KU-KLUX LAW.
Any person, under color of law, etc., of any State, depriving another
of any rights, etc., secured by the Constitution of the United
States, made liable to the party injured, 7034--Penalty for
conspiring, by force, to put down the government of the United
States, etc., 7035--Conspirator's doing, etc., any act in furtherance
of the object of the conspiracy, and injuring another, liable to
damages therefor, 7035--What to be deemed a denial by any State to
any class of its people of their equal protection under the laws,
7036--What unlawful combination to be deemed a rebellion against the
government of the United States (obsolete), 7037--Certain persons not
to be jurors in certain cases, 7038--Jurors to take oath; false
swearing, in taking this oath, to be perjury, 7038--Any person
knowing that certain wrongs are about to be done, and having power to
prevent, etc., neglects so to do, and any such wrong is done, is made
liable for all damages caused thereby, 7039.
_Act of the Congress of the United States. An Act to enforce the
provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States, and for other purposes._
ART. 7034. [1.] Any person, who, under color of any law, statute,
ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of any State, shall subject, or
cause to be subjected, any person within the jurisdiction of the United
States, to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities,
secured by the Constitution of the United States, shall, any such law,
statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage of the State to the
contrary, notwithstanding, be liable to the party injured in any action at
law, suit in equity, or other proceeding for redress; such proceeding to
be prosecuted in the several district or circuit courts of the United
States, with, and subject to the same rights of appeal, review upon error,
and other remedies provided in like cases, in such courts under the
provisions of the Act of the 9th of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-six,
entitled "An Act to protect all persons in the United States in their
civil rights, and to furnish the means of their vindication," and the
other remedial laws of the United States which are, in their nature,
applicable in such cases.
ART. 7035. [2.] (1.) If two or more persons within any State or Territory
of the United States, shall conspire together to overthrow, or to put
down, or to destroy by force the government of the United States, or to
levy war against the United States, or to oppose, by force, the authority
of the government of the United States, or by force, intimidation, or
threat, to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the
United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the
United States, contrary to the authority thereof, or by force,
intimidation, or threat, to prevent any person from accepting or holding
any office of trust, or place of confidence, under the United States, or
from discharging the duties thereof, or by force, intimidation, or
threat, to induce any officer of the United States to leave any State,
district, or place where his duties, as such officer might lawfully be
performed, or to injure him in his person or property on account of his
lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or to injure his person
while engaged in the lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or to
injure his property, so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in
the discharge of his official duty, or by force, intimidation, or threat,
to deter any party or witness in any court of the United States from
attending such court, or from testifying in any matter pending in such
court, fully, freely, and truthfully, or to injure any such party or
witness, in his person or property, on account of his so having attended
or testified, or by force, intimidation, or threat to influence the
verdict, presentment, or indictment of any juror or grand juror, in any
court of the United States, or to injure such juror in his person or
property, on account of any verdict, presentment, or indictment, lawfully
assented to by him, or on account of his being or having been such juror,
or shall conspire together, or go in disguise upon the public highway, or
upon the premises of another for the purpose, either directly or
indirectly, of depriving any person or class of persons of the equal
protection of the laws, or of equal privileges or immunities under the
laws, or for the purpose of preventing or hindering the constituted
authorities of any State from giving or securing to all persons within
such State the equal protection of the laws, or shall conspire together
for the purpose of in any manner impeding, obstructing, hindering, or
defeating the due course of justice in any State or Territory, with intent
to deny to any citizen of the United States the due and equal protection
of the laws, or to injure any person in his person or property for
lawfully enforcing the right of any person or class of persons to the
equal protection of the laws, or by force, intimidation, or threat, to
prevent any citizen of the United States lawfully entitled to vote from
giving his support or advocacy, in a lawful manner, towards or in favor of
the election of any lawfully qualified person as an elector of president
or vice-president of the United States, or as a member of the congress of
the United States, or to injure any such person in his person or property,
on account of such support or advocacy: each, and every person so
offending, shall be deemed guilty of a high crime, and upon conviction
thereof, in any district or circuit court of the United States, or
district or supreme court of any Territory of the United States, having
jurisdiction of similar offences, shall be punished by a fine not less
than five hundred nor more than five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment,
with or without hard labor, as the court may determine, for a period not
less than six months, nor more than six years, as the court may determine,
or by both such fine and imprisonment, as the court shall determine. (2.)
And if any one or more persons engaged in any such conspiracy shall do,
or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such
conspiracy, whereby any person shall be injured in his person or property,
or deprived of having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen
of the United States, the person so injured or deprived of such rights and
privileges may have and maintain an action for the recovery of damages,
occasioned by such injury or deprivation of rights and privileges against
any one or more of the persons engaged in such conspiracy, such action to
be prosecuted in the proper district or circuit of the United States, with
and subject to the same rights of appeal, review upon error, and other
remedies provided in like cases in such courts under the provisions of the
Act of April ninth, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, entitled "An Act to
protect all persons in the United States in their civil rights, and to
furnish the means of their vindication."
