MISSISSIPPI. 



513 



mid to bo used or appropriated for no 

 other purple \\lmtever. 



in act organi/ing the militia of the State, 

 passed at this session, ull able-bodied male < iti- 

 t'tho State, between tho ages of eighteen 

 :ni(l forty-five years, not disfranchised l-y the 

 lau^ut' tin- raited States, or of the State, arc 

 made liable to military duty. The militia are 

 organized by companies, regiments, brigades, 

 iiinl divisions, and tho usual officers are pro- 

 \ iilcd for. A division consists of the regiments 

 of tlio counties forming a congressional dis- 

 trict. Under tho pressure of the poverty pro- 

 duced by the war, the Legislature of 1865 

 passed a very sweeping exemption law. The 

 (iovernor submitted a special message to the 

 Legislature at this session, recommending a re- 

 peal of this law, in which he snys that of 

 5,000,000 acres of improved lands, according to 

 the census of 1860, the number removed from 

 the reach of tho creditor by the net of 1865 

 i* little less than 4,000,000, of an agricultu- 

 ral value of $190,000,000; he estimates the 

 amount exempted by that law at $150,000,000, 

 and that, out of 37,000 owners of agricultural 

 property, the number, from whom even a single 

 dollar could be collected at law, was reduced, 

 by tho exemptions of the act of 1865, to about 

 7,000. Tho exemptions of horses, hogs, cattle, 

 and sheep, made by tho act, represent 10 per 

 cent, more cattle, 30 per cent, more hogs, and 

 120 per cent, more sheep, than were in the 

 State. The Legislature, acting upon the rec- 

 ommendation in the message, repealed the act 

 of 1865, thus reviving the law of 1857. In the 

 repealing act, the exemption of real estate in 

 the country was reduced from 160 acres, as it 

 was in the law of 1857, to 80 acres ; and it 

 was provided that exempt real estate in cities, 

 towns, and villages, should not exceed in value 

 the sura of $2,000. 



The subject of the plea of insanity in cases 

 of homicide engaged the attention of the Le- 

 gislature, and an act was passed designed to 

 prevent its abuse. The act provides : 



SECTION 1. That in all cases where any prisoner 

 shall be arrested and brought before any justice of 

 the peace, or other judicial officer, charged with the 

 crime of murder, manslaughter, or assault with in- 

 tent to kill, and, in tho course of the investigation, it 

 shall be made to appear that such person was insane 

 at the time the offence was committed, such justice 

 of the peace or other judicial officer shall not, for 

 that cause, discharge such person : Provided, it snail 

 be proved by the testimony, to the satisfaction of the 

 justice of the peace or other judicial officer, that 

 such person is guilty of such offence, unless excused 

 for want of sane mind. 



SEC. 2. Be U further enacted, That such officer 

 shall, in the circumstances provided for in the first 

 section of this act, commit such person to the jail of 

 the county, without bail, and shall return all the pro- 

 ceedings into the Circuit Court of the county, and 

 thereupon the judge of said Circuit Court or oh'anccl- 

 lor of the district shall, on the suggestion of the dis- 

 trict attorney, or the counsel of the accused, issue a 

 writ of habeas corpus to bring before him the accused ; 

 and, if, on the hearing of such habeas corpus, the 

 judge or chancellor should be of tho opinion that the 

 person so accused was insane at the time of coinmit- 

 VOL. x. 33 A 



tint; tho offence charged, he shall adjudge and < r<l< r 

 that such person shall bo immediately carri. <1 ).y \\.i- 

 sheriff to tho Buto Lunatic Asylum, and there de- 

 livered to tho Nui>friiiir!i'li/iit, for ccnniicn, 

 lirmnafti-r i>r<>vi<K>d: I'rocided, Ixnctrer, 

 rhan.'i llor hlittll be satisfied, on tl < -hut, if 



the offence charged had been committed ! v the ac- 

 cused in a sane mind, ho would be guilty. 



"Where tho accused is charged upon an in- 

 dictment, if a reasonable doubt arises as to his 

 sanity, the court must order a jury to be im- 

 panelled to inquire into the fact, and all 

 proceedings upon the trial of the indictment 

 must be suspended until the question of insani- 

 ty is determined by the verdict of the jury. 

 If tho jury find the accused insane, oil pro- 

 ceedings upon the indictment must be suspend- 

 ed until he become sane, and the court must 

 order him to be confined in tho insane asylum 

 of the State, for a term of not less than ten 

 years, under the restrictions proper to danger- 

 ous persons. He shall not be discharged at 

 tho expiration of his term of commitment un- 

 less he shall have been sane without interrup- 

 tion for a period of twelve months preceding 

 the discharge. It is also provided in the act 

 that in all such cases as are herein provided 

 for, where the jury shall find the plea of in- 

 sanity not true, then the trial shall proceed on 

 the plea of not guilty ; and shall so proceed 

 on the evidence bearing on that issue, to the 

 total exclusion of all consideration of the plea 

 of insanity. 



Acts were passed to prevent and punish 

 crimes committed by persons masked or dis- 

 guised, and making it penal for persons to ap- 

 pear or travel in masks or disguises; to author- 

 ize the Executive to commute the death-pen- 

 alty to imprisonment for life, or for a term of 

 years, in proper cases ; and for the incorpora- 

 tion of private companies of various kinds. 

 The revenue bill passed at this session imposes 

 a tax on nil property, both real and personal, 

 of one-half of one per cent, on the value there- 

 of, and also provides for a tax on privileges, 

 which varies from $10 for a practising physf- 

 cian, lawyer, and the like, $200 for n rectifier 

 of vinous and spirituous liquors, $500 for a 

 distiller of grain, and $1,000 on express and 

 telegraph companies. A poll-tax of two dol- 

 lars a head is levied on each male adult in the 

 State, between the ages of twenty-one and 

 fifty-five years, which, together with certain 

 fines and penalties imposed by the bill, is to be 

 expended for the support of common schools. 

 All lands arc bound, not only for the taxes 

 thereon, but also for taxes due ou personal 

 property, and for the poll-tax due from the 

 owners of such lands. The following proper- 

 ty, and no other, is exempt from taxation : The 

 wearing apparel of each and every person ; all 

 cemeteries used exclusively for burial pur- 

 poses; property, real and personal, belonging 

 to the United States or to this State, or to any 

 county or incorporated city or town within 

 the same, or to any religious society, and 

 church property, or incorporated institution* 



