It is clear that in States which deny to persons whose rights are
secured by the first section of the bill any one of those rights all
criminal and civil cases affecting them will, by the provisions of the
third section, come under the exclusive cognizance of the Federal
tribunals. It follows that if, in any State which denies to a colored
person any one of all those rights, that person should commit a crime
against the laws of a State--murder, arson, rape, or any other
crime--all protection and punishment through the courts of the State are
taken away, and he can only be tried and punished in the Federal courts.
How is the criminal to be tried? If the offense is provided for and
punished by Federal law, that law, and not the State law, is to govern.
It is only when the offense does not happen to be within the purview of
Federal law that the Federal courts are to try and punish him under any
other law. Then resort is to be had to "the common law, as modified and
changed" by State legislation, "so far as the same is not inconsistent
with the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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