ART. 7036. [3.] In all cases where insurrection, domestic violence,
unlawful combinations or conspiracies in any State shall so obstruct or
hinder the execution of the laws thereof, and of the United States, so as
to deprive any portion or class of the people of such State of the rights,
privileges, immunities, or protection named in the Constitution and
secured by this act, and the constituted authorities of such State shall
either be unable to protect, or shall from any cause fail in or refuse
protection of the people in such rights, such facts shall be deemed a
denial by such State of equal protection of the laws of the United States,
to which they are entitled under the Constitution of the United States;
and in all such cases; or whenever any such insurrection, violence,
unlawful combination, or conspiracy shall oppose or obstruct the laws of
the United States, or the due execution thereof, or impede, or obstruct
the due course of justice under the same, it shall be lawful for the
President, and it shall be his duty, to take such measures, by the
employment of the militia or the land and naval forces of the United
States, or of either, or by other means, as he may deem necessary for the
suppression of such insurrection, domestic violence, or combinations; and
any person who shall be arrested under the provisions of this and the
preceding section, shall be delivered to the marshal of the proper
district, to be dealt with according to law.
ART. 7037. [4.] Whenever in any State, or part of a State, the unlawful
combinations named in the preceding section of this act shall be organized
and armed, and so numerous and powerful as to be able by violence to
either overthrow or set at defiance the constituted authorities of such
State and of the United States, within such States, or when the
constituted authorities are in complicity with or shall connive at the
unlawful purposes of such powerful and armed combinations; and whenever,
by reason of either or all of the causes aforesaid, the conviction of such
offenders and the preservation of the public safety shall become in such
district impracticable, in every such case such combinations shall be
deemed a rebellion against the government of the United States, and during
the continuance of such rebellion, and within the limits of the district
which shall be so under the sway thereof, such limits to be prescribed by
proclamation, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States,
when in his judgment the public safety shall require it, to suspend the
privileges of the writ of _habeas corpus_, to the end that such rebellion
may be overthrown. _Provided_, That all the privileges of the second
section of an act entitled "An Act relating to _habeas corpus_, and
regulating judicial proceedings in certain cases," approved March third,
eighteen hundred and sixty-three, which relates to the discharge of
prisoners other than prisoners of war, and to the penalty for refusing to
obey the orders of the court, shall be in full force, so far as the same
are applicable to the provisions of this section. _Provided, further_,
That the President shall first have made proclamation, as now provided by
law, commanding such insurgents to disperse. _And provided, also_, That
the provisions of this section shall not be enforced after the end of the
next regular session of Congress.
1872. The foregoing section was re-enacted in the Senate (1872) but it
failed in the House. Hence, by limitation, it became obsolete June 10th,
1872. Action was taken under it by President Grant in several counties in
South Carolina while the law was in force.
ART. 7038. [5.] No person shall be a grand or petit juror in any court of
the United States upon any inquiry, hearing, or trial of any suit,
proceeding, or prosecution based upon or arising under the provisions of
this act who shall, in the judgment of the court, be in complicity with
any such combination or conspiracy; and every such juror shall, before
entering upon any such inquiry, hearing, or trial, take and subscribe an
oath in open court that he has never, directly or indirectly, counselled,
advised, or voluntarily aided any such combination or conspiracy; and each
and every person who shall take this oath, and shall therein swear
falsely, shall be guilty of perjury, and shall be subject to the laws and
penalties declared against that crime; and the first section of the
article entitled "An Act defining additional causes of challenge, and
prescribing an additional oath for grand and petit juries in the United
States' courts," approved June 17th, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, be,
and the same is hereby repealed.
ART. 7039. [6.] Any person or persons having knowledge that any of the
wrongs conspired to be done and mentioned in the second section of this
act are about to be committed, and having power to prevent or aid in
preventing the same, shall neglect or refuse so to do, and such wrongful
act shall be committed, such person or persons shall be liable to the
person injured, or his legal representatives, for all damages caused by
any such wrongful act, which first-named person or persons by reasonable
diligence could have prevented; and such damages may be recovered in an
action on the case in the proper circuit court of the United States, and
any number of persons guilty of such wrongful neglect or refusal may be
joined as defendants in such action. _Provided_, That such action shall be
commenced within one year after such cause of action shall have occurred;
and if the death of any person shall be caused by any such wrongful act
and neglect, the legal representative of such deceased person shall have
such action therefor, and may recover not exceeding five thousand dollars'
damages therein, for the benefit of the widow of such deceased person, if
any there be, or if there be no widow, for the benefit of the next of kin
of such deceased person.
ART. 7040. [7.] Nothing herein contained shall be construed to supersede
or repeal any former act or law, except so far as the same may be
repugnant thereto; and any offences heretofore committed against the tenor
of any former act shall be prosecuted; and any proceeding already
commenced for the prosecution thereof, shall be continued and completed,
the same as if this act had not been passed, except so far as the
provisions of this act may go to sustain and validate such proceedings.