the Executive of each of the United States, and to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress. FEBRUARY 25, 1833. DAVID T. DISNEY, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Speaker of the Senate. SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE, I HEREBY CERTIFY, That the foregoing RESOLUTIONS are true copies of the original rolls now on file in this Office. MOSES H. KIRBY, Secretary of State. Of the committee on the judiciary on the petition of the supervisors of the county of Montgomery. Mr. Livingston, from the committee on the judiciary, to which was referred the petition of the board of supervisors of the county of Montgomery, REPORTED: That the first prayer of the petitioners is for relief against the burden which the allowance of accounts of justices of the peace and constables for services rendered in criminal cases, have imposed upon that county for several years past. The petitioners allege, that three-fourths of the amount of such accounts, (as audited and paid,) is for services rendered in cases of alleged assaults and batteries, breaches of the peace and trifling misdemeanors, under the degree of petit larceny. And they add "that a great portion of such complaints have in all probability been brought to gratify private malice and vindictive feelings, and not from pure, honorable and disinterested motives for the public good." It would seem from this statement, that the petitioners believe that the Legislature can by an exercise of its powers, induce individuals to prefer complaints in cases of misdemeanors (only) from disinterested and honorable motives. But your committee have been unable to invent any kind of legislative enactment by which they can reach the secret motives and springs of action by which the hearts and minds of our citizens may be governed when they proceed to take advantage of laws of acknowledged public utility. The petitioners further state, that very few, comparatively speaking, of the complaints which are instituted before justices of the peace are prosecuted to a fair termination; and they say that such complaints [Assem. No. 246.] 1 are either dropped or settled by the parties in a spirit as improper as that in which they were engendered, and that their county by such unjust acts, is left to bear great costs and expenses. The costs and expenses which a county would be burdened with if complainants were compelled to prosecute their complaints to judgment, would, in the opinion of your committee, be very onerously increased; but ample provision is now made by statute to prevent the settlement of complaints of the character alluded to, if the county is not first fully indemnified. After a warrant is issued by a justice in a case of assault and battery, if the party proceeded against is arrested, he is either confined in jail, immediately tried, or bailed. If confined in jail, he must be retained until he is legally dicharged; if he is bailed (and it is believed that that is the class of cases to which the petitioners specially refer,) the justice is bound to return the recognizance to the next court having cognizance of the offence; but the justice may supersede such recognizance and allow the parties to compromise upon payment of the costs. So (in such a case) after indictment found, the parties may compromise if the court assent to it, and the costs are paid. The burden complained of may have arisen either by no attention to, or by a lax execution of existing laws, which laws if properly enforced, are, in the opinion of the committee, adequate to remedy the mischiefs complained of as far as they probably can be reached by any legal provision on the subject. It is necessary in a State professing to be governed solely by its laws, that its courts of justice, both high and low, should always be kept open, and be always ready to administer redress to those who may have suffered from a breach of any general law of the government. The legal facilities by which a breach of the public peace may be furnished, does not prevent the occurence of assaults and batteries; but they do prevent a frequent resort to violence and bloodshed. If this is so, then the law which gives the facilities spoken of is wise and wholesome. But the petitioners say that the law is abused, that unfounded accusations are preferred, and that this subjects their county to expenses which must be borne by those who do not violate the law. This may be and probably is so. The answer in addition to that which has already been suggested, is that the grievance of which complaint is made, is one of those which necessity compels us to bear, and it ought, in the opinion of the committee, to be considered as a part |