollars to the legal representatives of the person lynched provided, further, that any county against which a judgment has been obtained for damages in any case of lynching shall have the right to recover the amount of said judgment from the parties engaged in said lynching in any court of competent jurisdiction." The act of the legislature is as follows:

"Section 1. That in the case of any prisoner lawfully in the charge, custody or control of any officer, state, county or municipal, being seized and taken from said officer through his negligence, permission or connivance, by a mob or other unlawful assemblage of persons, and at their hands suffering bodily violence or death, the said officer shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon true bill found shall be deposed from his office pending his trial, and upon conviction shall forfeit his office, and shall, unless pardoned by the governor, be ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit within this state. It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney within whose circuit or county the offense

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