The Daily Phoenix

THE DISTRICT COURTS.—Noticing the establishment of District Courts in this State, to facilitate cases in which colored persons are interested, is thus spoken of by the New York Times: The idea of establishing such a measure is a good one, and we cannot doubt that, under this system, the blacks will be allowed to give their testimony before the courts of justice. The necessity for such a measure arises from the fact that the present laws of the State relating to negroes are all based on the doctrines of slavery, and still more from the peculiar circumstances and antecedents of the great body of the negroes. For example, the laws made for the whites, in regard to the marriage and family relations, their duties and responsibilities, cannot at once in their entirety, be applied to the blacks, for the reason that the marriage and family relations of the latter have heretofore been, and still are, in the greatest uncertainty and confusion. So with the laws relating to their holding of property and many other laws.
We hope to see a code bearing upon all these matters, of such justice and humanity, established in South Carolina, as to be a model for all the other States of the South.