Show STATUTE OF limitations W presents houim jhc thc wv law to conr EL EDITOR JUNCTION that tho pomplo of utah should feel an anxiety to know their legal status yent decision of tho U S supreme court in tho reynolds case n but natural i in tho bursting of of a the mind naturally that memorable historical event vh en the puritans left alie bleak shores of their mother country on an inhospitable and stormy night the ship that was to bear them to the wilderness of the was riding at out shore and that devoted crowd ww gathered promiscuously and being transported in boats otha ship when alio cavalry of persecutors upon them and captured manyard man yand answer i or tho legal offense of wor shipping god according to the die of their conscience As tho transportation to tha ship had on no care was taken to keep families together aa all expected soon to be embarked and in this capture by tho cavalry husbands and wives children and parents were separated never again to be reunited on cantli for when the morn ang liblit broka upon the land and the soa tho away on tha wide waste of waturs hearing to alie new world daughters separated from their mother fathers separated from their sons and hus bandstand band sand i torn asunder the object of this communication however is not to dwell on tho per of the past for opinions sak enor to indulge in criticisms on alio decision of alio supreme court but to enquire into the legal status ol 01 persons under it waiving the several cacs in which tho district courts of thia territory have applied this two limitation in cases proceed to show that this mut bo the law and legal status of all persons alio havo been BO married for over two years before the prosecution be corn fenced bonder in his law dictionary tio nary defines bigamy the wilfully contracting a second marriage when tho contracting party knows that the first is still subsisting this is regarded by all the american courts as a standard work it ii not tho living together as man and wife that makes the of bigamy for however parties may so profess if there never warf a contracting of mar forms of law aliis offense is not perpetrated I tin an on ense against the sovereign ity where alie marriage ia contracted and consummated alter the forms of law and not against alie where the parties may subsequently reside quote on this rom that great american author on criminal faw francis thaxton Wh axton see ad edition of american criminal law p American acts are founded in principle on the english statute jac c 11 the established and known construction of duch as remarked by mr davis considered as also adopted if the first marriage bo abroad and alio second in england the case is within the english act but if the first marriage be in england and the second abroad it is not within the act because aho second marriage which alone constitutes the off ens is in fact done within another jurisdiction and though here for some purposes like all transitory acts ia not by the rule of the common law cognizable as a crime biar it I ry modified aliis common law doctrine by statute and make it a felony for persons thus illegally married to reside within their chero there if no lucli modifying statute as there aro none applicable to this territory the common law rule prevails an examination of the act of con great ivill give us an intelligent view of aliis subject it will bo found at p 1044 revised statutes of the united states sec and reads every person leaving A husband or wife living who marries er married or single in a territory or other place over which the united st tea have exclusive jurisdiction is guilty of bigamy and shall be punished by a fine of not more than and by imprisonment for a term not more alian five years but this section shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage elioso husband or wife by such marriage ia absent for five consecutive ye arnand is not known to such pernon to be living nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which has been dissolved by decree of a competent court nor to any person by reabon of any former marriage which lias been pronounced void by decree of a competent court on the ground of nullity of the marriage contract I havo quoted the whole of alie statute as it now stands and li ia binco ginco the revision of 1873 stood and so far from modifying tho common law rule it affirms its T ast 1st by applying it only to cuch as occur within the territories or kotlier places of jurisdiction in the united states as farls etc ad in not providing that living together as lucli husband and wife whether not married at all or illegally married bo alie offense of bigamy it is not tho living together but alio act of marrying that constitutes the of bigamy it ii th e infraction and defiance of the laws of the chero tho illegal marriage takes place nd the wrong don e the innocent parly that con tho luense the living to gather in another may be both or only one of the parties but unless expressly provided by statute it is an ly cohabitation or adultery and when these are ed bylaw it is no legal in alie new habitation it is marriage then that constitutes the and the guilty par liea are immediately liable to be in lic tod when aben doe the statute of limitations begin to nin it n a universal rule almont if not entirely that tha of limitations cornnie acea running BO boon aa the right of action occurs or the party Js liable to be proceeded against or prone chero the ia atcon thai is where the con tinning of the on aliis rulo does not apply but bigamy lias never been construed by any court to bo such an all enso except when so made hero ji no such utah tho marrying another complo tea the on ense he offending pm ty if immediately liable to bo bonca tho fatute begins at once to run and in two icare alio ia barred and this is thi recognized rule inthe in the federal I will end athla by nn enquiry addressed to alio logal fra terni tv aa congress ha only for ii fino of not exceeding and imprisonment hot anoro than five years chero is tho authority n tho court ta add labor pr hard labor in ony to this fine and imprisonment Is not tho penalty fully by alie fine and imprisonment in any y |