62 PENAL CODE. 



thern, do.,, eight do. ; Scuthern do., nine do. ; Ocmulgee do., 

 seven do. ; Flint do., nine do. ; Chattahoochee do., five do. ; 

 Cherokee, do., eleven do. : Coweta do., ten do. ; South-west- 

 ern do., 8 do. • 



PEXAL CODE 



The code of penal laws of this State was enacted in 1833, 

 and went into operation on the first day of June, 1834. Some 

 of its provisions have since that time been amended, and other 

 sections added. It superseded the code of 1817. The fre- 

 quent substitution of one system for another — the establish- 

 ment of a penitentiary, and then its immediate abandonment — 

 indicate a very unsettled state of the popular mind in regard 

 to the different plans. In 1816 the State abandoned the san- 

 guinary criminal laws which had existed, and adopted a new 

 system of pains and penalties, altogether more compatible with 

 the condition of the people, and better suited to the advanced 

 stage of civilization. The discipline of a State prison was then 

 but imperfectly understood, and the changes it effected in the 

 old system, together with a very imperfect execution of the 

 plan, excited a decided distrust, which soon presented itself in 

 open opposition to it. After sixteen years of experience, there- 

 fore, it gave way to the earnest opposition which was brought 

 to bear upon it, and the Legislature of 1831 abolished it. The 

 State was thrown back upon a code which it had repudiated, 

 and criminal justice was administered according to laws at 

 once odious to humanity and behind the intelligence of the 

 age. But this condition of things did not last. The change 

 was palpably felt : public opinion again reacted in its favour : 

 a reform was demanded, and the penitentiary was again re- 

 stored. But the old code, with its flagrant defects, was found 

 inadequate to accomplish the purposes of the new system, 

 and accordingly, in 1832, the Legislature passed a resolution 

 authorizing the Governor to appoint a committee of three 

 persons to prepare a plan for the penitentiary buildings, digest 

 a system of laws for its organization, and revise and amend the 



