IXSTITUTIOXS, GOVERN.MEXT AND l.AVTH OF SOUTH CAEOLIXA. 437 



THE STATUTE LAW. 



The Statute Law of* the State, which has been recentl}' consolidated into 

 a Code and is embodied in a vohnne called The General Sfohites, is a de- 

 velopment of the organic law as laid down in the Constitution, and pro- 

 ceeds along the lines there indicated. It will only be necessary here to 

 note some of the more important provisions. 



Crimes and Punishments. Every person arrested under process, or 

 taken into custody by an officer, has a right to know from the officer who 

 arrests him, the true ground on which the arrest is made, and if the 

 officer refuses to inform him, or informs him falsely, or declines to pro- 

 duce his warrant, such officer shall be punished as for a misdemeanor. 

 Any person may arrest a felon upon view or certain information of the 

 commission of the felony, and take him to a judge or trial justice to be 

 dealt with according to law ; and any citizen seeking to arrest a person 

 who has broken into a house, or has stolen property in his possession, or 

 where the circumstances raise a just suspicion of his design to commit a 

 felony, may use any means to enforce the arrest, even to the extent of 

 taking the life of the offender. The punishment of death b}^. hanging 

 is attached in South Carolina to the following crimes, viz. : 



Murder, Eape, and Arson. In addition to the common law defini- 

 tion of murder, it is provided that where the death of any penson results 

 from any obstruction placed upon a railroad, the person convicted of 

 placing or causing to be placed such obstruction shall be adjudged guilty 

 of murder. Any person wounding another in a duel is guilty of murder 

 if death ensue from the wound within six months. Rape is punishable 

 with death, but the jury ma}^ find a special verdict recommending the 

 party to mercy, in which case the punishment shall be reduced to im- 

 prisonment for life in the penitentiary at hard labor. Arson is the wilful 

 and malicious setting fire to or burning b}'' day or night of (1) any house 

 of any kind whatever within two hundred yards of and appurtenant to 

 a dwelling ; (2) any court house or public building, whether owned by 

 the State or a corporation or individuals ; (3) any barn or stable, coach- 

 house, gin-house, store-house, ware-house, grist or saw-mill, railroad 

 depot, coach or cotton factory, or other house used for manufacturing 

 purposes, or any building habitually used for public worship. Any per- 

 son convicted of arson as principal, aider, abettor or accessor}^ before the 

 fact, shall suffer death by hanging, with the same proviso for a special 

 verdict as stated above in the case of rape. 



Manslaughter, or the unlawful killing of another without malice, 

 express or implied, is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, 



