Judicial Interpretation of Political Theory: A Study in the Relation of the Courts to the American Party System |
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adopted amendment American annul Articles of Confederation authority Bench bills of credit charter Chief Justice clause colonies commerce constitutionality Convention debts declared Democratic party Democratic Platform denied direct legislation direct tax doctrine of loose duties effect enactment ernment established execution exercise favor Federal Constitution Federalist follows foreign Government granted gress ground held implied powers important income tax initiative and referendum interest internal improvements Jackson Jefferson judiciary legal tender Legislature loose construction M'Cullough Marshall ment Non-Intercourse Act opinion opposed opposition passed Platform of 1892 popular Porto Rico power of Congress President principle prohibited protection question ratification recall of judges recall of judicial reference Republican party Republican platform resolution result revenue says Senate stare decisis statute strict construction Supreme Court taxation territory theory tion tional treasury treaty trine unconstitutional Union United States Bank veto views void vote Whigs
Popular passages
Page 34 - There is no position which depends on clearer principles than that every act of a delegated authority contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this would be to affirm that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers may do not only...
Page 134 - The Congress, the Executive, and the Court must each for itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others.
Page 84 - The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States and admitted as soon as possible according to the principles of the federal Constitution to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States, and in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and the Religion which they profess.
Page 42 - The question whether an act repugnant to the Constitution can become the law of the land is a question deeply interesting to the United States; but, happily, not of an intricacy proportioned to its interest. It seems only necessary to recognize certain principles supposed to have been long and well established to decide it.
Page 56 - A constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the prolixity of a legal code, and could scarcely be embraced by the human mind.
Page 56 - Among the enumerated powers, we do not find that of establishing a bank or creating a corporation. But there is no phrase in the instrument which, like the articles of confederation, excludes incidental or implied powers; and which requires that everything granted shall be expressly and minutely described. Even the 10th amendment, which was framed for the purpose of quieting the excessive jealousies which had been excited, omits the word "expressly...
Page 77 - The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States.
Page 70 - If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy the rights acquired under those judgments, the constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery . . . .
Page 42 - If an act of the legislature, repugnant to the Constitution is void, does it, notwithstanding its invalidity, bind the courts, and oblige them to give it effect? Or, in other words, though it be not law, does it constitute a rule as operative as if it was a law? This would be to overthrow in fact what was established in theory; and would seem, at first view, an absurdity too gross to be insisted on.
Page 34 - The interpretation of the laws is the proper and peculiar province of the courts. A constitution is, in fact, and must be regarded by the judges as, a fundamental law.