History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

448 UTAH AS A TERRITORY.
fenced lands of the Mormons was a frequent cause of
trouble between saint and gentile. For this a fine
was imposed, and the injured party must be fully
recompensed. Protests were often made and the case
taken before the bishops, but the only result was that
the costs were added to the original demand. From
the ruling of the bishop, who acted somewhat in the capacity
of county court judge, an appeal was sometimes
made to the bench of bishops; but seldom to any purpose.
A final appeal could be made, however, to Brigham,
who administered practical justice in patriarchal
fashion, and whose opinion of the bishops was the reverse
of nattering. " They are not fit to decide a case
between two old women, let alone two men," he remarked
on one occasion, while at the same time he
threatened to dismiss the entire bench if they did not
improve.
The organization of a civil government was intended
mainly for the better control of the gentiles, 18 since,
to its own members, the authority of the church
sufficed. The judicial system of the saints was
founded on the doctrines of the book of Mormon
rather than on common law, and later, as we shall
see, became obnoxious to federal judges and lawyers,
none of whom succeeded in making much impression
on the pockets of the community. For other reasons
the Mormon code was distasteful, especially so far as
it related to women. To marry out of the church
was an offence. Those who had been sealed were
advised not to cast in their lot with the gentiles; 13
any one found guilty of seducing a Mormon's wife
must surely be put to death. 20
18 Although we read in Doctrine and Covenants, 332, 'We believe that all
governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the
laws of the same.'
19 Gunnison relates an instance where an emigrant, on his way to California,
took in his train, at her own request, a woman who represented that the
person to whom she was sealed had not visited or provided for her for three
years, and that she wished to join a young man in California to whom she
had been betrothed. When about 100 miles from Salt Lake City he was
overtaken by a party of Mormons and compelled to surrender the woman.
The Mormons, 7'2.
20 At the trial of a man named Egan for killing the seducer of a Mormon